According to Korea Economic Daily, Samsung Electronics plans to significantly reduce the number of chip executives and reorganize its chip business, which may lead to significant layoffs at the president level. Most of the executives joined during the chip boom period in 2017-2018.

On October 8, Samsung Electronics released its earnings guidance for the third quarter of 2024, revealing that its earnings failed to meet market expectations. The company struggled to compete with SK Hynix and Micron Technology in the advanced memory sector, raising concerns about the outlook for its key chip division.

Despite its lower revenue compared to competitors, Samsung has more than twice the number of chip executives as SK Hynix (199 executives).

Samsung's restructuring efforts will focus on the "three key business units within the DS division - Memory, Foundry, and System LSI," with a shuffle of leadership positions, including CTOs, manufacturing, and technology heads.

Samsung Electronics has already conducted an audit of the Memory division within its Device Solutions (DS) business. The DS division has a total of 438 executives, accounting for 38% of the company's total of 1,164 executives.

Furthermore, Samsung is downsizing its chip manufacturing operations at foundries and reorganizing its research centers responsible for developing future chip technologies.

Given Samsung Electronics' recent struggles in its chip division, some analysts have significantly downgraded their target price for the company.