Now we are in a business,” Young Sohn, Samsung’s Silicon Valley-based president and chief strategy officer, told Reuters on Tuesday during the Web Summit conference in Lisbon.“The question is, can they do it alone?” Sohn asked about car companies’ ability to develop all the technology needed.Samsung, the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturer, bought Harman last year for USD 8 billion. It firmly puts Samsung in the picture of the automotive industry,” he said. “If you look at any other company in IT, we spend more money than anybody,” he said.“Now it’s almost 20 months, still not two years (since the purchase), but I would say the honeymoon is over.He added, “we are always interested in partnerships, investment, acquisitions.“So you will continue to see us invest, continue to spend, but right now the memory cycle is such that there is a bit of oversupply of NAND (memory) so we decided to slow down.“They (car companies) have to navigate things like: should they adopt Android, or not? What do they do with their data?

Do they give it to Google? These are new problems they haven’t seen before,” he said.Asked about a drop of 27 per cent in Samsung’s capital expenditure this year, Sohn said that reflected a calmer cycle in the flash memory market and not other areas of spending.“The company (Harman) made its numbers, in terms of revenue growth and profit.. and the way we serve our food,” adding though that he was optimistic about AI and that it will create more jobs. And we continue to expect double-digit growth, which I think is really good. As autonomous car technology develops, Sohn said Samsung was working with automobile companies on development of 5G networks, needed for autonomous driving.Samsung, the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturer, bought Harman last year for USD 8 billion.

Harman, known for its audio speakers, has a large automotive business encompassing navigation services, onboard entertainment systems and vehicle networks.Taking part in Europe’s biggest tech conference, Sohn predicted that artificial intelligence will “disrupt everything China Engine component tensioners Manufacturers as we know it, from publishing, all the way to travel .

He cautioned that full autonomous driving is still a while away, although, on a limited scale, it could happen “very soon” in some parts of China..”He said last year Samsung spent USD 46 billion, including on R&D. (Photo: AP) Samsung Electronics expects strong growth at its audio and auto electronics unit Harman, which has put the company “firmly in the picture of the automotive industry” as it eyes the autonomous car market, its chief strategy officer said.(Source).”As autonomous car technology develops, Sohn said Samsung was working with automobile companies on the development of 5G networks, needed for autonomous driving