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Samsung Secures $6.4 Billion in US Government Grants for Chip Manufacturing Expansion in Texas

Global leader in semiconductor technology Samsung Electronics recently revealed that it has obtained US government funds totaling $6.4 billion to expand its chip manufacturing facilities in Texas. The United States’ ability to produce chips domestically will be greatly enhanced by this huge investment, especially in sectors like aerospace, defence, and automotive.

The 2022 Chips and Science Act, a piece of legislation signed into law by President Joe Biden, provides the financing for this expansion. The act’s goal is to improve and revive the country’s output of cutting-edge computer chips. It is anticipated that the government assistance and private investments would total more than $40 billion, which will significantly strengthen the semiconductor sector.

By establishing a cutting-edge semiconductor ecosystem in Texas, the planned initiative would lead the state to the forefront of chip production.

Two production facilities that can produce two- and four-nanometer chips, which are essential for cutting-edge technological applications, are part of the expansion plans.

A specific research and development facility will also be built in order to promote creativity and technical breakthroughs in the semiconductor industry.

A packaging factory that assembles and packages chip components is another component of the project.

It is anticipated that the first manufacturing plant will open in 2026, and the second facility will open in 2027.

Additionally, the funding will help Samsung expand its current semiconductor production plant in Austin, Texas, strengthening the company’s position in the area.

The project is expected to significantly strengthen the local economy by generating over 4,500 manufacturing employment and around 17,000 construction jobs.

By increasing its capacity for chip production, Samsung will help achieve the target of having 20% of the world’s cutting-edge chips made in the US by the end of the decade.

Critical sectors including automotive, aerospace, and defence are seeing a surge in demand for sophisticated chips, which will be met in part by the expanded manufacturing capacity.

Additionally, by allowing Samsung to produce semiconductors directly for the Defence Department and lowering dependency on outside suppliers, the expansion will strengthen national security in the United States.

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Samsung Silently Adds Bitcoin Support for Blockchain Phones

Samsung’s Galaxy S10 range launched in March with the “Blockchain Keystore” feature offering the storage of cryptocurrencies and transactions for Ether and ERC-20 tokens. Samsung recently added Bitcoin to the Blockchain Keystore, on the blockchain-enabled smartphones.

The newly added bitcoin features to the developer kit are available on the S10 models, as well as the Note10 and Note10+ devices.

The blockchain features are currently only available in South Korea, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, and Switzerland.

According to the information on the Samsung Developer’s website, cryptocurrency Klay launched by the Korean messaging app, Kakao is supported as well.

Source: Samsung

Samsung is still in the process of developing a blockchain mainnet based on Ethereum and may release its own token in the near future.

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Samsung to Expose Its Well-Crafted Blockchain Strategy In Annual Developers Conference

The electronics giant Samsung, according to a press release on September 2, has revealed its intentions to present it’s blockchain-based corporate strategy next month at the annual Samsung Developer Conference 2019 in San Josè, California.

The annual Samsung Developer Conference

This recent update made by Samsung was followed by a move made last week, where the company had integrated Bitcoin into Samsung signature mobile wallet, this wallet was originally developed only for Ethereum and ERC-20 tokens. The company has been seen showing a lot of interest in working with blockchain inclined solutions and products.. the report has disclosed that Samsung would unveil it’s the strategic approach towards blockchain technology and products at the conference which will be held on the 29th and 30th of October in San Josè, California. The event was last held in San Francisco since 2013 and has since become the pillar for showcasing the recent happenings in the company.

Samsung in the world of blockchain

Integrating Bitcoin wallets into Samsung could be seen as a major milestone for blockchain as it would be available for several S10 models (S10e, S10, S10+, and S10 5G), even for the Note10 and Note10+ devices, this would be another huge platform for mass-adoption. Furthermore, the wallet will also be designed to support 33 types of cryptocurrencies including BTC, ETH, BAT, NPXS, and MKR.

This is not the first time Samsung will be indicating strong interest for this space, as rumors had spread on June 2019 that it was going to roll out its own “Samsung coin” which was supposed to be an ERC-20 token. Although these rumors were not confirmed.

