Samsung Electronics has shaken up the leadership of its chip division for the second time this year, as it struggles against the competition in the AI data processing space.
Jun Young-hyun, who was appointed as head of the semiconductor unit in the previous musical chairs this May, and who has acknowledged the company’s “chip crisis”, will now serve as the new head of its memory chip business and will be co-chief executive. The prior memory unit head, Jung-Bae Lee, will now function as an adviser.
In another change, executive vice president Han Jin-man, who was previously in charge of Samsung’s US semiconductor business, has been promoted to lead Samsung’s struggling foundry unit, which makes chips for third parties. He has previously worked in design teams for DRAM and flash memory, and has led SSD development and strategic marketing.
As well as struggling to deliver in the AI memory chip arm, Samsung is seeing increased losses in the contract chip-making business, as market leader TSMC continues to stay ahead.
Earlier this week, Samsung hereditary chair Lee Jae-yong publicly acknowledged “grave concerns about the future of Samsung”. During his latest criminal trial, Jae-yong said: “The reality we are facing is more challenging than ever, but we will overcome the current difficult situation and take a step forward.”
Korean prosecutors are seeking a five-year jail term for Lee, as they appeal against his acquittal in February over charges of accounting fraud and stock manipulation. Changes were deemed necessary after the company posted a 40 percent quarter-on-quarter decline in operating profit last month. Samsung’s share price has fallen by more than a quarter so far this year, as smaller Korean rival SK hynix races ahead to deliver high bandwidth memory chips used in Nvidia’s AI hardware.
In a third change, Seok Woo Nam has become chief technology officer of the foundry business, a newly-created position. He was previously president and head of fab engineering and operations, and is “an expert in semiconductor process development and manufacturing” with “extensive experience in memory process technology and foundry manufacturing technology”, said Samsung.
But, in reaction to the second chip reshuffle, Park Ju-geun, head of Seoul-based research group Leaders Index, said: “I doubt if Samsung can push for reform with this relatively small reshuffle.”
