Top News of Samsung holds 1st-ever 6G forum to discuss next gen communications tech

Samsung is a South Korean company, originally founded as a grocery trading store by Lee in March 1938. The company forayed in the electronics industry in 1969 and its first electronic product was a black-and-white television. Soon, the company also started exporting its products and became a major electronic manufacturer in its home country. In 1970, the company acquired a 50 per cent stake in Korea Semiconductor.

Witnessing a rapid expansion in the early 1980s, the company established separate branches for its various electronics businesses. It is at this time that the company also made investments in two research & development institutes, which helped it become the market leader in information technology services. By the 1990s, the company had become one of the top five electronics makers in the world and was mainly known for its semiconductors, LCD screens and other technology products.

While 5G communication networks are still in the process of commercialization around the world and often face complaints from users about quality and speed, Sebastian said it was time to start preparing for 6G, reports Yon hap news agency.

Samsung Electronics on Friday held its first 6G forum with experts from academia and industry to discuss the future of communications technologies, in a bid to lead 6G research and development and standardization.

At the forum, titled 'The Next Hyper-Connected Experience for All,' global industry experts had presentations and discussions on the topics of 6G air interface and AI-based intelligent networks for 6G.

"We envision that 6G will provide ultimate experiences for humans and everything through the next level of hyper-connectivity, and this idea serves as the foundation of our 6G vision," Sebastian, president and head of Samsung Research, said during his speech.

"Shaping 6G will require many years, as we have seen with previous generations, and will need lots of discussion and collaborations among players in industry and academia," he added.

Samsung released a white paper earlier this month, laying out its vision for 6G, characterized as "ultra-wideband, ultra-low latency, ultra-intelligence and hyper specialization," and ways to secure global frequency bands for 6G.

Senior Vice President Charlie Zhang of Samsung Research America said while 6G technologies are still at an early stage, "a few emerging directions are taking shape and gaining momentum in academia and industry alike."

Samsung Research, which formed a research unit dedicated to 6G in 2019, said 6G technologies will enable truly immersive extended reality, high-fidelity mobile holograms and digital replicas, as often seen in science fiction movies. It also expected the performance of telecommunications networks to improve greatly. Also, users will be able to have connected experiences anytime, anywhere.

The South Korean tech giant has been working on developing unified global standards for mobile communications. It was among the first to commercialize 5G in April 2019.

It expected the standardization of 6G to be realized around 2025, which Samsung said would usher in the hyper-connected world by increasing communications speed and enabling mobile-based virtual reality experiences.

In September 2020, Samsung won a $6.64 billion deals to provide 5G communications solutions to Verizon. It was the largest network-related deal ever made by a South Korean firm.

Earlier this month, it signed another 5G equipment deal, believed to be worth more than 1 trillion won, with US wireless carrier DISH Network.