Samsung Eyeing Stake In Magneti Marelli?

After reports of Google and Apple’s autonomous car ambitions, here's more news of a tech giant showing rising interest in the automotive sector. Samsung Electronics is said to be in talks with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) to orchestrate a buyout of Magneti Marelli or certain parts of it.

As per the report by Bloomberg, Samsung has shown interest in Magneti Marelli’s in-car entertainment, lighting and telematics business. The deal could be valued at over $3 billion and Samsung is expected to close it by the end of this year.

In India, the FCA subsidiary is primarily known for supplying automated manual transmission (AMT) units to manufacturers like Maruti Suzuki and Tata. However, the company also supplies electronic components to MotoGP and Formula 1 teams.

Samsung is one of the world's largest consumer electronics organisations, but has been looking to diversify its portfolio of late. Why? Though the company has a dominant share in the supply of memory chips and TVs, its smartphone division has been dropping numbers, making it increasingly difficult to keep up with the likes of Apple. This is one of the reasons why it's looking to get a foothold in the motoring biz through Magneti Marelli. In fact, this isn't the South Korean brand's first step into the auto sector. Earlier this year, Samsung paid $450 million to acquire a stake in Chinese carmaker BYD.

Given Samsung's tech expertise, such an association could have good implications for car connectivity systems as well.

Neither one of the companies has issued a statement on the deal so an official confirmation is awaited.