AT&T and Samsung Create America's First Manufacturing-focused 5G "Innovation Zone"

DALLAS, Sept. 26, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- AT&T* is working with Samsung Electronics America, Inc. (SEA) and Samsung Austin Semiconductor, LLC, (SAS) to create America's first manufacturing-focused 5G "Innovation Zone" in Austin, Texas. The goal of the testbed will be to provide a real-world understanding of how 5G can impact manufacturing and provide insight into the future of a Smart Factory. 

The Innovation Zone will sit within Samsung Austin Semiconductor, one of the world's most advanced semiconductor fabrication facilities. It will feature AT&T's 5G wireless technology with Samsung's 5G network equipment.

"This is a first. We'll be testing the real-world impact 5G will have on the manufacturing industry," said Mo Katibeh, chief marketing officer, AT&T Business. "Ultimately, we plan to use what we learn from this 5G Innovation Zone to help create better technology experiences and improvements in Samsung Austin Semiconductor's plant along with creating a future blueprint for people and businesses across all industries."

"As we evolve into a Smart Factory, Samsung Austin Semiconductor is continuously focused on leveraging data and automation to increase system performance," said Dr. Sang-Pil Sim, president, Samsung Austin Semiconductor. "This collaboration with Samsung Electronics America and AT&T will help us test how a 5G network can improve mobility, performance and efficiencies within our plant."

"We're hard at work deploying our commercial mobile 5G network for people and businesses in parts of a dozen cities by the end of this year," said Igal Elbaz, senior vice president, Wireless Technology, AT&T Communications. "Seeing a number of technologies enhanced and improved by 5G at a large manufacturing plant will give us an exciting glimpse into a 5G world, which is closer than ever."

We will work together and may explore many different use cases and technologies in the Innovation Zone, such as:

• 4K video as a sensor with analytics to improve plant security and detection response  
• Industrial IoT sensors that monitor for environmental and equipment conditions, like vibration, temperature and speed
• Location services to improve safety

"This testbed demonstrates Samsung's expertise in innovation spanning chipsets to devices to network technology," said Wilf Norrlinger, vice president, Networks Division, Samsung Electronics America. "We're excited to expand upon our recent commercial networks agreements with AT&T to bring 5G technologies to the forefront of industry, and advance specific use cases to accelerate new market opportunities."

5G promises to someday have a significant impact on Industry 4.0 connected manufacturing. It has the power to unlock new experiences in augmented reality, powerful machine learning and AI applications, intelligent robotics and better predictive maintenance. Combined with compute power at the Edge, this Innovation Zone will strive to show how Smart Manufacturing can evolve even further and strengthen the overall industry.  

AT&T works to bring all the right components together for our customers – edge-to-edge – from the premise, to the cloud and the endpoints wrapped in security.

About Samsung Austin Semiconductor, LLC
SAS is one of the most advanced semiconductor manufacturing facilities in the world with more than 3,000 employees and 2.45 million square feet of floor space. It is also home to Samsung Austin Research and Development Center (SARC) - a world-class R&D Center which develops high-performance, low-power, complex CPU and System IP architecture and designs for Samsung's System LSI division. SAS has broad semiconductor process technology offerings serving customers in various application areas including mobile, consumer, networking/high performance computing, IoT, RF and automotive. Since 1996, SAS has invested approximately $17 billion in its Austin, TX campus, making it one of the largest direct foreign investments in United States history.  Samsung Austin Semiconductor is a US-based subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. The Austin facility is one of the few semiconductor plants the company has outside South Korea. Visit www.samsung.com/us/sas.

About Samsung Electronics America, Inc.
Headquartered in Ridgefield Park, N.J., Samsung Electronics America, Inc. (SEA), is a recognized innovative leader in consumer electronics, mobile devices and enterprise solutions. A wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., SEA is pushing beyond the limits of today's technology and providing consumers and organizations with a portfolio of groundbreaking products in appliances, home entertainment, Internet of Things, mobile computing, smartphones, virtual reality, wireless infrastructure and wearables, in addition to offering leading content and services related to mobile payments, 360-degree VR video, customer support and more. Samsung is a pioneering leader in smartphones and HDTVs in the U.S. and one of America's fastest growing home appliance brands. To discover more about Samsung, please visit www.samsung.com. For the latest Samsung news, please visit news.samsung.com/us and follow us @SamsungNewsUS.

*About AT&T Communications
We help family, friends and neighbors connect in meaningful ways every day. From the first phone call 140+ years ago to mobile video streaming, we innovate to improve lives. We have the nation's largest and most reliable network and the nation's best network for video streaming.** We're building FirstNet just for first responders and creating next-generation mobile 5G. With DIRECTV and DIRECTV NOW, we deliver entertainment people love to talk about. Our smart, highly secure solutions serve over 3 million global businesses – nearly all of the Fortune 1000. And worldwide, our spirit of service drives employees to give back to their communities.

AT&T Communications is part of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T). Learn more at att.com/CommunicationsNews.

AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc. Additional information about AT&T products and services is available at about.att.com. Follow our news on Twitter at @ATT, on Facebook at facebook.com/att and on YouTube at youtube.com/att.

© 2018 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T, the Globe logo and other marks are trademarks and service marks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies. All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

**Coverage not available everywhere. Based on overall coverage in U.S. licensed/roaming areas. Reliability based on voice and data performance from independent 3^rd party data.

SOURCE AT&T Inc.

Related Links

http://www.att.com