Samsung is speaking with a number of device makers, including ZTE, about supplying its Exynos mobile application processors. Samsung wants to expand its processor business in a bid to be more competitive with Qualcomm, MediaTek, and others. Samsung uses the Exynos line in its own Galaxy smartphones. The company supplies Exynos chips to only one outside business: China's Meizu. "We are talking to all OEMs," including ZTE, said Inyup Kang, head of Samsung’s logic chip business. For the moment, U.S. companies such as Qualcomm are forbidden from supplying ZTE with components due a Commerce Department ban. ZTE has halted business operations as it wrangles with the U.S. government in an attempt to reverse the ban. The ban highlights the risk of relying on a single company for parts. ZTE could avert some problems by diversifying its suppliers. Samsung's Kang said the company expects to announce new clients for its Exynos chipsets in the first half of 2019.


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