Brainstorming Revived for Jeon Young-hyun's Team... 4-Hour Discussion Including HBM

Focus on In-Depth Discussions Over Formal Presentations
Including Next-Generation Memory Discussions as Future Growth Drivers
Foundries Enhance Technology and Diversify Portfolios

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Jeon Young-hyun completed his first global strategy meeting as head of the DS Division on the 26th. This meeting was attended by fewer participants than usual, focusing on in-depth discussions of semiconductor business issues, challenges, and strategies. Rather than formal presentations, the meeting adopted a brainstorming approach with thorough Q&A on the matters at hand to devise alternatives and strategies, concentrating on finding solutions.

Samsung Electronics Hwaseong Campus / Photo by Samsung Electronics

Deriving Solutions Through Focused Meetings with Core Personnel

According to the business and semiconductor industries on the 27th, the previous day Samsung Electronics' DS Division held its first half global strategy meeting for about four hours in the afternoon at the Hwaseong Campus in Gyeonggi Province. The meeting was chaired by Vice Chairman Jeon Young-hyun, the new head of the DS Division. Attendees included key executives such as Lee Jung-bae, President of the Memory Business Division, Choi Si-young, President of the Foundry Business Division, Park Yong-in, President of the System LSI Business Division, and heads of overseas subsidiaries.

Samsung Electronics holds global strategy meetings twice a year, in the first and second halves, to review the status, evaluations, and strategies of each business division. Typically, over 100 people attend the DS Division meetings, but this time only essential personnel were present. Since the meeting was not held on a specific topic, only core management gathered to increase participant focus and enable in-depth discussions.

A business insider said, "When there are many participants, the meeting tends to be presentation-focused, making in-depth discussions difficult," adding, "This reflects Vice Chairman Jeon's preference for practicality over formality."

In the past, Samsung Electronics held global strategy meetings in a brainstorming format with various Q&A exchanges, but after the spread of COVID-19, meetings shifted to a reporting format. After Vice Chairman Jeon returned to the DS Division, the brainstorming style meetings resumed. This restructuring of the meeting format was a response to the growing sense of crisis across the semiconductor business sector to find solutions.

Discussions on Technological Improvements by Memory and Foundry Businesses

The meeting included discussions by business sectors such as memory semiconductors and system semiconductors. The focus was on technology discussions and solutions based on the content from the DS Division’s sales strategy meetings held earlier this week.

Younghyun Jeon, Vice Chairman of Samsung Electronics (Head of DS Division) / Photo by Samsung

In particular, the Memory Business Division likely focused on technology discussions related to the delivery and production capacity expansion of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), which has emerged alongside artificial intelligence (AI) demand, as well as yield improvement. Samsung Electronics is conducting quality verification tests (NVIDIA qualification tests) for its 12-stack HBM3E, the 5th generation HBM product. Having lost the lead in the HBM market, it is considered essential to supply to NVIDIA, a major HBM customer, to recover. Additionally, discussions reportedly included next-generation memory technologies such as Compute Express Link (CXL) and 3D DRAM.

The Foundry Business Division likely addressed not only technology discussions such as yield improvement but also business challenges including the implementation of advanced process roadmaps, securing large-scale customers, and portfolio diversification. Samsung Electronics recorded its highest-ever order intake in the first quarter but has yet to secure a major customer in advanced processes below 3 nanometers (nm; 1 nm = one billionth of a meter). Samsung has announced plans to expand foundry business beyond mobile to AI and automotive sectors.