With the rapid growth in the semiconductor industry, it is commonplace to see the use of semiconductors in daily use. Within this development of the industry, it hard not to see the contributions of the KAIST Electrical Engineering Alumni. In this winter issue of the EE Newsletter, we interviewed former president Hyung-kyu Lim who graduated with the second graduating class of Korea Advanced Institute of Science’s (KAIS) Department of Electrical Engineering, and is often quoted to be the man who led the legendary title that Samsung Semiconductor now holds. This interview focused on Dr. Lim’s 30 years of experience in the field and the industry at the time. We also asked for his comments as the president of the alumni association.
Q. What do you do nowadays and what were your experiences working in Samsung?
A. Currently I am an advisor to the CEO. I also participate in Korea’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Club and give talks in various universities. The talks usually revolve around the information technology revolution and Samsung Electronics. I’m also interested in how general trends in science and technology are connected into the industry, so I try to keep an eye out. The continuous innovations in the industrial society that we have today and the analysis of the societal changes that occur as a result are very interesting phenomena, but since nobody is around to teach about it, it is something I have to study and follow on my own free time. In the first few years of the past 30 years, I worked as a researcher and in the latter years became the manager in the memoryless business, CEO, vice president, CTO, and various other titles.
