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● Samsung Crisis: Foundry, HBM, DRAM dissected

Samsung Electronics Crisis: Latest Global Economic Outlook Analysis

[1] The Flow of Samsung Electronics’ Crisis and the First Warning

The crisis at Samsung Electronics began a few years ago with the GOS incident.
Customer complaints exploded due to overheating issues caused by the GOS app in smartphones, leading to an apology at the shareholders’ meeting.
This incident is interpreted not as a simple cyclical downturn but as a sign of the loss of fundamental technological competitiveness.
From a corporate management perspective, the company was still generating significant operating profits despite the crisis, but the apology emphasized that they were accurately aware of internal problems.

[2] DRAM and HBM Crisis and the Second Apology

In addition to the crisis Samsung Electronics faced in the smartphone sector, a fundamental crisis has deepened in the DRAM sector.
In particular, there are difficulties in developing high-end products such as HBM.
It takes at least 7-8 months to change the quality and design of DRAM, making it difficult to rebound sales in the short term.
In October 2024, the apology from the head of the DS division and the vice chairman of the semiconductor division was received not as a simple crisis resolution but as a declaration of the need for fundamental innovation.

[3] Foundry Market and Global Competitive Landscape

Samsung Electronics once recorded a market share of over 20% in the foundry market, but recently, its share has plummeted due to attacks from TSMC and three Chinese companies.
With Chinese companies rapidly supplementing their technology and encroaching on the market, competitiveness in the foundry sector is weakening.
TSMC’s technological innovation, ultra-fine process competitiveness, and GPU production technology, which plays an important accelerator role in the AI ​​era, are difficult for Samsung Electronics to follow.
As a result, Samsung Electronics is experiencing limitations in its foundry-focused strategy, facing simultaneous crises of customer attrition and sluggish sales.

[4] Problems with AI ​​Era and Future Industry Strategy

As the global economic structure is being reorganized around AI ​​and digital innovation, the semiconductor industry is at the forefront of innovation.
Samsung Electronics still tends to remain focused on memory semiconductors, making it less competitive in the AI-related semiconductor market compared to TSMC and AMD.
In particular, as global companies such as Nvidia achieve technological innovation based on TSMC, Samsung Electronics is struggling to secure future revenue sources.
Therefore, in the future global economic outlook, preemptive strategic changes in technological innovation and the AI ​​semiconductor sector are essential.

[5] 2025, The Fate of Samsung Electronics and the Korean Economy

As the phrase “Samsung’s fate will be decided in 2025” is on the book cover, 2025 is expected to be a critical juncture for Samsung Electronics and the entire Korean economy.
The global economic outlook is expected to change significantly depending on whether the crises in key sectors such as smartphones, DRAM, and foundry are overcome.
If the current crisis situation continues, there is a concern that domestic industries, regional economic imbalances, and the burden of supporting a super-aged society will also create a vicious cycle.
Accordingly, strategic innovation and the discovery of new growth engines are more important than ever.

< Summary >

Since the GOS incident a few years ago, Samsung Electronics has experienced crises in smartphones and DRAM, acknowledging problems through internal apologies.
In particular, the fundamental crisis in the DRAM and HBM sectors shows a situation where short-term sales rebounds are difficult.
Market share is declining in the foundry sector due to attacks from TSMC and three Chinese companies, and technological innovation competitiveness required in the AI ​​era is weakening.
As a result, 2025 will be an important turning point that will determine the fate of Samsung Electronics, and the Korean economy as a whole urgently needs to secure new growth engines and restructure.
Economic outlook, global economy, Samsung Electronics, semiconductors, and technological innovation keywords play an important role in this analysis.

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