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The Story Behind Kakao and Klaytn's Blockchain Dominance in Korea

During Hong Kong Fintech Week 2019 held on Nov. 4-8, Zachary Keats, the Director of Corporate Development at Klaytn and Ground X, shared his insights on blockchain adoption initiatives in Korea. Kakao, a South Korean internet company offering a platform of services including messaging, cab-hailing, and payments, has developed Klaytn, the blockchain business arm of the company.

Getting to know Kakao

As many people are familiar with WeChat and other mobile applications that span from messaging, payments, ride-hailing, Kakao is the South Korean version of these applications.

“97% of people in Korea are using Kakao, it’s an extremely loyal and dedicated user-base we have to work with,” Keats elaborated. “We’re very excited to be the only public blockchain platforms that have been launched by a public company, as Kakao is a roughly a $9 billion publicly traded entity and it has backed Klaytn’s platforms. We also launched our mainnet in June of this year.”

Kakao’s captive audience as leverage for Klaytn

Keats explained that Klaytn aware that there are a number of messenger and social media networking sites that are launching a blockchain or using blockchain platforms such as Line, Telegram, Facebook, etc.

“While we don’t have as many users as Facebook does, we have an extremely captive audience in Korea. Kakao is unavoidable in Korea, for messaging, cab-hailing, and payment services, it is a dominant ecosystem,” he explained. “In terms of bringing real use cases and users to our platform, we are taking this opportunity to bring 50 million Koreans to the blockchain. At the same time, we are bringing third-party decentralized applications (DApps) on board, and we have made about 70 partnerships with the apps that already have existing crypto user bases.”

“Next year, we expect more integrations between Klaytn and the Kakao messenger and the suite of services that Kakao provides. Korea and Kakao can lead that next mass adoption experiment, as Koreans will be able to see the ability to use blockchain for their everyday lives,” he added.

Klaytn’s collaboration with large Korean banks

Two dominant Korean banks, Woori Bank and Shinhan Bank has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Klaytn to explore the applications of blockchain technology. Keats shed light on the current blockchain regulation in Korea: “Blockchain regulation in Korea is still a bit grey, it’s still quite unclear what you can and cannot do. I believe that the government is very pro-blockchain, but maybe not pro-token.”

These financial institutions have been interested in the back-end applications of blockchain and how it can help with know-your-client (KYC) functions as well as data validation issues. “From this perspective, they are experimenting with us to see how they can best achieve their needs through blockchain technology,” said Keats.

“Klaytn also has a very interesting capability, called sidechains, which will be launched soon. This capability allows enterprises to operate their own private blockchain network, but selectively plug into the Klaytn public network as well,” Keats announced. This is a hybrid approach for enterprises that need to keep some data off-chain but are interested in sharing other data on a public blockchain. “We are very big fans of interoperability, and I think the future multi-chain.”

What has Klaytn been doing in the DApp space?

“We’ve been very aggressive in trying to bring DApps to the Klaytn platform, and we’ve made partnerships with about 70 of them. The first batch was heavily focused in Korea because we have had a lot of mindshare there,” answered Keats.

“Roughly half of them are now coming from outside of Korea, in areas such as Southeast Asia, China, even Europe, and South America, and they’re coming in verticals that are quite diverse. Obviously, gaming is a big focus for us, but also lifestyle, healthcare, and even finance to a degree. We have a number of the top applications currently listed on dapp.com.”

The blockchain-powered phone – Klaytn Phone

Photo: KlaytnPhone. Source: Klaytnphone.com

GroundX, Klaytn’s blockchain affiliate, has partnered with Samsung Electronics to release the Klaytn Phone to allow users to interact with blockchain-powered services. The Klaytn Phone project aimed to bring real usability to the average mobile user in terms of blockchain applications and cryptocurrency.

“If you buy a Klaytnphone, you will automatically have access to several of our DApps. There are also thousands of Klay tokens already loaded on the phone, which allows users to use it with ease – that’s our theme, to make it user-friendly,” Keats added. “Blockchain is actually a key focus on the Samsung Group. They are investing in several different properties, wallets, applications, and more. We are very excited to see that they wanted to support Klaytn and the Klaytn Phone.”

