Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong takes the stage at an event marking the 25th anniversary of NVIDIA’s GeForce GPU series, held at COEX in Seoul on October 30. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Jan. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — Lee Jae-yong, executive chairman of Samsung Electronics, has urged senior executives not to mistake improving numbers for a full recovery, delivering a cautionary message as the company navigates intensifying competition in semiconductors and growing global uncertainty.
In remarks shared recently with more than 2,000 executives across Samsung affiliates, Mr. Lee said that the company was facing what he described as a “final opportunity” to restore its core competitiveness, according to people familiar with the internal program.
“Now is not the time to be complacent simply because the figures look better,” he said, invoking renewed urgency despite Samsung’s recent rebound in earnings and stock price.
The message comes as investors have increasingly spoken of a Samsung comeback, following a sharp recovery in profits and a rally in shares. But executives close to the company say Mr. Lee remains wary of lingering structural weaknesses, particularly in semiconductors — long the backbone of Samsung’s global dominance.
Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong inspects the NRD-K cleanroom facility, an advanced integrated semiconductor research and development center at the company’s Giheung campus, on December 22. (Image courtesy of Samsung Electronics)
During the leadership program, Mr. Lee revived the late Chairman Lee Kun-hee’s “sandwich crisis” warning from 2007, noting that South Korea remains squeezed between advanced rivals and fast-rising challengers — a predicament he said has only grown more severe.
Samsung’s semiconductor business, once defined by an overwhelming technological edge, has faced sustained pressure. Although its Device Solutions division returned to profitability in 2024 after a deep loss the previous year, the company fell behind SK Hynix in annual operating profit, largely due to delays in securing leadership in high-bandwidth memory chips, a critical component for artificial intelligence computing.
Samsung also lost its decades-long lead in the global DRAM market, while its contract chipmaking business continues to trail Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, even as Chinese competitors narrow the gap.
Silhouettes of employees are seen inside Samsung Electronics’ Seocho headquarters. (Yonhap)
The company’s fortunes improved in the second half of 2025 as memory prices rebounded and shipments of advanced memory products expanded to major customers, including Nvidia. Samsung posted operating profit of about 20 trillion won in the fourth quarter — the largest single-quarter profit ever recorded by a South Korean company — and annual revenue reached a record 332.7 trillion won.
Its stock has nearly tripled from early 2025 levels, closing above 150,000 won last week.
Yet Mr. Lee’s warning suggests that financial momentum alone is not enough. Executives say concerns remain about the group’s overall resilience, particularly in smartphones, televisions and home appliances, where weakening global demand, rising component costs and aggressive Chinese competition continue to weigh on margins.
“The recovery has been driven partly by market cycles,” said one industry official. “The chairman’s message appears to be that Samsung cannot rely on favorable conditions — it must rebuild its fundamental technological edge.”
Since easing his long-running legal constraints last summer, Mr. Lee has stepped up overseas engagement, meeting global technology leaders including Tesla’s Elon Musk and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang. Internally, Samsung has strengthened its corporate structure, reviving its mergers and acquisitions function and expanding strategic planning capabilities.
Samsung Electronics Pyeongtaek . (Image courtesy of Samsung Electronics)
In semiconductors, the company is pressing ahead with large-scale investments in its U.S. plant in Taylor, Texas, and its chip clusters in Pyeongtaek and Yongin. Optimism has also grown around its next-generation HBM4 memory, which recently received top evaluation scores from major global customers.
In a New Year’s address, Jun Young-hyun, head of Samsung’s semiconductor division, said the company’s latest memory technology had begun to convince clients that “Samsung is back.”
For Mr. Lee, however, the message remains clear: recovery must be proven not by numbers alone, but by regaining the technological supremacy that once defined the company.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
