SEOUL (Reuters) – For years, legal troubles have cast a cloud over Samsung Electronics Vice President Jay Y. Lee as he stands on the way out of his father’s shadow and made a name for himself as leader of the global tech giant.
On Monday, he faces a verdict on the cost of bribery that could detract from the world’s largest smartphone and memory maker just as it looks to outperform competitors in areas such as chip contract manufacturing and artificial intelligence (AI).
“Samsung is at a crossroads,” said Park Ju-gun, head of the Researcher’s Score. “COVID-19 has accelerated change, and other third-gen (Korean) industry leaders are heavily breaking into new business. ”
Park cited Hyundai’s EV push and LG’s joint venture with Magna as examples of ambitious campaigns led by the grandchildren of the founders of these conglomerates.
“But Samsung has not seen major changes in a new industry such as AI since Harman was acquired in 2016, other than the expansion of the foundry industry, due to ongoing legal risk. The next few years will determine whether Samsung becomes, say, a global platform company or stays as a hardware company, ”he said.
Lee, 52, has been the de facto head of Samsung Electronics since his father, Lee Kun-hee, was admitted to the hospital after a heart attack in 2014.
Elder Lee died in October, but his seat has yet to be filled, and uncertainty was caused by his son’s legal troubles, analysts said.
Vice-chairman since 2012, Lee has yet to make a mark – as did his father – by building the semiconductor business, which now accounts for half of Samsung Electronics ’profits.
Among the moves meant to ensure it continued, Lee has fought allegations of legal injustice, including a year in prison in 2017-2018 over a bribery case in was the nearby President Park Geun-hye.
BONUS FLAGSHIP
One of Lee’s focuses on Samsung’s non-memory chip industry, including chip contract manufacturing, is to get the employees to “create another myth. ”
Samsung expects to earn 133 trillion won ($ 121.47 billion) in non-memory chips through 2030 to become No. 1, including in chip contract manufacturing, where its market share of 17 % in seconds away to 54% TSMC standard, according to 54%, according to TrendForce.
Samsung has also visited Lee ‘s manufacturing skills in winning a $ 6.6 billion deal from Verizon last year, citing the network hardware industry – still small compared to competitors like Huawei – as a key business area.
Lee also has to deal with paying an estate tax to take control of the tech giant. Since Lee Kun-hee’s death, it is estimated that about 11 trillion ($ 10.05 billion) in estate tax will be needed for his family to own his registered stocks alone.
And it faces a separate test of suspected accounting fraud and stock price manipulation linked to the 2015 merger that helped it take more control of Samsung Electronics.
‘SUPER-CLASS HELP’
Urbane, a conservative and shy of the media, Lee has recently shown a calm side in public after his release from detention.
He is pictured eating lunch in staff cafes, taking selfies with employees, and smiling brightly when President Moon Jae-in visited Samsung’s workplace in April 2019.
In May, he said he would not grant governing rights to children and apologized for the behavior of officers caught violating trade union actions.
“A truly high-end company is a stable company … I want to make a new Samsung,” Lee said in his last statement to the court in December.
(Won $ 1 = 1,094.8900)
Reciting with Joyce Lee. Edited by Gerry Doyle