이 기사는 2021년 12월 09일 08시06분 thebell에 표출된 기사입니다

Samsung Electronics has appointed Kang Inyup, president and general manager of its system LSI business, as the president and head of Device Solutions Americas (DSA) as part of its annual personnel reshuffle, a move that underlines the growing importance of the US market for the South Korean tech giant.

The appointment, announced on Tuesday, marks the first time Samsung named a president-level executive to lead its US semiconductor operations. Previously the position was taken by the company’s vice president-level or lower executives.

Kang will be replacing current DSA head and executive vice president Jeong Jae-heon, who has served the role for the last two years. The number of executives in Samsung’s US semiconductor unit has continued to increase to nine this year, compared to six in 2012.

Kang is one of Samsung’s key leaders with deep technical expertise in semiconductors. Before joining Samsung in 2010, he spent 12 years at Qualcomm where he led cellular modem developments. Among his notable achievements at Samsung is leading an effort to develop the company’s own mobile processor Exynos.

His appointment is in line with Samsung’s push into foundry services and system chips. The company announced last month it would build its new $17 billion chip foundry plant in the city of Taylor in Texas.

DSA oversees Samsung’s overall semiconductor operations in the US, including production, research and development, marketing and customer services. Samsung’s mobile and consumer electronics business has its own US operations, Samsung Electronics North America.

The DSA headquarters are in Silicon Valley, the hub of the US tech industry, with the new building completed in 2015 to consolidate its dispersed local workforce. Lee Jae-yong, the company’s vice chairman, visited the DSA campus during his recent trip to the US and stressed the need to reshape the company as “a new Samsung”.

“We expect (Kang’s) expertise in system semiconductors and global business experience will contribute to our goal of developing new semiconductor technologies and new markets,” Samsung Electronics said. (Reporting by Hye-ran Kim)