Samsung eyes bigger 5G presence in US amid trade row

Tech giant unveils new 5G equipment

Samsung Electronics is seeking to improve its presence in the U.S. 5G network equipment market, at a time when many Chinese companies are facing a range of problems in expanding their business due to the ongoing competition between Washington and Beijing.

The tech giant held a rare virtual event Tuesday (KST) to promote its network technology vision and unveil new 5G chipsets that will be used in its next-generation 5G base stations.

The event was the first hosted by Samsung’s networks business division, signaling the company thinks this year will be a turning point for its global network business with more countries slated to launch faster 5G network services.

At a time when major countries, led by the United States, are banning

China’s Huawei from participating in their 5G networks due to security concerns, the event was part of Samsung’s strategy to increase its market share.

Following his predecessor, U.S. President Joe Biden has been moving to strengthen sanctions on Chinese tech firms, with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently proposing limiting purchases of equipment from Chinese firms, such

as ZTE, for security reasons.

Cheun Kyung-whoon, president and head of the networks division at Samsung Electronics, said the company has already secured more contracts for its 5G equipment, compared to previous ones for 4G LTE hardware.

“Riding on this rapid 5G growth, Samsung’s network business is expanding like never before. We are leading the 5G evolution as a close partner with major operators around the globe. Today, we’ve already signed more 5G contracts than we did for 4G. And we’ve shipped over 4 million 5G-ready radios to leading operators across the world,” Cheun said during the event.

The company also shared its vision for sixth-generation network technology, saying Samsung was “already preparing for 6G.”

This initiative to boost its share of the 5G network equipment market can be seen as a means to strengthen its leadership in 6G networks, which are expected to arrive between 2028 and 2030.

It remains to be seen whether Samsung can squeeze in between network equipment powerhouses such as Ericsson and Nokia, with its new 5G equipment. According to data from market tracker Dell’Oro, Huawei led the global 5G equipment market last December with a 31.4 percent share, followed by Ericsson with 28.9 percent, Nokia with 18.5 percent and ZTE with 10.9 percent. Samsung was fifth with 7.1 percent.