Samsung Electronics

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd (Samsung Electronics; "Samsung" in Korean literally means "three stars" 삼성, 三星; Korean name - 삼성전자, 三星電子, "Samson Cheonja") is a multinational electronics, semiconductor, telecommunications company equipment, memory chips, liquid crystal displays, mobile phones and monitors.

Part of the Samsung chaebol. Today the company employs more than 309,630 people in 74 countries. The company's main office is located in Suwon (Republic of Korea).

Samsung Electronics was founded in 1969 in the South Korean city of Suwon under the name Samsung Electric Industries. Initially, the company produced televisions, calculators, refrigerators, air conditioners and washing machines. For 12 years - until 1981 - the company produced more than 10 million black and white televisions.

In 1988, Samsung Electric Industries was merged with Samsung Semiconductor & Communications to form Samsung Electronics.

In 1994, together with the design studio Porsche Design, the world's first compact 35 mm film camera, the Samsung ECX-1, with 4x zoom, was developed and launched. In the same year, thanks to its striking ergonomic design and high technical characteristics, the camera received the EISA and TIPA Award as the best compact camera.

In 2005, Samsung Electronics overtook its Japanese rival Sony for the first time to become the most popular electronics brand, according to Interbrand. In 2006, Samsung Electronics was ranked 20th among global brands and second among electronics brands in Business Week magazine.

In 2007, Samsung Electronics overtook the U.S. company Motorola to become the world's second largest mobile phone company. In January of the same year, the company was ranked number one in the consumer electronics sector by BrandFinance.

On April 21, 2008, Samsung Chairman Lee Gon-hee resigned amid allegations of tax evasion.

In 2009, the company managed to overtake Siemens (Germany) and Hewlett-Packard (USA), receiving a working capital of $117.4 billion. and thus become the largest technology company in this respect.

In 2011, Samsung was able to reach 300 million mobile phones sold in one year. Previously, only Nokia was able to do this.

In 2012, Samsung acquired mSpot, a U.S.-based cloud service provider.

In 2013, the company ranked first among technology companies on the Fortune Global 500 with revenue of $178.6 billion and profits of $20.6 billion. In the overall ranking, Samsung was ranked 14th, 5 places ahead of its main competitor, Apple.

In June 2014, the company introduced the first smartphone based on Tizen OS, the Samsung Z. Samsung had high hopes for the new operating system as an alternative to Android, as well as a way to strengthen its position in the software market.

On December 10, 2014, Samsung Electronics announced the merger of its business solutions and software business with its mobile business. These measures were part of the company's annual reorganization. The Samsung Media Solution Center (MSC), which oversees the creation of applications and services for Galaxy smartphones, was integrated with Samsung's IT & Mobile Communications division, which was responsible for the development and sale of mobile devices.

In 2014, Samsung acquired SmartThings, an American company specializing in the development of software for controlling electronics in the home.

In May 2015, the company announced a partnership with IKEA as part of the Wireless Power Consortium to co-create pieces of furniture capable of charging mobile devices with support for the Qi wireless standard. Also in 2015, Samsung acquired YESCO, an American manufacturer of LED displays.

In the second quarter of 2016, Samsung recorded its highest profit since the beginning of 2014, and the launch of the new Galaxy Note 7 model was expected to consolidate this success in the second half of the year. However, in September 2016, Samsung recalled the Galaxy Note 7 due to defective batteries. The device with a waterproof body and an iris scanning system managed to receive high ratings from reviewers and was in high demand, but sales of this model around the world were suspended. According to Samsung, a total of 2.5 million Note 7s were produced, and about 1 million were sold.

In 2016, Samsung acquired two companies: cloud service provider Joyent, as well as Dacor, a leading U.S. brand in the home luxury goods category. Also, in October 2016, the company entered into an agreement to buy the open artificial intelligence platform Viv. In 2016, the company announced the acquisition of Harman International Industries, and in March 2017, the acquisition process was completed.

In 2017, Samsung's net profit almost doubled to 42.19 trillion won ($39.6 billion at the exchange rate as of January 31, 2018) from 22.73 trillion won a year earlier. This was largely due to the growing demand for chips. Samsung's revenue in 2017 reached 239.58 trillion won ($225.2 billion) against 201.87 trillion won in 2016. The semiconductor business saw the largest growth of all businesses, up 45 percent to 74.26 trillion won ($69.8 billion). Revenue in the memory segment jumped 59% to 60.3 trillion won ($56.6 billion). The chip division's profits rose 2.5 times to a record 35.2 trillion won ($33 billion).

