[Reporter’s Notebook] Samsung Semiconductor Chief Aims to Build a Challenging Organization Within 4-5 Years

The expression of Kyung Kye-hyun, head of Samsung Electronics' DS (semiconductor) division and CEO, who appeared at the Samsung Electronics shareholders' meeting held on the 20th, was somber. Among the 13 top executives present that day, he bore the heaviest sense of responsibility.

At the meeting, Samsung Electronics' executives held a 'Dialogue with Shareholders' session to respond immediately to shareholder questions. Out of a total of 21 questions, 9 were directed at CEO Kyung. The questions covered topics such as poor performance, inventory strategy mistakes, non-memory semiconductor management strategy, sluggishness in the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) business, and the will for organizational innovation. In particular, they criticized the semiconductor performance slump and the management strategy errors of the executive team for starting the HBM business later than competitors.

CEO Kyung often smiles when talking about businesses he is confident in. However, on this day, his voice was subdued throughout, and there was little sign of a smile. The atmosphere was so heavy that one shareholder even asked, "Does the management have any intention of resigning?"

The most notable part of CEO Kyung's remarks was his commitment to transform the organization into a 'challenging organization' within 4 to 5 years. He emphasized, "This year, Samsung DS division will boldly pursue technologies that do not yet exist in the world, based on a psychological safety net of 'it's okay to fail,' to secure future innovative technologies."

Conversely, this can be interpreted to mean that Samsung's semiconductor organization has forgotten innovation until now. Although it maintained a 'super-gap' status as the world leader in memory semiconductors, there have been many cases where key decisions were delayed and opportunities were missed. HBM is a representative example. SK Hynix was the first in the world to develop HBM semiconductors in 2013. Although Samsung was not the first developer, there were many opportunities to catch up, but the development speed was not accelerated due to the low business feasibility. Instead, it remained complacent with the existing number one markets such as DRAM and NAND flash. When AI semiconductors began to take off, Samsung fell behind SK and became the 'second company.'

CEO Kyung said on this day, "We will regain the world's number one position in semiconductors within 2 to 3 years." He also said, "There are about 70,000 employees in the DS division, and I think it will take 4 to 5 years to feel the change." This was read as meaning that leading actual change will not be easy. The semiconductor industry is rapidly changing to the extent that momentary choices determine fate. The industry is paying close attention to how CEO Kyung's pledge to 'reclaim the world’s top position' will be realized.

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