[THE VIEW] How to Overcome the "Samsung Electronics Crisis Theory"

Lee Kun-hee's DNA of Future Investment Must Bloom Again in the AI Era
An R&D Culture Unafraid of Failure Will Decide the Winners of the AI Age

As the era of artificial intelligence (AI) arrives, companies that quickly commercialize innovative technologies continue to soar, while those slow to respond are rapidly pushed to the sidelines of history.

Neighboring Japan has faced difficulties due to its inability to proactively respond to change, clinging to craftsmanship and traditional culture. Sharp, once boasting world-class TV and home appliance technology, has already been acquired by Foxconn, and automotive leaders Toyota and Honda are also falling behind in autonomous driving and AI software competition, losing ground to competitors like China's Baidu.

In contrast, Samsung Electronics in Korea responded agilely during the transition to the digital era and grew. Under Chairman Lee Kun-hee's philosophy that "the more uncertain the future, the more we must invest in future technologies," the company continuously operated research centers by hiring large-scale R&D personnel and recruiting outstanding overseas talent.

Thanks to steadily building technological capabilities even without immediate profits, Samsung recently became the first in the industry to equip the Galaxy S25 series with post-quantum cryptography (PQC), a next-generation mobile security technology, preparing for the quantum computing era. This case demonstrates that when research centers explore various possibilities in advance and accumulate practical experience, they can swiftly commercialize technologies once the market demands them.

However, recent minor issues such as Samsung Foundry's "prohibition of the 'p' pronunciation" memo reveal a focus on internal procedures and reporting systems rather than fundamental innovation. The business support task force known as "Seocho Report" (nicknamed 'HH') controls idea reviews, causing new attempts to be blocked even when the organization needs to be agile and flexible.

If even the research centers and Samsung SDS are forced into this culture and focus only on short-term results, the vicious cycle of losing the spirit of challenge and learning from failure will repeat, with only easy projects that avoid failure being pursued.

It is natural for business divisions to focus on immediate sales and profit generation. However, the essence of research centers lies in developing technologies that prepare for the future and continuously seeking new possibilities while experiencing failure as a routine.

A representative example is the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, a leader in the bio field, which successfully commercializes over 25% of its patents annually and has more than five blockbuster new drugs. All this success stems from "unlimited research autonomy," where researchers are granted broad discretion to explore lifelong dedicated projects rather than short-term research tasks.

Google, a performance-driven company, also grants high autonomy to its researchers. By deploying vast personnel and creating an environment where AI research and paper writing are freely conducted, it was able to develop core technologies like the "Transformer."

Microsoft similarly provides autonomy for future technology research rather than focusing solely on performance when hiring researchers, and has a structure that leads to practical application through collaboration with product teams. The application of research center achievements in core AI fields such as speech recognition, computer vision, and natural language processing to actual services like Office and Bing proves this.

Creative and brilliant talents should be placed in research centers and allowed to roam freely like sheep in a pasture, while fast and pragmatic talents should be placed in business divisions to demonstrate their abilities through performance-based rewards. Just as Samsung successfully navigated the digital transformation era, to stand tall as a representative Korean company during the AI-driven upheaval, the ability to see the essence and a relentless will for innovation are essential.

While continuing bold investment in research centers and securing outstanding talent, it is necessary to clearly distinguish the roles of business divisions and research centers and foster a culture that tolerates failure. Only companies that routinely fail yet prepare for the future will ultimately be the final winners.

Kyung Na-kyung, Professor, Department of Computer Science, National University of Singapore