Samsung Electronics-automotive chips

▲ This file photo taken on Aug. 9, 2021, shows the corporate flag of Samsung Group at its office building in Seoul. (Yonhap)

Samsung Electronics-automotive chips

Samsung Electronics to manufacture fabless Ambarella's automotive chips

SEOUL, Feb. 21 (Yonhap) -- Samsung Electronics Co. said Tuesday it will manufacture advanced automotive semiconductors for U.S. chip design company Ambarella.

Samsung will produce the Santa Clara-based chip company's automotive AI central domain controller CV3-AD685, using its 5-nanometer (nm) process technology.

Ambarella's CV3-AD685 System-on-Chip (SoC) is used for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, which serve as the brain of an autonomous and self-driving vehicle, Samsung said.

SoC is a single chip that includes main processor, graphics processor and memory.

"This collaboration will help transform the next generation of autonomous driving vehicle safety systems by bringing new levels of AI processing performance, power and reliability," Samsung said in a press release.

The world's largest memory chip maker said its 5nm process vastly enhanced Ambarella's artificial intelligence capabilities.

Samsung said it will continue to boost the competitiveness of its foundry business using its advanced chipmaking technology, and try to secure new clients in the fast growing automotive chip market.

Samsung has stepped up its efforts to enhance its foundry, or contract chip manufacturing, business.

For the fourth quarter, its foundry business posted record quarterly sales, and profit also increased year-on-year on the back of "advanced node capacity expansion, as well as customer base and application area diversification," the company said. But it did not offer exact figures.

Samsung is a distant second in the foundry market with a 13 percent market share, falling far behind Taiwan's TSMC with a 60 percent share in the fourth quarter, according to Counterpoint Research.

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