Samsung Electronics Maintains Semiconductor Leadership... Workforce Increased by 20% Over 3 Years

Panoramic view of Samsung Electronics Pyeongtaek Line 2, the world's largest semiconductor factory. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] Samsung Electronics has recently continued to increase its workforce to maintain its semiconductor technology gap.

According to Samsung Electronics on the 20th, as of the third quarter of this year, the number of employees in the Device Solutions (DS) division, which is responsible for the semiconductor business, totaled 58,259, a 20.1% increase compared to 48,473 in 2017. The DS division workforce increased by 6.9% in 2018, 5.17% in 2019, and 6.8% this year.

This contrasts with the Consumer Electronics (CE) and IT & Mobile (IM) divisions, which have maintained their workforce at around 12,000 and 27,000 employees respectively during the same period.

The industry views the strengthening of the DS division workforce as part of the plan announced by Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong in 2018 to invest 180 trillion won and create 40,000 jobs over three years. Of this, about 130 trillion won is being invested in expanding the second line of the semiconductor plant in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, focusing on increasing core personnel such as semiconductor design.

This is based on the judgment that maintaining a technological gap is essential amid rapidly changing global market conditions, including increased semiconductor usage due to the COVID-19 pandemic and U.S. export restrictions.

According to market research firm Omdia, Samsung Electronics recorded an overwhelming global market share of 43.1% in DRAM and 33.8% in NAND flash memory based on sales in the second quarter of this year. However, global latecomers are accelerating their pursuit, such as Micron recently becoming the world's first to mass-produce 176-layer NAND flash memory.

Samsung Electronics is also performing well in the foundry market, which produces system semiconductors, ranking second with a 15.9% market share. However, it is still far from closing the gap with the first-place TSMC (54.1%).

An industry insider said, "Samsung Electronics is making large-scale investments to enhance design capabilities in the foundry business following DRAM and NAND," adding, "It is expected to continue expanding semiconductor research and development (R&D) personnel and facilities for the time being to maintain its position as a global leader."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.