Tag: Samsung

Since Samsung has so much production in Vietnam compared to Apple’s heavy reliance on China, they probably are in better position to navigate the growing trade war between the U.S. and China:

Samsung Electronics remains on alert amid the Donald Trump administration’s unpredictable trade policies, despite the United States granting tariff exemptions for smartphones, laptops, personal computers and semiconductor equipment.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Saturday (local time) that those devices will be excluded from the sweeping 10 percent baseline tariff on nearly all countries, as well as the retaliatory 125 percent duty on China.

Following the updated guidance, Samsung has been considered one of the beneficiaries along with Apple and TSMC. Bloomberg described the measure as a “big win” for major tech firms.

The optimistic outlook stems from Samsung’s heavy reliance on production in Vietnam, which is on the verge of facing a 46 percent “reciprocal tariff” from the U.S. if trade talks between Hanoi and Washington fail following the current 90-day pause. The Korean company produces nearly 50 percent of all Galaxy smartphones sold globally at its Vietnamese facilities.

Korea Times

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This sounds like a way for the Korean government to reduce Apple’s marketshare in Korea by imposing this ban because any smartphone is a possible recording device not just Apple phones:

South Korea’s military is considering a comprehensive ban on iPhones in military buildings due to increasing concerns about possible leaks of sensitive information through voice recordings, according to multiple military sources on Tuesday.

The sources, a group of ranking officers who wished to speak on condition of anonymity, said that the Air Force headquarters released an internal announcement on the military’s intranet server on April 11, instructing a complete prohibition on any device capable of voice recording and which do not permit third-party apps to control inherent functions, effective June 1, with “iPhones” cited as items subject to the ban.

According to the document, the decision to ban iPhones in the military came from joint meetings held by the headquarters of the Army, Navy and Air Force, located at Gyeryongdae in South Chungcheong Province.

Korea Herald

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This is a big incentive for Samsung to build a chip plant in Texas:

The U.S. government announced a plan Monday to award Samsung Electronics up to $6.4 billion in grants to support the Korean tech giant’s chipmaking investment in central Texas, as it strives to strengthen domestic semiconductor production.

The Commerce Department said it has reached a nonbinding preliminary agreement with Samsung to provide the grants under the CHIPS and Science Act to back the company’s expected investment of more than $40 billion, in the establishment of a “leading-edge semiconductor ecosystem” in the state.

Korea Times

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Is this the next tech revolution where instead of everyone walking around with smartphones, everyone is instead wearing headsets?:

Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, center, poses with LG Electronics CEO Cho Joo-wan, left, and LG Corp. Vice Chairman Kwon Bong-seok, during a visit to LG Twin Tower in Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of LG Electronics

Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Meta, the U.S. tech giant behind leading social network services like Facebook and Instagram, held meetings with officials from Korean tech companies, Wednesday, to expand the extended reality (XR) ecosystem and foster cooperation in artificial intelligence (AI).

The Meta founder, who arrived in Korea the previous night, marking his first trip here since 2013, visited LG Electronics’ office and met with the company’s CEO, Cho Joo-wan. The discussions centered around technological cooperation related to extended reality (XR).

On the same day, the Meta chief also held private meetings with officials from XR-related startups in Korea. Later in the evening, he met Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong at Seungjiwon, Samsung Group’s VIP guest house located in Seoul.

Zuckerberg’s meeting with Korean tech company representatives is seen as a move to try to build a strong software and hardware manufacturing ecosystem like Meta’s rival Apple.

Korea Times

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It looks like there will not be any more jail time for Samsung Chairman Lee Jae-yong:

A Seoul court acquitted Samsung Electronics Co. Chairman Lee Jae-yong on Monday in connection with the controversial 2015 merger of two Samsung affiliates allegedly conducted to help him take over control of South Korea’s biggest conglomerate.

The Seoul Central District Court delivered the not-guilty sentence for Lee, three years and five months after he was indicted on charges of involvement in market irregularities in the merger of Cheil Industries Inc. and Samsung C&T Corp. to solidify his managerial control of the group at a lower cost.

Lee was charged with stock price rigging, breach of trust and accounting fraud in the course of the controversial 2015 merger, where three Samsung C&T shares were offered for one Cheil share. 

The merger was seen as crucial to Lee’s succession as the heir of the family-controlled group, as his father, Lee Kun-hee, had suffered a heart attack the previous year.

Yonhap

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It makes me wonder if any Chinese intelligence operatives were involved in influencing this former Samsung executive to leak this sensitive chipmaking technology to China:

A file photo of the Suwon District Prosecutors Office (Yonhap)

A former senior executive of Samsung Electronics Co. has been arrested and indicted for stealing the chip giant’s trade secrets to build a copycat chip plant in China, prosecutors said Monday.

The 65-year-old former executive, whose name is withheld, was charged with violating the industrial technology protection and unfair competition prevention laws, according to the Suwon District Prosecutors Office.

He is accused of attempting to build a complete copy of Samsung’s semiconductor factory in China after illegally acquiring the company’s confidential data, including chip plant basic engineering data (BED) and process layout and design drawings, from August 2018 to 2019.

The prosecution also indicted six other people — one employee of a Samsung Electronics subcontractor and five employees of a Chinese chipmaker established by the former executive — without detention on charges of colluding in the alleged technology leak.

BED is a technology needed to ensure impurities do not exist in semiconductor manufacturing facilities. Process layout contains information on the floor plan and dimension of a chip plant’s eight core processes for semiconductor production. Such trade secrets essential for the manufacturing of sub-30-nano DRAM and NAND flash chips are considered national core technologies.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Now in addition to using personal email, Chat GPT is now the latest threat companies have to be aware of where their corporate secrets could be inadvertently leaked by employees:

Samsung Electronics has experienced continued data leaks, amid the intensifying global competition for supremacy in the semiconductor sector, according to industry officials, Wednesday.

Samsung Electronics said its Device Solutions (DS) division in charge of chip production dismissed an engineer recently who was found last month to have sent dozens of emails containing proprietary data to private email accounts.

The company also asked for police to investigate the case.

“Through disciplinary measures and legal actions, we will be tough on coping with this issue,” a Samsung Electronics spokesman said.

In March, another Samsung Electronics engineer mishandled confidential company data by uploading source code to ChatGPT. This case led the company to restrict its employees from using the artificial intelligence-based chatbot during work.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It will be interesting to see how the South Korean government and Samsung react to this request:

Samsung Electronics’ chip plant in Xi’an, China [SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS]

Samsung Electronics and SK hynix should not sell chips to China to make up for the shortfall in supply following China’s sanctioning of Micron, the White House has told the Korean government.    
   
The Financial Times reported Sunday that the Joe Biden administration reached out to Seoul to ask for a cap on the chip sales, although neither government confirmed.  
   
If the Yoon Suk Yeol government acts on the request, the push could exacerbate weaknesses at Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, which have been hit hard as a result of oversupply. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

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Congratulations to Ms. Lee for her promotion:

Samsung Electronics appointed the company’s first female president during its annual executive reshuffle, indicating Chairman Lee Jae-yong’s intention to break the glass ceiling at his company.

The tech giant announced on Monday that Vice President Lee Young-hee was promoted to president to lead the global marketing office of the device eXperience (DX) division, which oversees the mobile device and home appliance businesses. She is credited for Samsung using purple, instead of blue, for its marketing campaign.

She also became Samsung Group’s first female president who is not related to late founder Lee Byung-chul. Hotel Shilla President and CEO Lee Boo-jin, the younger sister of the Samsung Electronics chairman, had been the only female president at Korea’s largest conglomerate.

Korea Times

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