Samsung Electronics plans to significantly boost the energy efficiency of high bandwidth memory (HBM) and server solid-state drives (SSD) to meet rising power demand at artificial intelligence (AI) data centers. The overall employee turnover rate last year fell to single digits, driven by a decline in overseas turnover.
Samsung Electronics said in its Sustainability Report 2026 released on the 26th that it will improve the energy efficiency of HBM and server SSDs by 2.5 times and 4 times, respectively, by 2030. The company said it is supplying to the market HBM4, a sixth-generation HBM with better power efficiency than the previous generation, and the high-performance SSD PM1763.
As AI spreads and data center power consumption rises, the power efficiency of memory semiconductors has emerged as a key criterion for customers. Samsung Electronics plans to strengthen its responsiveness in the semiconductor market for AI infrastructure by promoting low-power HBM and server SSDs.
The Device Solutions (DS) institutional sector, which handles the semiconductor business, added three reactive catalytic systems (RCS) last year with the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. It also improved equipment energy efficiency. RCS are facilities that treat process gases generated during semiconductor manufacturing.
◇ Overall turnover 8.6%… down 1.5 percentage points
Samsung Electronics also said in the sustainability report that the turnover rate decreased. The overall turnover rate last year was 8.6%, down 1.5 percentage points from 10.1% a year earlier. After hitting double digits at 10.6% in 2023 and 10.1% in 2024, it fell to single digits last year.
The drop in overall turnover was largely due to lower overseas turnover. Overseas turnover fell by 2.8 percentage points, from 17.0% in 2024 to 14.2% last year. In contrast, domestic turnover rose by 0.4 percentage points over the same period, from 2.1% to 2.5%.
As of the end of last year, Samsung Electronics had 259,149 employees worldwide, down from 262,647 a year earlier. The domestic workforce was 124,564, and the overseas workforce was 134,585. The number of domestic employees fell by 733 from the previous year.
The share of women in the workforce improved in part. The share of women executives last year was 7.4%, up 0.8 percentage points from 6.6% in 2020. The share of women managers rose from 15.3% to 18.9% over the same period. The gender pay gap narrowed from 31.8% in 2015 to 22.2% last year.
◇ DX renewable energy conversion rate 94.8%… water resources return rate 67.2%
The Device eXperience (DX) institutional sector, which handles finished goods, converted 94.8% of its total power use to renewable energy as of the end of last year. That was up 1.4 percentage points from 93.4% a year earlier. The DX institutional sector aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.
Product energy efficiency also improved. Samsung Electronics said it applied high-efficiency technologies to key product lines such as refrigerators and the Galaxy S series, cutting average power consumption by 34.4% compared with 2019. The share of recycled plastic in products expanded to 33.7%.
Water resources management was also strengthened. Samsung Electronics achieved a 67.2% return rate last year toward its goal of 100% global water resources return by 2030. At its business sites, it restored about 240,000 tons of water resources through Water Positive activities that go beyond reducing and reusing water to returning more water resources to nature than are used.