[삼성의 미래] ‘Semiconductor Vision 2030’, why it cannot be stopped

Regardless of the situation in which I am in, Samsung must keep going.
The promises already made to the people must be kept.

It must also be faithful to the corporate duty of investment and job creation.

Furthermore, we must be reborn as Samsung that fulfills its social responsibilities.

This is the first incarceration message that Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong delivered to Samsung employees for the first time since the sentence of the sentence of repatriation for destruction.

Vice-Chairman Lee’s will, as identified in this message, is summarized in two ways. These are the’compliance management’ promised at last year’s public apology press conference, and the’investment and employment’ that Samsung, the number one business in the business world, should take responsibility for and continue.

Even if compliance management is considered Samsung’s internal homework, investment and job creation is a task that cannot be postponed as it is the basis of not only Samsung but also our economy. In particular, Samsung cannot stop investing and hiring as the status of’global Samsung’ may be shaken during the’absence of total number’.

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong (second from right), who visited the Pyeongtaek business site on the 4th, is inspecting the semiconductor EUV exclusive line. [사진=삼성전자 제공]

The biggest challenge is the’Semiconductor Vision 2030′, which Vice Chairman Lee declared at the Hwaseong Plant in April 2019. Vice-Chairman Lee revealed his ambition to achieve the’World’s No. 1 in System Semiconductor’ by investing 133 trillion won in R&D and production facilities in the system semiconductor field by 2030 and employing 15,000 professionals.

However, the absence of Vice Chairman Lee is in danger of shaking the semiconductor vision 2030. In this situation, TSMC, Taiwan, the world’s No. 1 company in foundry (consigned semiconductor production) market share, declared that it will invest up to 28 billion dollars (about 30.900 trillion won) on facility investment this year alone. This is a 62% increase from the previous year. In fact, it is a will to completely outrun Samsung Electronics, the only foundry competitor, the second place (17% share). In May of last year, TSMC decided to invest 12 billion dollars to build a new 5-nanometer (nm) plant in Arizona, the US, and is aiming for mass production in 2024. In Japan, it is also considering the establishment of a new plant in Kitakyushu while working with a local equipment company.

The industry expected that Samsung Electronics will announce an investment plan comparable to TSMC if it breaks through Lee’s judicial risk this year. However, it is feared that the gap with TSMC will widen as it becomes difficult to look ahead, let alone large-scale investments. TSMC’s current global foundry market share exceeds three times that of Samsung, solidifying its overwhelming position, it is widely believed that the absence of Vice Chairman Lee in 2017.

Samsung was unable to make a proper large-scale investment during the year when Vice Chairman Lee was absent. The successful M&A case was completely stopped. Since the acquisition of Harman, an American electric equipment (automotive electronics) company, for 9 trillion won in November 2016, there has been no new M&A. In addition, it is true that small and large companies that have already been acquired did not produce synergies during the year Lee was absent. It was largely because there was no person or organization to take the initiative in sharing tasks and empowering them with ownership during their absence.

In some of the industry, Vice Chairman Lee set up a vision for the world’s number one system semiconductor in 2019, and some analysts say that without the absence of the Vice Chairman Lee for the past year or so, the related plans would have been implemented earlier and more likely to catch up with TSMC than it is now. As if conscious of this sense of crisis, Vice-Chairman Lee also stressed, “When it is difficult, we must not stop investing for the future.”

A business official said, “Because of the nature of the semiconductor industry, even if investment and manpower are put in the right place, it is difficult to produce results in a short period of time. Therefore, preemptive investment looking ahead 5 or 10 years is more important than anything else. If investment is postponed, the worst dark period in the industry could come, let alone the #1 goal for system semiconductors.”