Samsung Electronics will hold its midyear global strategy meeting for three days starting on the 16th to discuss second-half business strategy. With external uncertainties mounting, including worsening conditions in the Middle East, a strong dollar, and rising raw material prices, measures to secure profitability in finished goods and semiconductor businesses are expected to be key agenda items.
According to the electronics industry on the 11th, the Samsung Electronics DX (finished goods) institutional sector will hold the global strategy meeting from the 16th to the 18th. The DS (semiconductors) institutional sector is scheduled for the 18th.
The global strategy meeting is a regular session that Samsung Electronics holds every June and December. Key executives and heads of overseas subsidiaries attend to share issues by business institutional sector and region and to review sales strategies and management goals. The DX institutional sector meeting will be chaired by DX head Roh Tae-Moon, president and CEO. The Mobile eXperience (MX) Division will meet on the 16th, the Visual Display (VD) and Digital Appliances (DA) divisions on the 17th, and the companywide session on the 18th. The DS institutional sector meeting on the 18th will be chaired by DS head Jun Young-hyun, vice chairman and CEO.
The DX institutional sector is expected to review risks stemming from the strong dollar and rising materials and supplies prices, global demand stagnation, and logistics and supply chain issues due to worsening conditions in the Middle East. Because profitability in finished goods businesses such as TVs, home appliances, and smartphones varies greatly with fluctuations in component prices and logistics costs, regional sales strategies and expense efficiency measures are likely to be discussed.
The MX Division is expected to review sales strategies for foldable smartphones, including the Galaxy Z Fold and Flip slated for the second half. As competition in the premium smartphone market intensifies, new product marketing and sales expansion, as well as ways to ease cost pressures from rising memory prices, are also being discussed as key items.
The VD and DA divisions are expected to discuss responses to low-price offensives by Chinese companies and slowing global demand. In particular, for the TV business, strengthening capabilities in platform services such as Samsung TV Plus, competitiveness in premium products, and artificial intelligence (AI) features appears to be a key task. Samsung Electronics last month appointed Lee Won-jin, who has experience in content, services, and marketing, as head of the VD Division.
At the DS institutional sector meeting, strategies for responding to the AI Semiconductor market are expected to be a core agenda item. Samsung Electronics will likely review the development and production status of high-performance memory such as high-bandwidth memory (HBM) to be supplied to key customers, and share demand outlooks stemming from increased investment in AI data centers.
The Memory Division is expected to discuss ways to improve second-half profitability by focusing on high value-added products such as HBM and server DRAM. It is also highly likely to review the roadmap for next-generation HBM products and strategies for key customers.
For the Foundry Division, attracting new customers and expanding orders are being discussed as key items. Improving Production yield in advanced processes, securing competitiveness in the 2-nanometer process, and preparations for the Taylor, Texas, plant in the United States, which is slated to start operations in the second half of this year, are also expected to be reviewed.
Samsung Electronics has also recently moved to expand the use of Generative AI across all its affiliates. Accordingly, the meeting is expected to share the status of AI transformation (AX) by business division and case studies of workplace adoption.
The industry sees this global strategy meeting as a turning point that will set the direction for the second half. The finished goods business must respond to expense pressures and slowing demand, while the semiconductor business faces the task of boosting competitiveness in HBM and foundry amid expanding AI demand.