# Samsung Electronics Canonical: https://web4.xpay.bi/en/wiki/wp-en-46445426/ Language: en Published: 2026-10-24T19:01:24.658Z Updated: 2026-10-24T19:01:24.658Z Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (SEC; stylized as SΛMSUNG; Korean: 삼성전자) is a South Korean multinational consumer electronics and semiconductor corporation founded in 1969 and headquartered in Yeongtong District, Suwon, South Korea. It is the flagship listed company of the Samsung chaebol and a major supplier of memory chips, displays, smartphones and home appliances. ## Key facts ## Overview Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (SEC; stylized as SΛMSUNG; Korean: 삼성전자) is a South Korean multinational consumer electronics and semiconductor corporation founded in 1969 and headquartered in Yeongtong District, Suwon, South Korea. It is the flagship listed company of the Samsung chaebol and a major supplier of memory chips, displays, smartphones and home appliances. In 2025 the company reported record revenue of ₩333.61 trillion (US$248.91 billion) and operating profit of ₩43.6 trillion (US$32.53 billion). As of September 2026, its market capitalization was about US$1.2 trillion, making it one of the biggest in the world. It is the world's largest manufacturer of semiconductor memory, including DRAM and NAND flash, and has been the largest television manufacturer by revenue every year since 2006. Together with Apple Inc., it is one of the two largest smartphone vendors; Samsung has frequently led global unit shipments since 2012. Samsung is best known for the Samsung Galaxy brand, including the flagship Galaxy S series, mid-range Galaxy A series, budget Galaxy M series, and foldable Galaxy Z Fold and Galaxy Z Flip lines. It also makes Galaxy Tab tablets, and previously pioneered the phablet form with the discontinued Galaxy Note family. Related software and services include Samsung Wallet and Samsung TV Plus. Samsung was the largest phone manufacturer in the world from 2012 to 2022, and still is the largest one making Android phone (and its market share is still close to Apple's). The company supplies commercial and hospitality televisions and large-format displays for venues, and is a major vendor of washing machines, refrigerators, monitors and soundbars. Samsung Electronics also manufactures components such as semiconductors, image sensors, camera modules and display panels for other companies, including Apple. It operates assembly plants and sales networks in 76 countries and employed 259,149 people at the end of 2025. ## 1969–1987: early years Samsung Electric Industries was established as an industrial part of Samsung Group on 13 January 1969 in Suwon, South Korea. At the time, Samsung Group was known to the South Korean public as a trading company specialized in fertilizers and sweeteners. Despite the lack of technology and resources, falling shorter even than the domestic competitors, Samsung Group improved its footing in the manufacturing industry by cooperating with the Japanese companies, a decision that led to a significant amount of anti-Japanese public outcry and huge backlashes from the competitors fearing the outright subordination of the industry by the Japanese. The strategy was able to take off only after the government and Samsung declared that the company would exclusively focus on exports. Toshio Iue, the founder of Sanyo, played a role as an advisor to Lee Byung-chul, Samsung's founder, who was a novice in the electronics business. In December of the same year, Samsung Electric established a joint venture named Samsung-Sanyo Electric with Sanyo and Sumitomo Corporation. This is the direct predecessor of today's Samsung Electronics. The joint venture's early products were electronic and electrical appliances including televisions, calculators, refrigerators, air conditioners, and washing machines. In 1970, Samsung established the joint venture Samsung-NEC with Japan's NEC Corporation and Sumitomo Corporation to manufacture home appliances and audiovisual devices. Samsung-NEC later became Samsung SDI, the group's display and battery business unit. In 1973, Samsung and Sanyo created Samsung-Sanyo Parts, the predecessor of Samsung Electro-Mechanics. By 1981, Samsung Electric had manufactured over 10 million black-and-white televisions. In 1974, Samsung Group expanded into the semiconductor business by acquiring Korea Semiconductor, which was on the verge of bankruptcy while building one of the first chip-making facilities in the country at the time. Soon after, Korea Telecommunications, an electronic switching system producer and a Samsung Group company, took over the semiconductor business and became Samsung Semiconductor & Communications. In February 1983, Lee, along with the board of the Samsung industry and corporation agreement and help by sponsoring the event, made an announcement later dubbed