Financial Times (December 10)
“The world’s leading semiconductor companies are racing to make so-called “2 nanometre” processor chips that will power the next generation of smartphones, data centres and artificial intelligence.” While TSMC “remains the analysts’ favourite to maintain its global supremacy in the sector… Samsung Electronics and Intel have identified the industry’s next leap forward as a chance to close the gap.”
Tags: 2 nanometre, AI, Chips, Data centres, Gap, Intel, Leading, Next-generation, Processor, Samsung, Semiconductor, Smartphones, Supremacy, TSMC
Reuters (October 25)
“Lee Kun-hee leaves behind an impressive, albeit deeply flawed, empire. The Samsung chairman, who transformed his father’s noodle-trading business into a $355 billion smartphone and chipmaking colossus, has died at 78. The second-generation leader’s mark on Korea Inc will endure, but so do scandals that threaten the family’s grip on power.”
Tags: Chairman, Chipmaking, Colossus, Died, Empire, Flawed, Impressive, Korea Inc, Lee, Noodle, Samsung, Smartphone, Transformed
Korea Herald (March 15)
Despite COVID-19, AGMs will go on in South Korea. “A total of 314 South Korean companies, including Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor and SK hynix, will hold shareholders meetings this week.” They are taking special “measures to counter concerns over potential spread of the coronavirus at the meetings.” For example, Samsung has moved the meeting from its headquarters to a convention hall and “asked shareholders to make extensive use of online voting” whereas SK hynix “will increase the distance between shareholders’ seats to 2 meters to minimize physical contact.”
Tags: AGMs, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Distance, Hyundai, Online voting, Physical contact, Samsung, Shareholders, SK hynix, South Korea
Wall Street Journal (July 20)
“The Lee family that controls the Samsung conglomerate won its showdown with minority shareholders on Friday, but the vote still represents a watershed for corporate governance in the world’s 14th-largest economy. Though Samsung won, the bell is tolling for South Korea’s chaebol system of corporate control.” The shareholder fight marked “a step forward for corporate reform in Asia” where “a new shareholder class has been mobilized.”
Tags: Asia, Chaebol, Conglomerate, Corporate governance, Lee, Minority shareholders, Samsung, South Korea, Watershed
Bloomberg (November 28)
“Fierce rivals, Samsung and Sony also face many of the same problems: overstretched businesses, a dearth of game-changing products, hierarchical corporate structures and proud places in their national psyches. But South Korea’s Samsung is proving how nimble even huge legacy names can be. Sony should pay attention.”
Tags: Corporate structures, Game-changing products, Hierarchy, Legacy, Nimble, Overstretched, Rivals, Samsung, Sony, South Korea
Barrons (January 30)
“Fracking is creating a new source of cheap energy. By 2020, the U.S. is expected to become the world’s largest energy producer. And the falling cost of natural gas (now about a third of Europe’s and less than a quarter of Japan’s) is attracting corporate attention. “After decades of outsourcing… companies like Apple, Caterpillar, Ford Motor, General Electric, and Whirlpool are making more of their goods on American soil again. It isn’t just U.S. companies that are drawn to our cheap energy, weak dollar, and stagnant wages. Samsung Electronics plans a $4 billion semiconductor plant in Texas, Airbus SAS is building a factory in Alabama, and Toyota wants to export minivans made in Indiana to Asia.”
Tags: Airbus, Apple, Caterpillar, Energy, Ford Motor, Fracking, General electric, Samsung, Toyota, U.S., Whirlpool
Bloomberg (October 10)
“Sony, Sharp and Panasonic now have a combined market capitalization of about $29 billion, compared with Sony’s peak valuation of about $120 billion in 1999. Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s market capitalization is $596 billion and Samsung’s is $175 billion.” Japan’s electronics makers seem to be following in the footsteps of Detroit’s automakers. They haven’t kept up with changing markets and are being left behind with higher costs and shrinking market share. “Having the most-advanced technology—once a key strength of Japanese manufacturers—matters less as consumers increasingly pay attention to content, apps and user-friendliness rather than hardware specifications.”
The Economist (September 1)
The Economist (September 1)
“The much bigger questions raised by this case [Apple versus Samsung] are whether all Apple’s innovations should have been granted a patent in the first place…. To award a monopoly right to finger gestures and rounded rectangles is to stretch the definition of ‘novel’ and ‘non-obvious’ to breaking-point.”
The Economist (October 1)
“Now the world’s biggest technology firm, measured by sales,” Samsung Electronics “makes more televisions than any other company.” Samsung is emerging as Asia’s version of General Electric, having “outstripped the Japanese firms it once mimicked.” But the secret of Samsung’s success is nothing new. Samsung is “a well-run family firm, with a strong culture and a focus on the long term, which has made good use of an indulgent state.”
“Now the world’s biggest technology firm, measured by sales,” Samsung Electronics “makes more televisions than any other company.” Samsung is emerging as Asia’s version of General Electric, having “outstripped the Japanese firms it once mimicked.” But the secret of Samsung’s success is nothing new. Samsung is “a well-run family firm, with a strong culture and a focus on the long term, which has made good use of an indulgent state.”