Beyond Korea: Future plans to go global

Kakao has a huge dominance in Korea, as it has a loyal user base, kind of similar to a sandbox to play with, in Korea, to bring broader adoption and to prove blockchain as a mass adopted technology at least in one core market. “We hope to achieve something that hasn’t been done in other regional markets or globally for that matter,” said Keats.

Part of the reason Kakao started the Klaytn initiative was to bring a lot of Kakao’s content overseas. Some of the core markets are in Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand. Klaytn is interested in getting into the Greater China market as well, as many of Klaytn’s application partners are coming from China as well as Southeast Asia.

“Our goal is to prove adoption at a high level in Korea, then moves towards being a regional Asia Pacific player for the next generation of blockchain,” he said.

Samsung Collaborates with Israel’s Credorax On Automated Blockchain Platform For Merchants

Samsung SDS, a division of the South Korean tech giant that provides IT solutions, has partnered with Israel-based fintech and payment service provider Credorax, to tap the European payments market. The two firms will work together to build a blockchain-based settlement solution, which helps automate account reconciliation for European merchants and banks.

Inside Samsung’s Quest to Transform Payment Sector

The decentralized solution will use Samsung SDS’s Nexledger Universal blockchain platform to allow clients to automatically reconcile remittances, invoices, and payments with their bank records. The solution aims to develop efficiencies by automatically logging payment data on bank records and ledgers.

This solution will integrate into a payment platform, built using Samsung SDS’s Al-based technology, known as Brity Works, to automate various work processes. Based on this partnership, Samsung SDS is looking forward to entering the lucrative payments markets across Europe.

Hong Won-Pyo, Samsung SDS CEO and president, stated that the collaboration with Credorax, which already has offered solutions to firms across the wider European region, will enable the Korean tech giant to gain a foothold in the region’s payments sector. Hong Won-Pyo said, “Working in collaboration with Credorax, which specializes in providing payment solutions, will enable Samsung SDS to attempt to broaden its business in the European sectors that are in need to achieve digital transformation.”

Credorax works with e-commerce retailers and various merchants across the European Union and the European Economic Area.

A strategic plan to move into a lucrative business

On Feb. 18 2020, Samsung SDS changed its article of association to include e-finance as one of its key business areas. The firm clarified that the change was initiated to help new platform-based financial businesses that use big data and to enhance collaboration with other companies in the industry.

However, Samsung is also progressively making its move to enter into the blockchain arena. Its smartphones already support decentralized apps, developing a mobile-based blockchain ecosystem. The firm also has stakes in various blockchain startups, including blockchain startup Blocko hardware wallet maker Ledger, etc.

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Samsung Launches New Secure Element Chip to Enhance Data Protection for Crypto Transactions

South Korean tech giant Samsung has announced a new revolutionary turnkey security solution to secure cryptocurrency transactions on its smartphones and tablets.

Cryptocurrency transactions are one of the primary purposes of Samsung’s new Secure Element chip, which is expected to be available in Q3 2020.

The solution involves a Secure Element (SE) chip S3FV9RR, which is Common Criteria Evaluation Assurance Level (CC EAL) 6+ certified. The new SE chip along with enhanced software is designed to offer higher protection for tasks including booting, isolated storage, mobile payment, and other applications.

Dongho Shin, the senior vice president of System LSI marketing at Samsung Electronics said, “In this era of mobility and contact-less interactions, we expect our connected devices, such as smartphones or tablets, to be highly secure so as to protect personal data and enable fintech activities such as mobile banking, stock trading, and cryptocurrency transactions.

The new S3FV9RR chip is an enhanced turnkey following the first-generation solution (S3K250AF) announced in February. The new turnkey solution has twice the secure storage capacity and supports hardware-based root of trust (RoT), a secure boot, and device authentication that takes mobile security to the next level.

Bitcoin support for blockchain phones

Samsung makes up 19 percent of global smartphone sales, selling over 300 million phones in the last year. Samsung’s Galaxy S10 range launched a year ago with the Blockchain Keystore feature offering the storage of cryptocurrencies and transactions for Ether and ERC-20 tokens. Samsung added Bitcoin to the Blockchain Keystore, on the blockchain-enabled smartphones.

