South Korean tech big Samsung Electronics stated on Tuesday that its co-chief government officer Han Jong-hee has died resulting from cardiac arrest. Han was 63.
Han was in control of Samsung’s shopper electronics and cell gadgets division, whereas co-CEO Jun Younger-hyun oversees the chip enterprise of South Korea’s greatest firm.
Han handed away at a hospital on Tuesday whereas being handled for cardiac arrest, an organization spokesperson stated, including {that a} successor had not but been determined.
The South Korean agency has been affected by weak earnings and sagging share costs in current quarters after falling behind rivals in superior reminiscence chips and contract chip manufacturing, which have loved robust demand from synthetic intelligence initiatives. Samsung has additionally ceded its smartphone market crown to Apple.
Han, who joined Samsung Electronics practically 40 years in the past, constructed his profession within the TV enterprise. He grew to become vice-chair and CEO of Samsung Electronics in 2022. Han was additionally one of many firm’s board members.
He chaired Samsung’s shareholder assembly final week, the place he and different executives have been grilled by shareholders after the corporate’s failure to experience an AI growth made it one of many worst-performing tech shares final yr.
In semiconductors, Samsung lags behind SK Hynix in HBM chips that Nvidia and others depend on for AI graphic processing models.
“Before everything, I sincerely apologise for the current inventory efficiency not assembly your expectations. Over the previous yr, our firm did not adequately reply to the quickly evolving AI semiconductor market,” Han stated.
He was scheduled to attend Samsung’s launch occasion for brand new residence home equipment on Wednesday.
