[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Electronics recently opened a research and development center for its foundry business, industry sources said on May 21.

They noted that Samsung, which has emerged as one of the major leaders of the global chip industry, is currently seeking to catch up with No. 1 player Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company in the foundry sector. Samsung is currently the fourth-largest player in the global foundry industry.

According to the sources, Samsung opened the R&D center under the crucial device solution arm, which oversees the company’s critical chip business. The new center is focused on bolstering Samsung‘s capabilities in the foundry business, the sources added.

The new center adds to Samsung’s existing eight research bodies under the device solution division, namely memory, system LSI, semiconductor, package, LED, production technology, software and display centers.

By Song Seung-hyun and newswires (ssh@heraldcorp.com)