Samsung is reported to have set up an investment firm for chip startups in San Jose, California. The investment firm is called Samsung Oak Holdings and it was incorporated in San Jose on June 6th, however, the company has not publicly disclosed its business. A Korean news outlet quoted a Samsung official in a report saying “Samsung Oak Holdings is a holding firm that mainly invests in start-ups or ventures for Samsung’s device solution division.”
In case you are not aware, Samsung's Device Service division looks after four crucial businesses – system large-scale integration, memory chips, storage systems and liquid-crystal displays. The location in San Jose puts Samsung Oak Holdings in the proximity of a burgeoning startup landscape where it can take its pick and decide to invest in and work with upcoming companies that are working in areas that align with Samsung's larger interests. Now the company hasn't confirmed whether this holding firm has been created just for the purpose of investing in startups working on mobile chips but industry watchers believe that this is a move by Samsung to improve its footing in the non-memory chip sector where it lags behind major players like Qualcomm.
