“Galaxy AP”
Samsung Electronics is moving to expand its smartphone brand Galaxy to the System LSI Division, which is engaged in component manufacturing. The idea is to boost its competitiveness in the component manufacturing sector by applying the same brand to the application processor (AP) segment.
According to industry sources, the System LSI Division of Samsung Electronics is proceeding with the so-called Galaxy Project. “The division established an AP development plan for next year last month, and the Galaxy Project was kicked off around that time,” said an industry insider. It is thought that the goal of the project is to become the global number one in not only the smartphone and memory industries but also the AP sector by refusing to remain simply a foundry for Apple and Qualcomm.
Samsung Electronics is striving to increase the number of global number one products. According to market research firm Strategy Analytics, Samsung sold 88.4 million units of smartphones in the third quarter of this year, more than double the sales volume of Apple at 33.8 million. In the memory industry, Samsung has topped the global market for years.
Meanwhile, its AP business is on a downward spiral. Strategy Analytics’ data show that the AP market share of Samsung Electronics was 15.1% in Q1 2011 and 11.2% in Q4 2011, but after two years has dropped to 9.4% in Q1 and 6.8% in Q2 this year.
Industry experts are predicting that its Exynos brand currently in commercial use and the Hellen, which is the code name for its 64-bit AP development project, will be integrated into the Galaxy brand once the Galaxy Project turns out to be successful.