U.S. semiconductor corporations Intel hired a sales and marketing executive from Samsung Electronics. Intel is pushing to strengthen its business after reentering the foundry (contract chip manufacturing) market.
Intel's foundry business unit said on its official X (formerly Twitter) account on the 15th (local time) that Vice President Han Seung-hoon (Shawn Han) of Samsung Electronics will join next month as senior vice president (SVP) and general manager of the foundry institutional sector.
Vice President Han will report to Executive Vice President (EVP) Naga Chandrasekaran, who oversees Intel's foundry business. Vice President Chandrasekaran said of Vice President Han, "He has built valuable expertise in the semiconductor industry over 30 years at Samsung, and most recently led sales operations at Samsung Foundry," adding, "Since 1996, he has participated in the development of various logic process nodes and has impressive technical insights." He added, "Vice President Han joins us as we strengthen our overall foundry capabilities along with process technology and advanced packaging," and "His leadership will be an important asset to our team."
According to market research firm TrendForce, Taiwan's TSMC held a 69.9% share of the foundry market last year. Samsung Electronics ranks second, but its share is 7.2%, a wide gap.
Intel entered the foundry business in 2012 but pulled out in about six years due to weak performance. It announced a reentry into foundry in 2021, but it has yet to break into the global top 10. However, after deciding recently to join the "Terafab," an ultra-large semiconductor production base pushed by Elon Musk, Tesla chief executive officer (CEO), it is being assessed that growth in the foundry institutional sector could materialize.