the "Tokyo declaration", in which he declared that Samsung intended to become a dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) vendor. One year later, Samsung announced that it had successfully developed a 64 kb DRAM, reducing the technological gap between the companies from first-world countries and the young electronics maker from more than a decade to approximately four years. In the process, Samsung used technologies imported from Micron Technology of the U.S. for the development of DRAM and Sharp Corporation of Japan for its SRAM and ROM. In 1988, Samsung Electric Industries merged with Samsung Semiconductor & Communications to form Samsung Electronics, as before that, they had not been one company and had not been a leading corporation together, but they were not rivals, as they had been in talks for a time until they finally merged. In the 1980s and early 1990s, Samsung sold personal computers under the Leading Technology brand. However, the equipment was manufactured by Samsung, and the FCC filings from this period typically refer to Samsung products. ## 1988–2000: component manufacturing and design strategy In 1988, Samsung Electronics launched its first mobile phone in the South Korean market. Sales were initially poor, and by the early 1990s, Motorola held a market share of over 60 percent in the country's mobile phone market compared to just 10 percent for Samsung. Samsung struggled with poor quality and brand image issues into the mid-1990s, and exit from the sector was a frequent topic of discussion within the company. Lee Kun-Hee decided that Samsung needed to change its strategy. The company shelved the production of many under-selling product lines and instead pursued a process of designing and manufacturing components and investing in new technologies for other companies. In addition, Samsung outlined a 10-year plan to shrug off its image as a "budget brand" and to challenge Sony as the world's largest consumer electronics manufacturer. It was hoped that, in this way, Samsung would gain an understanding of how products are made and give a technological lead sometime in the future. This patient vertical integration strategy of manufacturing components has borne fruit for Samsung in the late 2000s. A complementary brand leadership strategy was also initiated by chairman Lee when he declared 1996 to be the "Year of Design Revolution" at Samsung. His objective was to build Samsung design capabilities as a competitive asset and transform the company into a global brand-design leader. However, this effort required major changes in corporate culture, processes, and systems. By integrating a comprehensive design management system and strategy into the corporate culture, Samsung was successful in developing an award-winning product design portfolio by the late 1990s, resulting in significant brand equity growth. As Samsung shifted away from consumer markets, the company devised a plan to sponsor major sporting events. One such sponsorship was for the 1998 Winter Olympics held in Nagano, Japan. As a chaebol, Samsung Group wielded wealth that allowed the company to invest and develop new technology rather than build products at a level that would not have a detrimental impact on Samsung's finances. Samsung had a number of technological breakthroughs, particularly in the field of memory which are commonplace in most electrical products today. This includes the world's first 64 MB DRAM in 1992, 256 MB DRAM in 1994, and 1 GB DRAM in 1996. ## 2000–present From 2000 to 2003, Samsung maintained a net earnings growth of over 5%, even as 16 of South Korea's 30 largest companies collapsed following the 1997 Asian financial crisis. In 2004, Samsung developed the world's first 8 GB NAND flash memory chip, and a manufacturing deal was struck with Apple in 2005. A deal to supply Apple with memory chips was sealed in 2005. In 2005, Samsung surpassed its Japanese rival, Sony, for the first time, becoming the 20th most popular global consumer brand according to Interbrand rankings. In 2007, Samsung overtook Motorola to become the world's second-largest smartphone manufacturer. By 2009 with Solstice line and its derivative models, Samsung achieved $117bn in revenue, overtaking Hewlett-Packard to become the world's largest technology company by sales. However, Samsung faced legal challenges in 2009 and 2010 when the U.S. and the EU fined the company—along with other memory chip manufacturers—for involvement in a price-fixing scheme that occurred between 1999 and 2002. In 2010, Samsung was granted immunity from prosecution by the EU for acting as an informant during the investigation into the LCD price-fixing cartel, leading to the implication of other companies, including LG Display and HannStar. Despite its continuous growth, Samsung has been portrayed as financially insecure. In 2010, after returning from