Samsung Electronics has replaced its semiconductor chief in an effort to overcome what it has described as a “chip crisis”, amid growing concern that the world’s largest memory-chip maker by sales is falling behind rivals in the booming artificial intelligence segment.
The South Korean company appointed Jun Young-hyun to head its core semiconductor business, replacing Kyung Kye-hyun, who will now lead Samsung’s “future business” division looking at different technologies. Jun previously led the group’s battery unit, Samsung SDI, and earlier worked in memory chip development.
The move comes as Samsung is trying to catch up with rivals in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips used in artificial intelligence, following criticism that it is trailing domestic rival SK Hynix in mass-producing the most advanced HBM chips.