Samsung Electronics is planning to restructure its chip business, in part by cutting the number of executives working in the Device Solutions (DS) division.
Citing people familiar with the matter, the Korea Economic Daily reported vice chairman Jun Young-hyun will oversee “significant job cuts” at the president level.
The news outlet further reported that the company is also looking to streamline its foundry business and reorganize the Semiconductor Research Center, the hub that is responsible for the company’s development of chip technologies.
Despite posting significant profits over successive financial quarters, Samsung has been unable to keep pace with SK Hynix or TSMC, its biggest competitors in the memory chip and contract chip manufacturing markets.
Korea Economic Daily reported that as of Q2, Samsung’s DS division had 438 executives, around 38 percent of the 1,164 executives working at the company. By comparison, SK Hynix has 199 executives in total.
Earlier this week, Young-hyun wrote a letter to Samsung’s customers, investors, and employees, apologizing for the company’s disappointing preliminary Q3 2024 results.
Although the company is still expecting to post profits of $6.8 billion for its third quarter, a year-on-year increase of 275 percent, the figure falls short of the $7.4 billion that had been anticipated. The company’s full Q3 2024 results will be released on October 31.
Separately, BusinessKorea also reported this week that Samsung’s upcoming 2024 Samsung Wafer Foundry Forum which was due to be held in Beijing, China on October 24 will now be a virtual event, with an industry insider telling the news outlet the company is “facing multiple internal and external challenges.”
Despite the shift to an online only event, Arm’s CEO Rene Haas, and Groq founder Jonathan Ross are still expected to be in attendance.
In August, embattled Intel postponed its annual Intel Innovation conference scheduled for late September 2024 after posting a $1.6 billion loss in Q2 2024.
In a statement, the company said: “After careful consideration, we have made the decision to postpone our Intel-hosted event, Intel Innovation, in September until 2025.”
