Over 20,000 Cultural Assets and Artworks Donated
Renewed Focus on the Value of the "KH Legacy"
Lee Jae-yong Marks Third Anniversary as Chairman on the 27th
This Year Sees Recovery in Semiconductor Demand and Performance
Attention on Semiconductor M&A and Strategic Investments
Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong attended the 5th anniversary memorial service for his late father, former Chairman Lee Kun-hee, at the family grave in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province at 10 a.m. on the 24th, paying tribute to his father's memory. In addition to Chairman Lee, family members including Hong Ra-hee, Honorary Director of Leeum Samsung Museum of Art, Lee Boo-jin, President of Hotel Shilla, Lee Seo-hyun, President of Samsung C&T, and Kim Jae-yeol, President of Samsung Global Research, were present. Around 150 current and former executives from the group, such as Jun Young-hyun, Vice Chairman of Samsung Electronics, Oh Se-chul, President of Samsung C&T, and Hong Won-hak, President of Samsung Life Insurance, also attended. After the memorial service, Chairman Lee and the company executives gathered for lunch at the Samsung Human Resources Development Center in Yongin, where they honored the late chairman's achievements and discussed business issues.
Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong is attending the 5th anniversary memorial service for the late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee held on the 24th at the family grave in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province. Photo by Yonhap News
The 5th anniversary of the late chairman has also renewed attention on the value of the so-called "KH (Kun-hee) legacy." Contrary to expectations that the family would sell a significant portion of the inherited assets to cover the 12 trillion won in inheritance tax, Chairman Lee and his family honored the late chairman's wishes by returning much of the inheritance to society.
To support the development of the Korean art scene, the late chairman donated more than 23,000 pieces of cultural assets and artworks he had collected throughout his life. The National Museum of Korea and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art are currently holding touring exhibitions of the "Lee Kun-hee Collection" at major museums and art galleries across the country. The late chairman firmly believed that cultural literacy should be cultivated in everyday life and showed a deep interest in raising the nation's cultural standards.
On the 27th, Chairman Lee Jae-yong will mark the third anniversary of his appointment. Unlike the past three years, which focused on "stable management" amid a semiconductor downturn and global economic slowdown, Samsung has shown a clear recovery in order performance and overall profitability in the second half of this year. Signs of change are already being detected in various areas, alongside a rebound in the semiconductor division's performance.
Over the past three years, the company concentrated on cost efficiency and internal stability during the economic slowdown and semiconductor slump. However, with the recovery in semiconductor demand this year, performance has rebounded, raising expectations for a shift to a "super cycle." The sixth-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM4), expected to go into mass production next year, is emerging as a new growth engine, and expanded collaboration with Tesla is also seen as an opportunity for the foundry business to regain profitability.
There is growing interest in whether this momentum will lead to further semiconductor mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and strategic investments led by Chairman Lee. This year, Samsung completed three M&A deals and, together with Samsung C&T, recently invested 110 million dollars in the U.S. biotechnology company Grail. The company is actively deploying capital in promising sectors, with investments expected to expand into new growth businesses such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI), and robotics.
The upcoming personnel reshuffle is expected to serve as a barometer of the direction of change Chairman Lee is pursuing. Industry insiders anticipate that Samsung's personnel appointments will take place around the end of next month. As this will be the first major reshuffle since legal risks were resolved, attention is focused on whether there will be a generational shift and the appointment of new talent. In the past, personnel decisions were made with a focus on stability to prepare for variables such as the detention of the group leader, but this time, there is speculation that new faces may take center stage. There is also interest in whether a control tower, similar to the former Future Strategy Office, will be revived through organizational restructuring alongside the personnel changes. An industry official commented, "Chairman Lee has accumulated sufficient management experience since his days as vice chairman, and now it is time for him to show his own leadership style. Based on the solid foundation built so far, he is expected to pursue strategic management from a long-term perspective."
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