Vice Chairman Lee Hosts Meeting with Top Management

Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong discussed the global business environment with the top officials of the company’s semiconductor and display divisions on June 1.

Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong discussed the global business environment with the top executives of the company’s semiconductor and display divisions at Hwaseong Plant in Gyeonggi Province on June 1.

It is quite unusual for Lee to hold such a meeting on a Saturday. The business strategy meeting at Hwaseong Plant came five months after the one on Jan. 1.

Lee reportedly checked on performances of the two divisions, which led the deterioration of the company’s bottom lines in the first quarter of the year. Lee has reportedly made an adjustment in the global management strategies of the two divisions. This means that the company is shifting into crisis mode.

"In a rapidly changing environment, Samsung must not forget the significance of securing long-term and fundamental technological competitiveness,” Lee was quoted as saying by Samsung Electronics on June 2. He asked the top management to maintain the “super gap strategy.”

He also emphasized that domestic investment and employment plans will be carried out without any changes. "The driving force behind Samsung's continuing innovation over the last 50 years has been investment for the future which did not stop even during difficult times," Lee said. "We are planning to invest 180 trillion won and create 40,000 jobs in the next three years. We have to create decent jobs and contribute to revving up the Korean economy."

Lee also checked on investment in system semiconductors. He stressed that Samsung Electronics should not put off investing in semiconductors just because the semiconductor market shrank and the company’s profits temporarily decreased. "Samsung set the goal of becoming the world's number one company in 2030 in the semiconductor industry, the engine of the 4th Industrial Revolution. I ask you to make every effort to execute the 133-trillion-won investment plan for the goal."

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