The added Bitcoin features to the developer kit are available on the S10 models, as well as the Note10 and Note10+ devices. Samsung is still in the process of developing a blockchain mainnet based on Ethereum and may release its own token in the near future.

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Islamic Development Bank to Create Blockchain Smart Credit Platform with Samsung's Blocko

It is a known fact that blockchain technology can help drive a tremendous change in the financial services sector. Central Banks are developing future-oriented economies and are devising means to align with the drastic changes that blockchain technology and digital assets are driving. While some are actively developing their state-backed digital currencies, Middle East powerhouse, Saudi Arabia is opening options for a blockchain-backed credit system.

This innovative project leveraging blockchain technology was initiated by the Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI), the research arm of the country’s Islamic Development Bank (IDB). The IRTI partnered with Samsung backed blockchain provider Blocko in an alliance that comes as part of the E24P.

The E24P is a collective of technology experts, distributed financial services providers, state-level government sponsors, and leading research institutes in the UAE and the UK working with clients in high-growth economies and sectors across the Middle East, Africa, and South East Asia.

Towards a Functional Credit System

The IRTI partnership with Blocko comes as part of the E24P regional consortium launched by Blocko in April 2020. This partnership will help create a functional blockchain-backed credit system that will help minimize the risks associated with credit financing to businesses and consumers.

With the projection of the Islamic Finance sector to expand to $3.78 trillion dollars by 2022, the IDB is eager to address any bottleneck that may impede this growth. The IDB, known as a non-interest bank, faces hurdles in the timely repayment of credit facilities by borrowers. The blockchain credit system currently under development will help put an incentive for timely repayment of loans while also helping to automatically donate late payment charges to the appropriate charities.

The smart credit management system will be built on the Aergo Hybrid Blockchain and with its many functionalities which also include insurance options for lenders will help create an efficient credit system.

Future Blockchain Engagements

Saudi Arabia is renowned for having friendly regulations with respect to blockchain technology. The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) has profiled and believes blockchain and cryptocurrencies are redefining the future of finance. Through SAMA’s active engagements, we can conclude that the country is well-positioned to lead the region into a blockchain empowered future.

Bank of Korea Acquires Samsung-Backed BankSign Blockchain Platform, Seeking to Deploy the Platform at Local Banks

The Bank of Korea has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Korea Financial Settlement Service (KFSS) to take over the management of BankSign blockchain authentication certificate service.

In 2018, the Korean Federation of Banks collaborated with Samsung SDS, a subsidiary of Samsung Group to launch the BankSign to offer blockchain solutions to local banks.

The BankSign is a blockchain-based authentication service designed to transform mobile and online banking by enabling faster and secure verifications.

With confirmation from one bank, the blockchain service enables users to carry out multiple account transactions across different banks. The service is recognized as a gamechanger not only for the banking industry but also for the mainstream blockchain adoption rates in the country.

The Central Bank Responding to Change

On 13 July 2020, South Korea’s central bank announced acquiring the Samsung-backed blockchain authentication services for the further use case of the blockchain platform in the Korean banking industry.

The BankSign blockchain platform is set to replace the “digital ID” (DID) system being used by banks in the country. Although the digital authentication certificate service is integrated into many banking and government services, it fails to offer proper services to clients because of several flaws in it.

Based on the partnership, both the Bank of Korea and the KFSS plan to completely replace the digital authentication service by BankSign by the end of 2020.

A bank representative mentioned: “I expect through that collaboration, we will be able to realize cost reduction, service improvements, and discovery of new businesses,” with the assistance of resources provided by the MOU.

The new system is expected to significantly enhance user experience with value-added services, reduce operational costs, and help banks to discover potential and new revenue streams.

The coronavirus pandemic has rapidly increased the demand for mobile and online banking services as a means to avoid face-to-face contact. The BankSign blockchain platform automates several mundane manual tasks like documentation management, payment settlements, and data consultation, hence paving the way for a digital future.

South Korea Seeking to Bring Crypto to the Mainstream

South Korea continues to be a vital market for cryptocurrency. As a result, authorities have been making recommendations to consider legislation to bring crypto-assets into the mainstream. South Korea’s parliament recently put forward a bill that could see cryptocurrency profits taxed by up to 20%. However, after years of discussions, the government is expected to announce comprehensive details of how to tax crypto transactions.

