Samsung Electronics is making strategic changes to its business units as it looks to stay ahead in the AI chip race. Young Hyun Jun has been appointed as the new head of Samsung’s semiconductor business, with Kyehyun Kyung now leading the future business division and the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology.
Samsung aims to enhance its competitiveness in the face of an uncertain global business environment, and Jun’s extensive experience in leading memory and battery manufacturing divisions is expected to help achieve this goal. The memory chip market is highly competitive, with Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron being the top three suppliers dominating the industry.
SK Hynix has been a leading player in high-bandwidth memory (HBM), supplying HBM3 chips to Nvidia, a key player in AI chips. However, Nvidia is reportedly considering Samsung as a supplier as well. According to Kazunori Ito, director of equity research at Morningstar, the competition in HBM is expected to intensify by 2025. SK Hynix plans to start mass production of its latest generation of HBM3E chips in the third quarter while Samsung Electronics aims to do so in the second quarter.
With all three major suppliers likely to ship HBM3E chips to Nvidia, price competition in the market is expected to intensify. However, Samsung’s progress in closing the technology gap with its competitors is seen as a positive sign and indicates that they are quickly moving towards achieving their technological goals in the memory chip industry.
