According to multiple Korean media reports, Samsung Electronics suddenly replaced the heads of the foundry (DS) department and the DRAM department in the unconventional personnel season yesterday, which was interpreted as “making up for the performance of storage semiconductors in the first half of this year.” Downturn, the means to strengthen the foundry business”.
First of all, Jegae Jeong, vice president of the technology development department of Samsung’s foundry business division, was appointed as the chief technology officer (CTO) of the division, and his successor was Jahun Koo.
At the same time, the head of the department responsible for the development of DRAM in storage semiconductors was also replaced, and was taken over by Hwang Sang-jun, who was originally the vice president of the strategic marketing department, which was interpreted by the industry as a concern for the development of HBM technology.
Currently, the heads of Samsung’s advanced development, design, and strategic marketing divisions are You Chang-shik, Oh Tae-young, and Yun Ha-ryong, respectively.
In addition, Samsung will establish a new “advanced development team” in the field of device experience (DX) in charge of home appliances and mobile, focusing on future technologies.
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In fact, Samsung management usually only makes mid-year adjustments, and this sudden adjustment of the two divisions may reflect the difficulties the company is currently facing. At present, Samsung Electronics lags behind TSMC in the foundry market, and is gradually being caught up by SK Hynix in terms of memory. In the future, it will face emerging Chinese companies such as Changxin Storage.
Some Korean media said that estimates show that Samsung Electronics’ DRAM production has dropped to the lowest level since the third quarter of 2021. The company has reduced its average monthly DRAM production to 620,000 wafers in July, a year-on-year decrease of more than 12%. Han Dong-hee, a researcher at SK Securities, expects, “Starting from the third quarter, memory inventories will decline across the board.”
Taiwan’s Economic Daily also believes that after a year of memory inventory adjustments, coupled with the gradual emergence of Samsung and other production reduction effects, the legal person expects DRAM to bottom out in the third quarter, and NAND Flash to bottom out in the fourth quarter after a delay of one quarter.
It is reported that Samsung Electronics Semiconductor Division (DS) had an operating loss of 4.58 trillion won in the first quarter alone, and it is expected to record an operating loss of 3 trillion won in the second quarter. deficit.
Samsung Electronics’ foundry market share was 12.4 percent in the first quarter of this year, down 3.4 percentage points from 15.8 percent in the previous quarter, according to market research firm Trend Force.
