In the past, most corporations in Korea moved on the strong leadership and decisiveness of their founders. Samsung led by Lee Kun-hee and Hyundai led by Chung Ju-yung are prime examples. But as they now compete for the top spot in the global market, these corporations have grown so large that it is difficult for a single chief to shoulder management alone. The role of the so-called "keyman," who manages each field from the closest seat to the chief and plays a crucial role in final decision-making for the future, has grown in importance. We introduce the keymen of major corporations leading Korea's economy and examine the roles and tasks given to them. [Editor's note]
In Oct. 2024, Jun Young-hyun, head of the DS (semiconductor) institutional sector and vice chairman at Samsung Electronics, bowed before investors and shareholders on behalf of Samsung Electronics' management. Citing poor results and management mistakes, he publicly delivered a "letter of reflection." The vice chairman itemized Samsung Electronics' organizational culture, ways of working, and underlying competitiveness decline, and pledged a rebound. It was a strong resolve to confront and solve not only the poor numbers but also the problems lurking beneath the surface.
The vice chairman stepping before investors and employees to acknowledge management failure and promise reform carries significant implications. At the time, Samsung Electronics was in an all-out crisis, with even its top decision-making body, the Business Support TF (now the Business Support Office), and each business unit's competitiveness under suspicion, and public criticism was fierce. The fact that the vice chairman took responsibility on behalf of management and emphasized sweeping change also meant he had been given commensurate authority.
◇ The returning "assault leader" of Samsung semiconductors
The vice chairman is counted as one of the contributors who, with former Samsung Electronics Chairman Kwon Oh-hyun, led Samsung semiconductors through a heyday from the early to mid-2010s. As Kwon's de facto right-hand, he, with bulldozer-like drive, served three years as head of the Memory Business, the heart of Samsung semiconductors, helping cement its overwhelming No. 1 position in the global memory market.
But when Kwon retired in 2017 and the vice chairman was also pushed to Samsung SDI, he became a "forgotten hero" for a time. Internally, Kwon recommended the vice chairman as his successor to head the DS institutional sector, but in the end, former Chairman Kim Ki-nam took the post.
The vice chairman has effectively been given full authority by Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong and, as the No. 2, by Park Hark-kyu, head of the Business Support Office, and is operating the semiconductor business independently. Rejoining the "Future Business Planning Group" newly established by Samsung Electronics in 2023, he earned Lee's trust, and in May 2024 he took over as head of the DS institutional sector with a mandate to rebuild Samsung semiconductors, which had been posting losses. This signaled that the DS institutional sector, which had effectively lost its independence after Kwon's retirement, was beginning to return to a professional management system suited to its unique characteristics.
The vice chairman differs somewhat from the finance and strategy experts at Samsung Electronics who are classified as close to Chairman Lee Jae-yong. As a traditional engineer, he is far from Samsung's current control tower, composed of people from the so-called "old Future Strategy Office." He is a professional manager with expertise in the semiconductor business who is responsible for realizing the mid- to long-term roadmap. In business circles, some interpret this as a signal that the "empowerment system" based on the trust between the late Chairman Lee Kun-hee and former Chairman Kwon Oh-hyun has been revived.
◇ Special mission for Jun Young-hyun: sweeping "surgery" at Samsung semiconductors
The vice chairman also differs from institutional sector heads who have walked the elite course at Samsung semiconductors, such as Kwon Oh-hyun and Kim Ki-nam. Unusually for a Samsung executive, he came from LG Semiconductors and joined Samsung Electronics in 2000. Recognized for his engineering and marketing capabilities, he rose in 14 years to head of the Memory Business, the core of Samsung semiconductors. During his tenure as memory chief, Samsung Electronics was assessed to be at least a year ahead technologically of rivals SK hynix and Micron in mobile and server DRAM.
His management style, likened to a bulldozer when he led the Memory Business, is now widely seen as somewhat more flexible since he became head of the DS institutional sector. Still, his trademark bold decisiveness and grit for head-on breakthroughs remain. In a message posted on the in-house board after taking office, the vice chairman cited walls in interdepartmental communication, a culture of hiding or avoiding problems, and unrealistic plans reflecting only hopeful targets as factors weakening competitiveness. These were issues widely acknowledged internally but hard to expose, and he took them on head-on.
