Samsung faces leadership challenge in global semiconductor industry

Samsung has added more semiconductor experts to its board, but there is still debate about whether professional management has the power to make trillion-won decisions.

Industry sources said on September 23 that the global semiconductor industry is facing huge challenges from technology competition, artificial intelligence and geopolitical tensions, in which the role of business leadership becomes a decisive factor.

The top five conglomerates, including Samsung Electronics, Intel, SK hynix, Micron and TSMC, are experimenting with different governance models, raising the question of who will lead the way – visionary owners or professional managers focused on stability.

Samsung is a classic example of family-based leadership. The group rose to prominence through bold decisions by founder Lee Byung-chul and late Chairman Lee Kun-hee.

However, after the political-legal shock involving Vice Chairman Lee Jae Yong, the centralized management structure has cracked.

Samsung has recently added more semiconductor experts to its board, marking a shift toward integrated governance, but there is still debate about whether professional management has the power to make trillion-won decisions amid a market downturn.

Meanwhile, Nvidia is attracting attention with the younger generation of founder Jensen Huang's family taking on leadership roles in artificial intelligence and robotics projects, a unique generational shift that is different from Micron's purely professional model, which is cautious in investing and heavily dependent on institutional shareholders.

Intel has once again demonstrated the limitations of bureaucratic management. After firing CEO Pat Gelsinger, the company's board brought back Lip-Bu Tan, pledging to restore its technical direction. Tan will cut the bloated organization and promote 1.4 nanometer technology to regain its position.

SK hynix faced financial challenges as debt rose due to the Solidigm acquisition, but quickly improved thanks to the HBM memory boom.

TSMC, in contrast, continues to assert a systematic succession model with long-term training of management and an internationalized board of directors.

Analysts say there is no optimal governance model for the semiconductor industry. However, in a field where one decision can change billions of dollars, leadership structure and board independence are considered vital to ensure long-term competitiveness./.

(TTXVN/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/samsung-doi-mat-bai-toan-lanh-dao-trong-nganh-ban-dan-toan-cau-post1063554.vnp