Tag: Samsung

It will be interesting to see how the South Korean government and Samsung react to this request:

Samsung Electronics’ chip plant in Xi’an, China [SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS]

Samsung Electronics and SK hynix should not sell chips to China to make up for the shortfall in supply following China’s sanctioning of Micron, the White House has told the Korean government.    
   
The Financial Times reported Sunday that the Joe Biden administration reached out to Seoul to ask for a cap on the chip sales, although neither government confirmed.  
   
If the Yoon Suk Yeol government acts on the request, the push could exacerbate weaknesses at Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, which have been hit hard as a result of oversupply. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

Congratulations to Ms. Lee for her promotion:

Samsung Electronics appointed the company’s first female president during its annual executive reshuffle, indicating Chairman Lee Jae-yong’s intention to break the glass ceiling at his company.

The tech giant announced on Monday that Vice President Lee Young-hee was promoted to president to lead the global marketing office of the device eXperience (DX) division, which oversees the mobile device and home appliance businesses. She is credited for Samsung using purple, instead of blue, for its marketing campaign.

She also became Samsung Group’s first female president who is not related to late founder Lee Byung-chul. Hotel Shilla President and CEO Lee Boo-jin, the younger sister of the Samsung Electronics chairman, had been the only female president at Korea’s largest conglomerate.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This is probably a smart move with the amount of major car companies now offering electric vehicle options that is driving increased competition. If Samsung wanted to get into this market they should have done it at least a decade ago in order to already have captured market share like Tesla has done:

But at Samsung, still Apple’s top rival in the smartphone segment, its proven “go-to-market strategy” won’t be applied in the finished EV segment, as the Korean tech behemoth decided recently not to manufacture its own brand of EVs, as two senior executives, both of whom are directly involved in the issue, told The Korea Times. 

The core reasons behind this decision are that it doesn’t believe its entry into the finished EV segment will see sustainable profits, and it holds the intention to continue avoiding any possible conflicts with its top clients, amid the focus on its contract-based semiconductor foundry business, according to them.

“After thorough reviews, response and discussions with clients, top Samsung management reached a consensus that making a foray into the finished EV segment won’t be the right fit both in terms of a profit standpoint and from a client management perspective,” one of the sources said on condition of anonymity.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

I guess we will see how long this position lasts with other electronic rivals like Sony and Apple developing plans to enter the EV market:

After Sony made a surprise announcement that it would start making electric vehicles, everyone at CES 2022 wanted to know if Samsung Electronics was going to too.  

Han Jong-hee, the vice chairman of the tech giant who oversees consumer electronics and smartphones, suggested not Wednesday, although automotive devices and parts are of interest to the company.   

“We’ve expanded the automotive business, especially through an acquisition of Harman,” Han said during a press conference on the sidelines of the tech trade show, which runs through Jan. 7.    
“But we don’t have any plan to enter car manufacturing,” he said. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but Samsung at one time had Samsung Motors that built cars. However, this venture failed and they ended up selling it to Renault. This prior failure may be why they are hesitant to enter the EV market.

Could you imagine having to pay this much in taxes:

The scions of Samsung Group, South Korea’s top conglomerate, are likely to unveil a plan this week on how to finance their massive inheritance tax, which includes the donation of late group chief Lee Kun-hee’s art collections.

The senior Lee, who was South Korea’s richest man, left more than 22 trillion won ($19.6 billion) worth of assets, including stocks valued around 19 trillion won.

Lee, who died in October last year at age 78, was survived by his wife, Hong Ra-hee, only son, Jae-yong, and two daughters — Boo-jin and Seo-hyun.

Lee’s family members are expected to pay around 12 trillion won in inheritance taxes for the late chief’s assets. 

They have to report and pay inheritance taxes to local authorities by the end of this month.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but you know a tax bill is high when Samsung heirs are even having trouble trying to pay it.

This is going to be quite the tax bill for whoever takes over Samsung after the death of Lee Kun-hee:

As Samsung chief Lee Kun-hee passed away, his heirs, including his only son, Jae-yong, and his sisters will shoulder a record high amount of inheritance tax, industry sources said Sunday.

Lee Kun-hee, who led South Korea’s top family-controlled conglomerate Samsung Group, died at a hospital in Seoul on Sunday at age 78, leaving behind stock assets of some 18 trillion won (US$15.9 billion).

The senior Lee is survived by his wife, Hong Ra-hee, and only son, Jae-yong, and two daughters — Boo-jin and Seo-hyun.

Korea Biz Wire

You can read more at the link, but the article says the tax bill will be about 10 trillion won which is about $9 billion dollars.

Congratulations to Samsung on winning this huge contract:

Samsung Electronics signed a 7.9 trillion won ($6.6 billion) deal to supply network equipment to U.S. telecommunications company Verizon, the Korean IT firm disclosed Monday in a public filing.

Under the contract, Samsung Electronics America will provide equipment, including for 5G connections, to Verizon for five years through December 2025. By volume, it’s the biggest single supply deal for network equipment ever secured by a Korean company.    

Samsung had worked with domestic mobile carriers last year to make Korea the first country to commercialize 5G connections. After 5G debuted April 2019, the company has signed network equipment supply deals with major telecommunications operators, including Canada’s Videotron, the U.S.’s Cellular and New Zealand’s Spark.   

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but hopefully Samsung continues to beat out contracts over Huawei, their main Chinese competitor. ROK Heads may remember that Huawei has been accused of spying on behalf of the Chinese communist party.