Samsung has previously had around 120 attendees at its global strategy meetings, but this time around, the company has reportedly reduced the number of attendees to a much smaller group of key executives in order to make faster decisions. (Image provided by Samsung Elecs)

SEOUL, Jun. 27 (Korea Bizwire) – Samsung Electronics’ Device Solutions (DS) Division, responsible for the company’s semiconductor business, held its semi-annual global strategy meeting on June 26 to discuss ways to secure future competitiveness in the semiconductor industry. 

The meeting, chaired by DS Division head Kyung Kye-hun, was held at Samsung’s Hwaseong campus in Gyeonggi Province. Key executives were in attendance, including Lee Jung-bae, president of the Memory Business, Choi Siyoung, president of the Foundry Business, and Park Yong-in, president of the System LSI Business, as well as overseas subsidiary heads.

In a departure from previous years when these meetings typically included around 120 participants, this year’s gathering was significantly scaled down to include only core executives.

This move was reportedly aimed at facilitating faster decision-making and is seen as reflecting Kyung’s leadership style, known for emphasizing efficiency and concise communication.

The streamlined format also appears to be a response to the ongoing uncertainties surrounding the semiconductor industry, allowing for a more focused and expeditious meeting. 

An industry insider commented, “Given Kyung’s preference for speed and efficiency, he likely saw no need for a large number of attendees. There’s also the possibility that the reduced attendance was to maintain confidentiality of the meeting’s content.” 

Samsung’s semiconductor business faces significant challenges, having posted a record operating loss of nearly 15 trillion won last year.

While the division returned to profitability in the first quarter of 2024 with an operating profit of 1.91 trillion won, it still grapples with major issues.

These include strengthening competitiveness in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) where it has lost market leadership, and narrowing the market share gap with Taiwan’s TSMC in the foundry business. 

Samsung Electronics DS Division head Kyung Kye-hun (Image courtesy of Yonhap)

The meeting is believed to have covered strategies for overcoming macroeconomic challenges, current business performance and outlook, plans for the coming year, and major issues facing each business unit.

With both domestic division presidents and overseas subsidiary heads present, discussions likely included international sales strategies and technology roadmaps for the latter half of the year. 

In his inaugural address, Kyung had expressed confidence in overcoming recent difficulties, citing the division’s accumulated strengths and the semiconductor industry’s culture of communication and debate. 

Earlier this week, individual units within the DS Division, including the Memory Business, Foundry Business, and System LSI, held separate sales strategy meetings.

These gatherings of working-level staff reviewed first-half performance and discussed strategies for the remainder of the year. 

Meanwhile, Samsung’s Device Experience (DX) Division held its global strategy meetings for individual business units on June 18 and 19, focusing on sales strategies for key products, followed by a division-wide meeting chaired by Samsung Electronics CEO Han Jong-hee on June 20.

Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)