People walk past an advertisement for the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge smartphone in Berlin, Germany. Getty Images Samsung is planning to set up an artificial intelligence (AI) research center, it announced Wednesday. The center will be established between the mobile and consumer electronics businesses that form two of three of Samsung's major divisions. The South Korean electronics giant said it was making these minor organizational changes in order to "quickly respond to market changes." HS Kim, the head of the consumer electronics division, will head up Samsung Research. Samsung did not say where the AI center will be based. The company also said that Young Sohn, Samsung's chief strategy officer, will have a "strengthened" role to look for new business areas for all the business groups. This includes mobile, consumer electronics, and device solutions, which contains the fast-growing semiconductor unit. Sohn led Samsung's $8 billion acquisition of Harman last year. The latest changes come after Samsung announced a shakeup of its leadership in October, where it replaced its CEO.
Samsung has followed up on its leadership reshuffle in October with the creation of an artificial intelligence research centre. Led by HS Kim, head of the consumer electronics division, the as-yet-unlocated centre will be positioned between Samsung's mobile and consumer electronics divisions. The South Korean firm said the restructuring would enable it to "quickly respond to market changes". In addition, Samsung said it was strengthening chief strategy officer Young Sohn's position to support him in finding new business areas.