Samsung Semiconductor Opens New Site in San Diego – San Diego Business Journal

SAN DIEGO – Samsung Electronics, Ltd., one of the world’s leaders in advanced semiconductor technology, has opened a subsidiary Samsung Semiconductor (SSI) Memory and Foundry customer engagement office in San Diego, expanding its presence and adding to its current research and development office in the city.

The South Korea-based company officially opened its newest SSI location last week – a 7,889 square-foot site at 12265 El Camino Real. Samsung’s R&D site – a Datacenter Technology and Cloud Solutions Lab about five miles away on Scranton Road – opened in 2010 and employs about 200 people, with plans for additional growth.

Samsung Semiconductor offers a wide range of products that power smartphones, electric vehicles, hyperscale data centers, IoT devices and more.

Samsung says it is the only company that offers solutions and services in Memory, System LSI and Foundry in one business to enable innovative growth in myriad industries – from hyperscale datacenters and automotive to the internet of things mobile and consumer electronics.

“We are thrilled to be expanding our presence,” said Jinman Han, president of Samsung Semiconductor U.S. “San Diego has always been an important location for us because of valuable customers in San Diego and Southern California.

There is also a rich talent pool in San Diego. The new Memory and Foundry office opening in San Diego will be instrumental in better serving our customers’ custom design and engineering needs in Southern California. The San Diego team will have approximately 20 employees supporting innovations that power AI, mobile, automotive, IoT, datacenter and more.”

Han said the ultimate goal is to combine the power of its Memory and Foundry businesses to provide Samsung customers with a vertically integrated solution to deliver next-generation technologies.

A leader in the memory business for decades, Samsung was the first to release an AI chip, in 2016. Samsung also commercialized the industry’s first High Bandwidth Memory for High Performance Computing, and continues to pursue opportunities to expand the AI memory market, Han said.

Samsung also enjoys a close relationship with Qualcomm. Last month, Qualcomm announced a multiyear deal with Samsung to supply Snapdragon processors for future Samsung Galaxy smartphones.

Han said the Southern California region’s demand for Samsung’s services is growing and will benefit from the new office The Memory team partners closely with major local customers to develop and validate memory solutions for mutual end-customers across applications while the Foundry team is responsible for the end-to-end support and engagement with local customers.

“In Foundry we are targeting datacenter AI and hyperscalers as well as AI startups,” Han said. “We are focusing on manufacturing technologies to provide edge AI solutions for on-device AI as we believe the AI market will grow exponentially and quickly in the mobile, PC and automotive markets.”

Last Year’s San Diego Trade Mission

Last October, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria led a trade mission to South Korea that visited Samsung’s Biologic offices and other tech giants to strengthen business relationships, work toward a stronger, globally connected innovation economy and grow more quality jobs in San Diego.

Nikia Clarke, senior vice president of the San Diego Regional EDC and executive director of the World Trade Center San Diego, was part of that delegation.

Clarke, who helps drive strategy for regional economic development, said Samsung’s additional spot in San Diego sends a strong message about regional goals for global growth.

“This is well aligned with our economic development priorities,” Clarke said. “The global engagement reinforces our economic development objectives, and those objectives are really good, high-quality jobs in our most competitive sectors like semiconductors, the life sciences, and other strategic technologies energy and clean technologies.

“I think it’s important that Samsung Semiconductor has been in the region and part of the innovation fabric of the region for a long time. This new office its essentially a customer support office that will support the foundry and the memory team, and so it’s exciting to have sort of new functions moving here.”

Innovating and Expanding in the U.S.

Han said Samsung is focused on innovating the most advanced semiconductor technology. He said the company’s expanding portfolio of strategic partnerships enables it to access new technologies and enter new markets, helping to strengthen the supply chain.

“In the U.S. alone, Samsung has produced chips since 1996 and was one of the first semiconductor companies to produce chips domestically,” he said. “We will continue to expand and develop innovative, high performing technologies to provide significant benefits for our customers and partners.”

The San Diego EDC reported last October that South Korean-based companies directly employ more than 850 San Diegans, predominantly in the technology and manufacturing industries at companies like Samsung and Hyundai, and that the U.S. and South Korea hold the No. 1 and No. 2 spots, respectively, in global market share of the semiconductor industry. The EDC noted that South Korea is the No. 13 country investing venture capital into San Diego by deal count.

Samsung has multiple offices and R&D facilities in countries across the globe, including South Korea headquarters; North, Central and South America; Europe; the Middle East; Africa; Japan; and Southeast and Southwest Asia.

Samsung has invested nearly $50 billion in the U.S. since arriving in 1978. Its main U.S. office is headquartered in San Jose with an office and fab in Austin, Texas, primarily focused on U.S. manufacturing.

“In total, we have more than 20,000 employees in the U.S., innovating everything from semiconductors to manufacturing to enhancing customer experiences,” Han said.

Samsung Electronics, Ltd.
FOUNDED: 1969
FOUNDER: Lee Byung-chul
HEADQUARTERS: South Korea
BUSINESS: Electronics/Info Tech
REVENUE: $194 billion (2023)
STOCK: 005930 (KRX)
EMPLOYEES: 270,000
WEBSITE: semiconductor.samsung.com/us/
CONTACT: 800-726-7864
SOCIAL IMPACT: Samsung partners with government and organizations around he world to provide education through Samsung Corporate Citizenship.
NOTABLE: Samsung Electronics America was founded in 1978.