Samsung to Merge Mobile and Consumer Electronics Divisions, Names Co-CEOs in Biggest Reshuffle in Years

Samsung Electronics said on Tuesday it will merge its mobile and consumer electronics divisions and named new co-CEOs in its biggest reshuffle since 2017 to simplify its structure and focus on growing its logic chip business.

The sweeping move is the latest sign of centralised change at the world’s largest memory chip and smartphone maker, after Vice Chairman Jay Y. Lee was paroled in August from a bribery conviction.

The head of visual display business, Han Jong-hee, was promoted to vice chairman and co-CEO, and will lead the newly merged division spanning mobile and consumer electronics as well as continuing to lead the TV business.

Han has risen through the ranks in Samsung’s visual display business, without experience in mobile.

Kyung Kye-hyun, CEO of Samsung Electro-Mechanics, was named co-CEO of Samsung Electronics and will lead the chip and components division.

The newly merged businesses differ in size. The mobile business made KRW 3.36 trillion (roughly Rs. 21,405 crore) in operating profit in the July-September quarter, compared to consumer electronics’ KRW 760 billion (roughly Rs. 4,840 crore).

Other high-profile promotions included naming as vice chairman Chung Hyun-ho, the head of a “task force” which analysts said is a central coordination unit for decision-making in Samsung Electronics and affiliate companies.

“There may be more prompt execution of funds or decision-making,” said Kim Sun-woo, an analyst at Meritz Securities.

The last time Samsung Electronics named new CEOs was in late 2017.

Samsung Group is focusing on areas such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, robotics, and biopharmaceuticals, and plans to invest KRW 240 trillion (roughly Rs. 15,29,090 crore) in these fields in the next three years.

Group flagship Samsung Electronics is aiming to overtake TSMC to become No. 1 in chip contract manufacturing by 2030 by investing about $150 billion (roughly Rs. 11,29,000 crore) into logic chip businesses including foundries.

Late last month, Samsung chose Taylor, Texas as the site of a planned $17 billion (roughly Rs. 1,27,960 crore) US chip plant after months of deliberation, coinciding with Lee’s first business trip to the United States in five years.

© Thomson Reuters 2021