South Korea is not the only country seeking to revise its tax law to cover cryptocurrencies. Australia, the UK, and the US all tax cryptocurrencies as assets. By developing a proper regulatory framework, South Korea is, in the long-run, positioning itself to benefit from new regulated markets. The legislation aims to help bring crypto-related activities in South Korea in line with the FATF’s requirements to prevent terrorist financing and money laundering by making rules for crypto transactions and requiring companies to adopt greater accountability.

Samsung Adds New Crypto Feature to Their Devices with “Stellar” Blockchain

Samsung device users can now securely store the private keys of their cryptocurrency wallet on their phone, with a recent add-on feature by the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF).

Stellar Feature for Samsung

Stellar, an open-source blockchain network developed by the SDF, has now been added to the Samsung Blockchain Keystore. The blockchain platform was developed by the non-profit organization in 2014. SDF’S ultimate goal is to revolutionize the digital economy by empowering Stellar users and making cryptocurrency trades more fluid and markets more accessible for investors.

The Stellar wallet and Blockchain Keystore is restricted to certain regions and only work on certain Samsung Galaxy Smartphones, which are currently Galaxy S20 Series, Galaxy Z Flip, Galaxy Note 10 Series, Galaxy Fold, Galaxy S10 series.

The importance of Private Keys Security

The Stellar platform adopted by Samsung will enable the management of private keys in a more secure and user-friendly way. This is groundbreaking for the blockchain community as well as for Samsung lovers since there has been a gap between technology lovers and cryptocurrency investors that developers have been hoping to narrow. By merging the two markets, finance and technology, cryptocurrency may see a rise in adoption and popularity.

Samsung “Blockchain Keystore”

Samsung GalaxyS10’s launch last March was particularly interesting for the crypto community, as the company introduced the “Blockchain Keystore,” which offered a selection of cryptocurrencies ranging from Ether tokens to Bitcoins.

The newly added crypto features were made available on Samsung S10, Note10, and Note10+ phone models. Their usage availabilities are however only available in certain countries, which are South Korea, United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, and Switzerland.

How Secure Are Your Software Wallets?

While software wallets that store private keys have been an available feature for phone and computer ware for quite some time, they have often had issues with proper security, as device sharing is common in the tech industry. Consequently, that can often result in applications “eavesdropping on the software” and stealing private keys. Once that happens, those in possession of the private keys have full control over a given investor’s digital assets. Cryptocurrency funds are from then on forward hard to recover and seldom successful.

EY-Led Consortium Submits Bid To Help Develop South Korea's CBDC

A consortium led by Ernst and Young subsidiary in Hanyoung has made the first and only bid to construct the business model for the Bank of Korea’s Central Bank Digital Currency project.

Accordig to reports from local news outlet ZDNet Korea, the consortium which also comprises of Samsung SDS and Naver line may be chosen for the BOK’s CBDC pilot system design if no other company submits a bid before the deadline revised to October 29.

With the project estimated to have a budget of 800 million Korean Won, the job to be done as described will be to design the complete business model for the proposed Digital Won and industry experts as noted by ZDNet Korea noted that only a few companies have the required expertise to carry this out.

EY, renowned as one of the Big Four auditing firms with strong accounting and consultancy background will be in charge of designing processes for each task necessary for the operation of the CBDC as a whole, while Samsung SDS and Naver Line will collaborate in the form of system architecture. Should there be no more bid submissions, a technology evaluation will be carried out on the EY led consortium and a passing score would be needed to get approved for the project.

EY’s Blockchain Solutions To Be Tested on a National Scale

EY has registered and launched several blockchain-based solutions with the latest being an enhancement of its blockchain analytics tool, the Explorer & Visualizer solution to investigate on-chain data. The blockchain competence of EY would however be tested on a grander level should its aligned consortium win the Bank of Korea’s bid.

Ernst & Young has been exploring the boundless capabilities of blockchain technology for a while now and it made a foray into the public space with its solution for public funds management launched in October 2019 .