temporary retirement, chairman Lee Kun-hee expressed concern about the company's future, stating, "Samsung Electronics' future is not guaranteed, as most of our flagship products will be obsolete within ten years." In 2011, Samsung sold its hard disk drive (HDD) operations to Seagate Technology for $1.4 billion in cash and stock. In 2012, Kwon Oh-hyun was appointed CEO of Samsung Electronics. He announced his resignation in 2017, citing an "unprecedented crisis". His departure signaled the transition to a leadership structure with three co-CEOs, which lasted until 2021, when Kyung Kye-Hyun and Han Jong-hee were appointed as new CEOs after a company-wide reorganization. In 2014, Samsung made headlines by introducing the Galaxy S4, a new entry in its Galaxy smartphone series, and successfully tested enhanced 5G technology. From 2014 onward, Samsung expanded its presence in technology markets. In April 2014, Samsung launched the Galaxy S5, followed by the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge in 2015, both of which featured a significant redesign and introduced the concept of curved screens. The same year, Samsung also entered the rapidly growing Internet of Things (IoT) market by acquiring the smart home company SmartThings. The same year, it stopped selling laptops in Europe. In 2016, Samsung faced one of its most publicized crises when its Galaxy Note 7 devices began to overheat and catch fire due to defective batteries. This led to a global recall of the product and a temporary halt in production. Despite the setback, Samsung recovered by launching successful products such as the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8 in 2017, which helped restore consumer confidence. During this time, Samsung continued its push into new markets. In November 2016, it announced its acquisition of Harman International Industries for $8bn, marking a major step into the automotive technology sector, particularly in connected car solutions. In 2017, Samsung reported record profits driven by its semiconductor business, particularly memory chips. By 2018, the company had solidified its position as one of the leading global manufacturers of semiconductors, overtaking Intel as the world's largest semiconductor supplier. In 2021, Samsung announced plans to invest $17bn to build a new semiconductor manufacturing facility in Taylor, Texas, part of its strategy to expand its chip production capabilities amid the global semiconductor shortage. On 20 May 2022, US President Joe Biden met with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol at the Samsung Electronics semiconductor complex in Pyeongtaek, South Korea. The two leaders spoke of the importance of the semiconductor industry and on strengthening the technological innovations between the two countries. In 2019, Samsung stopped mobile phone production in China and moved it to India and Vietnam. In 2020, it did the same for laptops and TVs at its chinese factories. In 2021, it stopped showing advertisements in several system apps in their android smartphones. At CES 2024, Samsung demonstrated Ballie, an AI-powered home robot designed to assist with daily tasks, monitor pets, and integrate with smart home appliances. Samsung has been working to meet sustainability goals and reduce its environmental impact. In 2023, the company announced a partnership with British Gas to integrate its services into Samsung's SmartThings app, helping users reduce energy consumption through smarter home management. As part of the partnership, British Gas began offering Samsung's energy-efficient heat pumps to support the UK's 2050 net-zero goals. In 2024, Samsung continues to be a leader in consumer electronics, semiconductors, and AI development, shaping technology through its innovations in smart homes, connected devices, and sustainable energy solutions. Samsung Electronics has become the largest shareholder of South Korea's Rainbow Robotics in 2025. On 25 March 2025, Samsung Electronics co-CEO Han Jong-hee died from a heart attack at the age of 63. This resulted in Jun Young-hyun, who was appointed a CEO just a week before Han Jong-hee's death, becoming the company's sole leader. In the first quarter of 2026, Samsung posted an operating profit of $36.15 billion, exceeding the total profit for the previous year. This was primarily due to strong demand for Samsung semiconductors to support the expansion of AI infrastructure by big tech companies. Profits of $200 billion are expected for the full year, prompting the Samsung Workers' Union to call for a profit-sharing scheme for employees. Following the profit report, the Samsung labor union required the company to make the decision to abolish caps on performance bonuses and institutionalize them in line with actual performance. The union had begun bargaining about their wage since the December 2025. The union