Samsung’s Lee looks beyond the next decade with 6G, system chips

Samsung Electronics Co. Vice Chairman Jay Y. Lee said the company will pursue investment in future businesses including sixth-generation mobile networks and system semiconductors as the South Korean tech giant faces a rapidly changing global business environment that has already put pressure on profit.

Lee, the company's de facto leader, last week held discussions with Samsung executives on potential collaboration with platform companies on 6G mobile networks, blockchain technologies and artificial intelligence, Samsung said in an emailed statement on Sunday.

It's the first time that Lee has publicly discussed the potential for 6G technology, as Samsung and rivals including Apple Inc. and Huawei Technologies Co. race to commercialise services based on 5G networks, which launched in South Korea in April.

"We should challenge ourselves with a resolution to make new foundations, moving beyond the scope of protecting our past achievements," Lee said in the statement.

In addition to guidance on investment plans for its system semiconductors, the executives also reviewed risk-response plans for Samsung's chip business and discussed challenges posed by structural changes in the technology industry, according to the statement.

Samsung's statement didn't specifically mention ongoing trade tensions between the U.S. and China or bans on rival Huawei, two issues that have weighed on the global economic outlook and complicated supply chains for manufacturers.

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