Samsung replaces its semiconductor chip boss amid hightened competition in AI era

This replacement is highly unusual as Samsung usually reshuffles the heads of its business arms at the end of the year. Jun is a chip specialist who has played a crucial role in achieving DRAM and NAND technology breakthroughs.

Jun Young-hyun now heads Samsung Device Solutions, which makes semiconductor chips

Samsung has replaced the head of its DS business to “strengthen its competitiveness amid an uncertain global business environment.” While the company didn't elaborate, it may hint toward heightened competition from Micron and SK Hynix in the semiconductor memory chip segment.

Samsung, the world's biggest memory chip maker, was caught off guard by the explosive demand for High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM) chips. SK Hynix released HBM3 chips earlier than Samsung and received a lot of business from Nvidia, which is currently the world's most valuable chip firm. Nvidia's AI chips are used by most of the popular AI companies worldwide for AI inferencing.

The video below shows some of the AI features used in Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra.

With Jun Young-hyun, Samsung is going back to basics. Jun, who worked in the company's semiconductor chip segment earlier, is expected to use his expertise to overcome Samsung's current crisis. He was heading Samsung SDI, the company's battery manufacturing division, before being named the head of the DS division.

Kyung Kye-hyun, the old boss of the DS division, has now been appointed as the head of Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT). He is tasked with “finding new growth opportunities” based on his experience in the semiconductor chip business.

Samsung was recently certified by Nvidia as a supplier of HBM memory chips for its AI processors. However, SK Hynix will likely remain Nvidia's primary supplier, and Samsung wants to change that. With Jun now leading the DS division, the company hopes to beat SK Hynix in the future.

Samsung launched HBM3E chips earlier than its competitors. These chips were unveiled in October 2023, and Samsung is now said to be the sole supplier of HBM3E chips for Nvidia for the rest of the year. The company also unveiled the world's first 36GB HBM3E 12H DRAM and CXL memory modules.