required 15% of the yearly profit as a compensation, which amounted to 40 trillion won. On April 17, at a ceremony declaring its status as the majority union, the Samsung Electronics labor union warned that an all-out strike could result in losses of up to 30 trillion won. On April 23, the Samsung Electronics labor union held a rally attended by approximately 40,000 people, demanding the abolition of the cap on performance bonuses and warning of an all-out strike. On the same day, the labor union filed a notice with the Yongsan Police Station in Seoul stating that it would hold a rally at around 1:00 p.m. on the 21st of next month in front of Chairman Lee Jae-yong's residence in Hannam-dong. It was found out that the union had planned to occupy the workplace afterward. It was confirmed that on April 30, the labor union at Samsung Electronics was recognized by the government as the majority union, a status that serves as a prerequisite for obtaining the legal right to strike. On May 8, with just over 10 days remaining before Samsung Electronics' planned general strike, labor and management agreed to resume negotiations. On May 13, Samsung Electronics and its labor union failed to narrow their differences over bonus payments even on the second and final day of post-negotiation mediation for wage talks, resulting in the breakdown of negotiations. In July 2026, Samsung Electronics announced the creation of the Robotics eXperience division, which reports directly to the company's chief executive and oversees its robotics strategy, core-technology development and commercialization. Samsung also planned to establish robotics research hubs in the United States, China and Japan. Executive vice-president Lee Dongkun, formerly responsible for robotics strategy at Hyundai Motor Group, was appointed to lead the division's Robotics Strategy Team. ## Ownership Around 44% of Samsung Electronics' shares are held by the general public, around 38% are held by institutions, and insiders held around 4% of shares. The largest shareholders in early 2024 were: After the completion of inheritance tax payments in April 2026, the shares held by the Lee family were: ## Management and board of directors Samsung usually reshuffles management every December. In December 2010, Samsung switched its management system from a single CEO-system under Choi Gee-sung to a two-person management team including Gee-sung and Lee Jae-Yong, who is the chief operating officer and president. In June 2012, Samsung appointed Kwon Oh-Hyun as CEO of the company. Samsung also reorganized its overseas marketing bases in line with changes in the market, including a combined European regional subsidiary, and a combined Chinese-Taiwanese regional subsidiary. The company added a new digital imaging business division in 2010, which consists of eight divisions, including the existing display, IT solutions, consumer electronics, wireless, networking, semiconductor, and LCD divisions. It also merged consumer electronics and air conditioners under the consumer electronics business division. The set-top boxes business was merged with the Visual Display Business division. The company underwent reorganization in 2023. Among the eight divisions, the network division and the digital imaging division experienced new appointments, while the remaining divisions were maintained in accordance with their results. In November 2025, TM Roh was appointed Co-CEO, Head of Device eXperience (DX) Division. The following reflects the changes in leadership at that point: As of 2026, Samsung Electronics' Board of directors consisted of the following members: ## Global reputation In April 2024, PricewaterhouseCoopers ranked Samsung Electronics 21st on their global top 100 companies by market capitalization. In January 2025, Samsung Electronics was ranked first in the 'Best Global Brands' by YouGov, a market research firm. ## Business trends The key trends for Samsung Electronics are (as of the financial year ending 31 December): ## Operations The company focuses on four areas: digital media, semiconductors, telecommunication networks, and LCD digital appliances. The digital-media business area covers computer devices such as laptop computers; digital displays such as televisions and computer monitors; consumer entertainment devices such as DVD players, MP3 players, and digital camcorders; home appliances such as refrigerators, air conditioners, air purifiers, washing machines, microwave ovens, vacuum cleaners and robot vacuum cleaners. The semiconductor-business area includes semiconductor chips such as SDRAM, SRAM, NAND flash memory; smart cards; mobile application development, mobile application processors; mobile TV receivers; RF transceivers; CMOS Image sensors, Smart Card IC, MP3 IC, DVD/Blu-ray Disc/HD DVD Player SOC, and multi-chip package (MCP). The telecommunication-network-business