Samsung in leadership shake up

In a shock move, Samsung Electronics Co has replaced the heads of its three major business units. And if that wasn't enough, the have also merged the company’s mobile and consumer electronics businesses into one entity.

The move is believed to be part of Samsung's ambitions to challenge the might of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, Intel and their Chinese rivals, which was refelcted in recent announcements of significant investment in Biotech and last month, revealing a new $17 billion chip making factory in Texas. Samsung are the world’s largest maker of smartphones, televisions and semiconductors already, benefiting from extra pricing strength due to the global chip shortage.  The South Korean giant recorded a quarterly revenue of 73.98 trillion won, ($62.7 billion), with the mobile and consumer electronics visions accounting for just a quarter of that total.

Why the change at the top?

Having kept the same structure with their three CEO's since 2017 and having a multiple CEO structure since 2013, the new changes bring in Kyung Kye-hyun, 58, who will be tasked with the company’s components business. Han Jong-hee, 59, a veteran of Samsung’s TV business, will run the combined mobile and consumer-electronics unit. Former CEO of Samsung’s components business, Kim Ki-nam, is set to become chairman of Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, a research-and-development hub.

Samsung have said the new CEOs are part of the next phase of growth and strengthen business competitiveness, with the merging of the mobile and consumer-electronics units a sign of how the company’s profits have shifted from flat-screen TVs in the early 2000s to, smartphones as the financial driver of the 2010s and now a big focus on semiconductors to power Samsung's future growth.

Samsung SDS

Another division of the South Korean conglomerate is Samsung SDS, where AI and machine learning are powering incredibly impactful applications of the technology around the world, including healthcare and the radiology field.

To read Samsung SDS's latest digital report, produced in partnership with BizClikMedia, see Saving Live With AI right here.