Samsung moves ex-Meta chip expert to its mobile division for AI bump

Samsung's mobile division is working on improving on-device AI and it will require semiconductor experts to provide a bump to those efforts.

The company has reportedly moved a semiconductor veteran who previously worked at Meta and Apple to MX as the head of the processor tech group at the mobile division.

Heonjae Ha has worked at some of the industry's top companies, including SK Hynix. He also worked at Apple for nearly four years before shifting to Meta. Samsung brought him over as a Corporate VP to direct the planning and execution of custom IP development in 2024. He was subsequently made the head of its SoC architecture team.

According to a new report out of South Korea, Ha has now been made the Head of AP Tech Group within Samsung's mobile division. This indicates a shift in how Samsung wants AI to be deeply engineered at the hardware level into its next generation of mobile devices.

His transfer also indicates that Samsung has effectively moved the SoC architecture team to the MX division. This will allow for closer collaboration between the teams that make the SoC and those that develop its new devices.

The role of this team will likely become more important for the mobile division in the future as the company seeks to enhance the AI capabilities of its devices that span everything from communication to cameras.