SK hynix talks semiconductor cooperation with Qualcomm

Cristiano Amon, left, Qualcomm’s president and CEO, and Park Jung-ho, SK hynix vice chairman and co-CEO, pose for a photo in Las Vegas on Wednesday. [SK HYNIX]

Memory chip maker SK hynix discussed possible cooperation in semiconductor businesses with Qualcomm in Las Vegas.

SK hynix said that its top executives, including Vice Chairman and co-CEO Park Jung-ho, met with Cristiano Amon, Qualcomm CEO, on Wednesday ahead of the CES 2023 tech fair.

The CES 2023 tech fair, which kicked off on Thursday in Las Vegas, is a four-day event.

The meeting came amid the San Diego, California-based chip designer’s business expansion into automotive semiconductors and internet-of-things devices.

SK hynix hopes to expand its chip supply to big names in the global market, such as Qualcomm.

“The leaders met at the right time when Qualcomm Technologies is expanding its realm of business,” said a SK hynix spokesperson in a release.

“We expect the meetings to pave the way for more active exchanges between the companies and provide our industry-top memory solutions.”

Park said t“we will explore various business opportunities with our technology through cooperation with global tech companies.”

SK hynix introduced its high-performing memory technologies including the latest solid-state drive (SSD) at the tech show.
Named PS1010, the SSD features 176-layer 4D NAND flash technology. The read speed increased 130 percent, while writing speed rose by 48 percent compared to the previous generation of products.

SK hynix’ HBM3, an advanced type of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) chip, and Compute Express Link (CXL)-based memory capable of flexible expansion of memory capacity and performance, were displayed at the tech show.

CXL is an industry-standard interconnection that boosts the efficiency of data processing by maintaining the memory coherency of data stored in different locations.

Qualcomm, the world’s largest smartphone application processor provider, has been expanding its presence in the automotive sector over the years.

The chip designer introduced an automotive processor chip, named Snapdragon Ride Flex System-on-chip, that enables automated driving and digital cockpit on Wednesday.

Qualcomm will also supply chips to Hyundai Mobis, an auto part maker, for an integrated autonomous driving controller.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]