Multimedia content is wave of the future

Hwang Chang-gyu

TAIPEI ― The global trend in mobile devices toward multimedia content comes hand in hand with development of semiconductor technology, Korea’s top semiconductor expert said.
Hwang Chang-gyu, president of Samsung Electronics’ semiconductor division, said the content being used on mobile devices such as laptops and cellular phones is evolving toward multimedia. Mr. Hwang is the name behind “Hwang’s Law,” which refers to Samsung’s ability to double the density of its flash chips every year.
“From text, we went to photos and now video. You can watch TV anywhere and handsets are evolving to smart computers,” Mr. Hwang said. He spoke at a press conference and delivered a keynote speech yesterday at the Samsung Mobile Solution Forum,
As handsets evolve, chips are being simplified, he said. Mr. Hwang also said that Samsung isn’t threatened by recent announcements of chip development by competitors. Hynix Semiconductor recently announced that it would create flash chips in tandem with SanDisk, and Intel said that it will build a chip factory in China.
“Who is leading the technology and producing new products earlier than others? Who is competitive in creating a new market and leading the industry? Companies that make new, fancy, tiny products first work with us, and we are strengthening our strategy on that point,” he said. Mr. Hwang said the memory chip market would be flat in the first half of the year, but grow in the second half of 2007, boosted by Windows Vista. “The different aspect of Vista is its 3D graphics, which is different from conventional operating systems, providing a complete multimedia environment. This requires a lot of memory; not only density but high-speed graphic applications,” he said.

By Wohn Dong-hee Staff Writer [wohn@joongang.co.kr]