If institutional sector heads at Samsung semiconductors had been preoccupied with hiding the fact that they were falling behind rivals across all memory fields, including high-bandwidth memory (HBM), DRAM, and NAND flash, the vice chairman openly acknowledged mistakes and stressed restoring competitiveness. Shortly after taking office, at a regular shareholders' meeting, he acknowledged that the company had been late in its initial response to the HBM market, and he pledged not to repeat past mistakes in next-generation processes.
One of his most important decisions was a sweeping redesign of 10-nanometer 4th-generation (1a) DRAM, which had been cited both as the reason Samsung Electronics fell behind in the server DRAM market and as the cause of weakened HBM competitiveness. DRAM process development is a long-term project that takes at least one to two years. In other words, a redesign requires massive expense and time. It was a high-risk decision, but under the vice chairman's regime, Samsung semiconductors moved in lockstep to correct previous errors and mistakes.
◇ The gears start turning again
Under the vice chairman's regime, each business unit at Samsung semiconductors is showing rapid resilience. Lee Jong-hwan, a professor in the Department of System Semiconductor Engineering at Sangmyung University, said, "Under the vice chairman, the core of Samsung semiconductors' management approach is strengthening execution by aligning responsibility and authority." The vice chairman holds both the DS institutional sector head and memory chief posts, and for DRAM, the largest revenue source, he gave strong authority to Hwang Sang-joon, head of DRAM Development, and assigned a special mission to improve design, engineering, and production yield. Known as a cautious and thorough engineer, Hwang is credited with successfully completing the DRAM redesign.
Reviving the foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) business, which had recorded losses every quarter, is also one of the vice chairman's achievements. The strategy of installing Han Jin-man, known as Samsung semiconductors' top "salesman" and "master negotiator," as the business head, and appointing Nam Suk-woo as chief technology officer (CTO), proved effective. Although Song Jai-hyuk serves as CTO overseeing Samsung semiconductors as a whole, having a separate CTO for the foundry business was a clever move to distinguish the particularities of foundry and memory.
Under President Han Jin-man, Samsung Foundry has, since last year, steadily attracted major customers in both mature and advanced processes, addressing chronic issues of order drought and declining utilization. In mature processes, it has solidified collaboration with major customers such as Intel, IBM, Nintendo, and STMicroelectronics, and in leading-edge processes, it boosted 2-nanometer production yield, signing a large contract with Tesla and raising the possibility of a deal with AMD.
The HBM business, which had lagged SK hynix, is also preparing to rebound. For the fifth-generation HBM (HBM3E) products, which had persistent quality and performance issues, both the 8-high and 12-high products have sharply expanded shipments, closely chasing SK hynix. For sixth-generation HBM (HBM4), a next-generation HBM, it achieved results such as exceeding performance targets from key customers like Nvidia and Broadcom. A senior Samsung official said, "Samsung is the world's only company that operates memory and foundry businesses simultaneously," adding, "In HBM4, Samsung adopted DRAM and logic dies on processes more advanced than competitors, and in this process the organic cooperation between memory and foundry proved effective."
Under the vice chairman, Samsung Electronics in the fourth quarter of last year logged 20 trillion won in quarterly operating profit for the first time ever. Beating market expectations by a wide margin, it is widely seen as having opened the curtain on a semiconductor supercycle. Domestic and overseas investment banks and market research firms say the real boom begins this year.
◇ Concerns about a leadership vacuum for Samsung semiconductors
Still, doubts remain about the mid- to long-term sustainability of the Jun Young-hyun regime. Despite being born in 1960 and serving as a firefighter for Samsung semiconductors, the vice chairman still has no clear successor in sight. If the vice chairman fully performed the role of "post-Kwon Oh-hyun," the "post-Jun Young-hyun" is not standing out.
As the AI whirlwind begins to reshape the global semiconductor market, some say new leadership is needed for the mid- to long-term growth potential of Samsung semiconductors. Yoon Sung-ro, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Seoul National University, said, "If Vice Chairman Jun Young-hyun has contained the crisis and kept the roots of memory intact, the next task for Samsung semiconductors is an integrated solution that spans hardware and software," adding, "Based on the capabilities Samsung has, it is time to redefine the value of memory, and beyond a 'super-gap in technology,' a 'super-gap in strategy' is also needed."