Paul Jacobs, chairman and CEO of Qualcomm, speaks at a “Global Alliance Project With Qualcomm” event in Seoul, Wednesday.
/ Courtesy of Qualcomm |
By Kim Yoo-chul
Staff Reporter
Qualcomm Inc, the world's biggest producer of chips used in mobile phones, plans to establish a research and development (R&D) center in South Korea for wireless technology.
Qualcomm Chairman and CEO Paul Jacobs met Samsung Group's heir-apparent Lee Jae-yong, its mobile chief Choi Gee-sung and LG Electronics CEO Nam Yong. The two companies are Qualcomm's key clients.
Samsung spokesmen declined to comment. But a high-ranking Samsung source told The Korea Times that Jacobs had met with Lee and Choi for further tie-ups in the wireless sector.
"CEO Nam and Jacobs discussed issues of mutual concern to strengthen their existing partnership," an LG Electronics spokesman said, Wednesday.
Samsung Electronics is the world's No. 2 handset maker, followed by LG Electronics. Qualcomm is the biggest supplier for the Korean mobile companies, supplying CDMA-based chips.
Jacobs said the San Diego, Calif.-based wireless company plans to invest in a company that could contribute its technological innovation plans.
"There are a lot of different opportunities. (Investment) could be wireless and also healthcare technologies," he said at a Global Alliance Project With Qualcomm event held in the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency's (KOTRA) headquarters in southern Seoul.
"Qualcomm is also investing in categories such as software, multimedia, hardware components and infrastructure," the CEO said at the conference.
Government officials said small- and medium-sized local companies who hope to strike a partnership with Qualcomm could submit detailed business plans by the end of September, with the final selection to come in October.
KOTRA officials told the newspaper that the San Diego company has begun reviewing possibilities in the area of R&D by joining hands with South Korean Information and Technology companies.
"Qualcomm believes emerging markets will continuously drive demand for low-end phones. A possible Mobile R&D Center will lift Qualcomm, Samsung and LG and local subcontractors, considering the steady popularity of 3G technology," an industry source said.
With strong faith in mobile phones and devices, Qualcomm Ventures (QCV) has steadily been investing in promising emerging markets such as India and China.
Since the beginning of its operations in India in 2007, QCV has invested in three Indian firms. In China, Qualcomm has license agreements with some 40 companies.
The firm developed the original CDMA technology, which has long been the dominant handset standard in South Korea.
yckim@koreatimes.co.kr
|
[단독] 르노삼성, 본사 모델로 한국 공략