On November 23, 2018, Korean media published an official apology from Samsung Electronics Co. management to victims of cancer related to the production of semiconductors and displays at the company's facilities: in 2007, an employee of the company who worked on a semiconductor production line died of leukemia, after which other employees who fell ill demanded compensation and apologies. They also demanded measures to prevent the risk of cancer. The committee, which acts as an intermediary between the company and its workers, announced sickness compensation of up to 150 million won, equivalent to $132,000 as of November 2018. The compensation plan also covers congenital diseases that affect the children of the deceased. At the same time, the company did not recognize that the environment in the workplace is directly related to these diseases of employees. Compensation will be carried out by a third party, the law firm Jipyong (South Korea). The deadline for payment of compensation is until October 31, 2028, which may be extended depending on the circumstances. All current or former employees of Samsung and its subcontractors who have worked on the company's semiconductor production lines since 1984 will be eligible for compensation. Along with compensation, Samsung donated 50 billion won ($44.185 million at the November 2018 exchange rate) to the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA) to help improve the safety and health of workers in the country.

On December 24, 2018, the first release of the Android-based One UI shell took place.

At the end of 2018, Samsung's revenue amounted to 243.77 trillion won.

In January 2019, Samsung announced that it would begin replacing plastic packaging with paper as well as other sustainable materials from the first half of 2019. The company will replace plastic elements in the packaging of mobile phones, tablets and wearables with molds made of impregnated paper pulp, and accessory bags will be made of environmentally friendly materials. Samsung will also change the design of the phone charger, replacing the glossy finish with a matte one and getting rid of the plastic screen protectors. In addition, plastic bags used to protect the surface of household appliances such as televisions, refrigerators, air conditioners and washing machines, as well as kitchen appliances, will be replaced with bags made from recycled materials and bioplastics – that is, made from plastic waste and non-fossil materials such as starch or sugarcane.

By 2020, Samsung will only use fiber materials certified by international conservation organizations such as the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative.

At the end of the second quarter of 2021, Samsung Electronics received a net profit of $8.67 billion, which is 73% more than in the same period in 2020. 

In May 2023, it became known that the company had agreed with Naver to develop its own analogue of ChatGPT for use within the corporation. For security reasons, employees are not allowed to use third-party chatbots. The AI tool is scheduled to be unveiled in October 2023.

Company structure

Semiconductor Business: Manufacture of DRAM, SRAM, and flash memory chips.
Display Business. Samsung has set several records in the production of LCD panels over the past few years. In August 2001, the world's first 40-inch panel was introduced, followed by a 46-inch panel in October 2002, a 57-inch panel in 2003, and an 82-inch panel in early 2005. In 2004, Samsung's share of the LCD monitor market was 22.5%.
IT & Mobile Communications: production of telephones, computers, digital cameras.
Digital Appliance Network Business: production of microwave ovens, refrigerators, air conditioners, and other household goods.

Activities

Samsung has been a leader in DRAM and SRAM for 13 years continuously.

In the early 2010s, the company's smartphones were quite popular in China; In 2013, Samsung's share of the Chinese smartphone market was 19%. However, subsequently, the South Korean company lost ground under the pressure of local manufacturers such as Huawei, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi. This led to the fact that in 2019, Samsung did not even enter the top ten largest smartphone suppliers in China, and its share in the Chinese smartphone market was 0.7%.

Against the backdrop of declining smartphone sales in China and rising production costs, Samsung began exporting production to other countries: for example, at the end of 2018, a smartphone assembly plant in the city of Tianjin was closed, and in October 2019, the last smartphone plant in China, in the city of Huizhou (Guangdong Province), was closed. According to research firm Canlys, most of Samsung's smartphone production (about 60%) is currently concentrated in Vietnam.

As part of a long-term business expansion strategy announced in 2018, the corporation announced that it will invest $22 billion over the next three years in the development of 5G, components for automotive electronic systems, as well as artificial intelligence technologies.