Samsung Chairman Issues Public Apology for Its Lack of Competitiveness

Samsung has been making a lot of news lately, and not the good kind. There have been multiple reports recently of a somewhat dire situation at the company due to its foundry division hemorrhaging money. It’s also reportedly had some missteps with its memory business, which is its cash cow. Now, the company’s vice chairman has stepped forward and offered a rare public apology for the situation, taking responsibility and promising changes are coming.

The apology is conciliatory in tone. It starts by saying, “Today, we, the management of Samsung Electronics, would like to first apologize to you,” referencing fans of Samsung’s products. It goes on to say the company’s leadership is responsible for the current “crisis” that has led to concerns about the company’s competitiveness and future. It’s a surprising admission from a company’s top brass, which, in many cases, can be hesitant to take the blame for situations like this.

The rest of the letter is rather boilerplate language about how it can use this opportunity to improve its competitive nature and refocus its efforts. The chairman promises to return to technological leadership and to change the company’s culture, which sound like heavy lifts, but clearly, some big changes will be required if it is to alter its trajectory in a big way.

What’s especially notable about the apology is that it’s not the first time this chairman has had some choice words for his colleagues. When he first took the helm of the DS division (device solutions) back in August, he fired off a spicy memo to his colleagues about changes needed in its semiconductor business. Back then, he said there needed to be more communication between business units and that people should speak up when they see problems.

Samsung has a lot of work to do if it intends to turn the ship around. It’s been reported that both its 3nm and 2nm nodes are stuck with yields between 10% and 20%, scaring away foundry customers. At the same time, TechPowerUp reports it’s also in danger of losing its leadership role in the memory market to crosstown rival SK Hynix due to the huge demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for AI hardware.