Samsung Electronics Co. plans to replace the three key posts of its semiconductor business – memory, foundry and System LSI – as the South Korean tech giant is struggling to compete with its rivals, particularly in the booming AI chips.
Samsung, the world’s top memory chipmaker, will announce its major year-end executive reshuffles as early as Wednesday, people familiar with the matter said.
While Jun Young-hyun, vice chairman and chief executive of Samsung’s Device Solutions (DS) division, which oversees its semiconductor business, will retain his position, sources said.
Han Jin-man, executive vice president of Samsung’s US semiconductor business, will likely be tapped as the new memory business head, to lead Samsung’s high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chip.
Nam Seok-woo, the DS division’s manufacturing & technology president is expected to serve as the new foundry business head to close Samsung’s widening gap with foundry, or contract chipmaking, leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.
Choi Jin-hyuk, head of the Memory Research Center under Samsung’s Americas Operations, will be appointed as the new System LSI Business head, overseeing the development of the Exynos application processors and image sensors, sources said.
SMARTPHONE, HOME APPLIANCE CHIEF HAN JONG-HEE TO STAY
Sources said Han Jong-hee, vice chairman and head of the Device eXperience (DX) division, which oversees Samsung’s smartphones and consumer electronics business, will remain as the business CEO.
But he is expected to transfer control of the digital appliances (DA) business to Moon Jong-seung, vice president and head of the DA Development Team.
Roh Tae-moon (TM Roh), head of the Mobile eXperience (MX) division, and Yong Seok-woo, president and head of the Visual Display (VD) division, will likely maintain their roles, sources said.
Significant changes, however, are expected for other key positions such as heads of global marketing and North American operations.
Jeong Hyeon-ho, vice chairman of Samsung’s Business Support Task Force, will likely retain his position.
Choi Joo-sun, CEO of Samsung Display Co., and Jang Deok-hyun, CEO of Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., are also expected to retain their positions, sources said.
CHANGE AMID STABILITY
Analysts said the overarching theme of Samsung’s year-end leadership reshuffle is “seeking a change amid stability.”
Samsung faces growing business uncertainties with the return of Donald Trump to the White House as well as the ongoing legal risks surrounding Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who also goes by his English name Jay Y. Lee.
While vice-chair-level leaders of the DS, DX, and Business Support TF divisions will retain their posts to mitigate external risks, the company plans to replace five to six president-level leaders in key business areas to imbue a sense of crisis among its employees.
SAMSUNG’S COMPETITIVENESS PLUMMETS
Over the past months, Samsung’s top executives have flagged imminent executive reshuffles and a business overhaul.
Vice Chairman Jun Young-hyun said last month the company plans to drastically cut its chip executive jobs and restructure semiconductor-related operations as it struggles to compete with rivals such as SK Hynix Inc. and Micron Technology Inc. in the advanced memory segment amid the AI boom.
As of the second quarter, Samsung’s DS division had 438 executives, accounting for 38% of the company’s total 1,164 executives. The number of Samsung’s chip executives is more than double that of its crosstown competitor SK Hynix, which has 199 executives.
In a rare public apology for the weak third-quarter business performance, Jun said: “The management leading the (memory) business is fully responsible, and we will take the lead in overcoming this crisis and making the third quarter’s weak earnings a turning point for the company.”
Through the drastic organizational revamp and executive job cuts, Samsung aims to uncover the reasons behind the weakening competitiveness of its semiconductor business, particularly in HBM chips.
Among the semiconductor Big Three – Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron – Samsung is the only company that doesn’t supply the latest AI chip, HBM3E, to Nvidia Corp., the world’s top AI chip designer.
Currently, Samsung is supplying fourth-generation 8-layer HBM3 chips in small quantities to Nvidia.
SK Hynix, the world’s second-largest memory chipmaker and the HBM chip leader, has been supplying 8-layer HBM3 in large quantities since March and plans to supply a more advanced 12-layer version from the fourth quarter.
By Jeong-Soo Hwang, Chae-Yeon Kim and Eui-Myung Park
hjs@hankyung.com
In-Soo Nam edited this article.
