The largest South Korean business conglomerate, which in the Korean language is known as a "chaebol," pronounced "
chay-bil." Founded as a trading company in 1938 by Lee Byung-chul, the Samsung Group, now comprising more than 75 companies, diversified into textiles, insurance, food processing and other businesses. One of the largest tech companies in the world, Samsung Electronics makes chips, consumer electronics and smartphones. In the U.S., Samsung is known for its TVs and line of Galaxy smartphones (see
Galaxy S). Samsung has also manufactured chips for Apple's iPhone and NVIDIA.
Samsung in the U.S.
In 1997, Samsung began making memory chips in its semiconductor fab in Austin, Texas. A second fab opened in 2007 and flash memory was added to the product line. In 2011, system-on-chip (SoC) production began for mobile devices. See
SoC and
flash memory.
In 2021, Samsung broke ground for a new semiconductor plant in Taylor, Texas, about 30 miles from Austin. The 25-billion dollar foundry was one of the most complex manufacturing projects in U.S. history. Initial plans called for producing 4 nm chips in 2024; however, due to local humidity and industrial emissions, construction took much longer. The fab is expected to start in 2026. See
foundry and
chip feature size.