The anticipation is high for Samsung to once again introduce groundbreaking, “Lee Jae-yong-style” ventures that can surpass even those previous successes. (Image courtesy of Samsung Electronics)
SEOUL, Oct. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — As Lee Jae-yong approaches the third anniversary of his formal appointment as chairman of Samsung Electronics, the company is experiencing its strongest recovery in years and preparing for a new phase of corporate restructuring.
Mr. Lee, who was cleared of remaining legal charges earlier this year, has avoided public celebrations and is instead focused on meetings with global business leaders.
He is expected to attend the APEC summit in Gyeongju this week, where industry officials say a meeting with Nvidia’s Jensen Huang could accelerate negotiations for supplying Samsung’s next-generation high-bandwidth memory chips to the U.S. company.
Executives and analysts are now watching closely for Samsung’s year-end personnel changes, expected in late November or early December.
It would be the first major reshuffle under Mr. Lee since he emerged from years of legal uncertainty. Widespread changes, including leadership shifts across the device businesses, are seen as likely.
Debate has also intensified over whether Samsung should restore its once-powerful corporate control unit, dismantled in 2017 after political scandal.
Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong embraces Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang during the Korea-U.S. Business Roundtable reception held at the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C., on August 25, 2025 (local time).
Separately, investors expect Mr. Lee to return as a registered board director, a position he stepped away from in 2019, though governance concerns and geopolitical risk continue to complicate that decision.
Samsung’s renewed momentum has coincided with Mr. Lee’s stepped-up overseas travel and negotiations. A trip to the United States this summer led to foundry contracts with Tesla and Apple, while preparations for mass production of HBM4 chips for Nvidia are under way.
Analysts say Samsung is beginning to chip away at the dominance of Taiwan’s TSMC in advanced chipmaking.
Samsung headquarters in Seoul’s Seocho district (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
The semiconductor business has rebounded strongly from last year’s slump. Samsung retook the top share of the global memory market in the third quarter, aided by soaring demand from artificial intelligence applications.
Quarterly companywide revenue exceeded 86 trillion won, the highest on record.
Mr. Lee also met recently in Seoul with Sam Altman of OpenAI, discussing cooperation on large-scale AI infrastructure described by both sides as a long-term strategic partnership.
As Samsung’s performance improves, so has its stock price. Shares nearly doubled over the past year, recently touching 99,900 won and raising expectations that the symbolic 100,000-won mark could soon be crossed.
Business leaders say Mr. Lee still faces difficult structural decisions, though his firm is moving beyond what critics once called its “lost decade.”
“New Samsung” has become a favorite phrase among investors hoping that the company’s revival continues into next year.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
