Samsung Electronics Appoints New Chief For Chip Business

Samsung Electronics has made a significant change in its semiconductor division in response to a "chip crisis," aiming to address challenges in the AI chip market where it has trailed competitors despite being the world's leading memory chipmaker.

The South Korean company announced on Tuesday the immediate appointment of Young Hyun Jun to lead its semiconductor division, moving him from his previous role as head of future business planning.

This move is seen as an effort to catch up in the market for high-end chips used in artificial intelligence, particularly high bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, an area where Samsung has fallen behind competitors like SK Hynix, according to analysts.

Samsung stated, "This proactive step is intended to enhance future competitiveness by revitalizing both internal and external environments."

While Samsung holds a dominant market share of 45.5 per cent in DRAM chips used in tech devices, it faces challenges in the specialised HBM chips segment, where SK Hynix controls over 90 per cent of the mainstream HBM3 market. HBM3 is currently the most widely used standard for AI chipsets, including those produced by leading company Nvidia.

At 63 years old, Jun previously led Samsung's memory chip business from 2014 to 2017, where he contributed to the development of DRAM and flash memory chips. He also served as CEO of Samsung SDI's battery arm from 2017 to 2022, overseeing a joint venture with automaker Stellantis for U.S. electric vehicle batteries.

Samsung expressed confidence in Jun's ability to address the chip crisis, citing his accumulated management expertise.

In a corresponding move, Kye Hyun Kyung, who had been leading the semiconductor division since 2022, will transition to Jun's previous role as head of future business planning.