Samsung Expands Foundry Activity in U.S.

Online staff -- Electronic News, 3/21/2006

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. today announced the appointment of Ana Molnar Hunter as VP of technology for its U.S. subsidiary, Samsung Semiconductor Inc., as the company plans to increase its foundry business marketing activities in the Americas. 

Prior to her Samsung appointment, Hunter spent the last 15 years working in the semiconductor foundry industry in various positions as a consultant; VP of U.S. operations for Communicant Semiconductor Technologies AG in Germany; and VP of EDA and customer services for Chartered.

Market analysts expect the overall foundry business to reach $39 billion by 2009, according to Samsung. To capitalize on the growing trend among high-tech companies of using a fabless or fab-lite business model, Samsung said it has assembled a strong foundry business team in the U. S. with Hunter at the helm to lead foundry customer activities in North America.

“With further consolidation taking place in the high-tech sector, more companies will turn to high-end foundries for their manufacturing, and we look forward to Ms. Hunter’s contribution in working with such companies” said Jon Kang, senior VP of technical marketing for Samsung Semiconductor, in a statement. “We are one of the few companies with the financial resources to maintain the high level of investment required for advanced technology manufacturing plants and R&D.”

Industry experts believe that a commercially viable deep sub-micron 300mm fab requires a minimum $3 billion in capital investment, said Samsung.