area includes multi-service DSLAMs and fax machines; cellular devices such as mobile phones, PDA phones, and hybrid devices called mobile intelligent terminals (MITs); and satellite receivers. The LCD business area focuses on producing TFT-LCD and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels for laptops, desktop monitors, and televisions. Samsung Print was established in 2009 as a separate entity to focus on B2B sales and released a broad range of multifunctional devices, printers, and more. In 2017, Samsung's printing business was sold to HP. ## Products Samsung Electronics produces LCD and LED panels, mobile phones, memory chips, NAND flash, solid-state drives, televisions, digital cinema screens, laptops and many more products. The company previously produced hard-drives and printers. Samsung consistently invests in innovation. In 2021, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)'s annual World Intellectual Property Indicators report ranked Samsung's number of patent applications published under the PCT System as 2nd in the world, with 3,093 patent applications being published during 2020. This position is up from its previous ranking as 3rd in 2019 with 2,334 applications. ## LCD and OLED panels By 2004 Samsung was the world's-largest manufacturer of OLEDs, with a 40 percent market share worldwide and as of 2018 has a 98% share of the global AMOLED market. The company generated $100.2 million out of the total $475 million revenues in the global OLED market in 2006. As of 2006, it held more than 600 American patents and more than 2,800 international patents, making it the largest owner of AMOLED technology patents. Samsung's current AMOLED smartphones use its Super AMOLED trademark, with the Samsung Wave S8500 and Samsung i9000 Galaxy S being launched in June 2010. In January 2011, it announced its Super AMOLED Plus displays – which offer several advances over the older Super AMOLED displays – real stripe matrix (50 percent more sub pixels), thinner form factor, brighter image and an 18 percent reduction in energy consumption. In October 2007, Samsung introducing a ten-millimeter thick, 40-inch LCD television panel, followed in October 2008 by the world's first 7.9-mm panel. Samsung developed panels for 24-inch LCD monitors (3.5 mm) and 12.1-inch laptops (1.64 mm). In 2009, Samsung succeeded in developing a panel for forty-inch LED televisions, with a thickness of 3.9 millimeters (0.15 inch). Dubbed the "Needle Slim", the panel is as thick (or thin) as two coins put together. This is about a twelfth of the conventional LCD panel whose thickness is approximately 50 millimeters (1.97 inches). While reducing the thickness substantially, the company maintained the performance of previous models, including Full HD 1080p resolution, 120 Hz refresh rate, and 5000:1 contrast ratio. On 6 September 2013, Samsung launched its 55-inch curved OLED TV (model KE55S9C) in the United Kingdom with John Lewis. In October 2013, Samsung disseminated a press release for its curved display technology with the Galaxy Round smartphone model. The press release described the product as the "world's first commercialized full HD Super AMOLED flexible display". The manufacturer explains that users can check information such as time and battery life when the home screen is off, and can receive information from the screen by tilting the device. In 2020, Samsung Display said it was exiting the LCD business. ## Mobile and smart phones Samsung's mobile cell business began with a car phone in 1984, while its first handheld mobile phone called the SH-100 was made in 1988, which worked on the country's AMPS 800 network. In 1995, Samsung overtook Motorola to become the largest in South Korea in the mobile phone market. The company expanded to other markets during this period. In 1998, Samsung became the largest vendor in major CDMA markets such as South America and Hong Kong, while being overall the 7th largest manufacturer in the world. In 1999, the company became the 5th largest manufacturer of cell phones in the world with a share of 5 percent. In 1999/2000, Samsung released the first ever "MP3 phone", the SCH-M210, released in GSM as SGH-M100 and as SPH-M100 in PCS CDMA in the US. The company's first smartphone was the Samsung SPH-i300 in 2001. During the early 2000s Samsung popularised the clamshell ("flip phone") design, and the SGH-T100 was the first ever "true color" mobile phone and the firm's first to sell over 10 million handsets. In the mid-2000s the SGH-D500 popularised the slider form factor, and later slider products such as the E250 were hits. In 2006 Samsung's X820 with a depth of 6.9 mm was the thinnest phone, and for many years its successor U100 would remain the skinniest at just 5.9 mm. In 2007 it launched the slate style touchscreen phone F700 which would precede its increasingly relevant touch phones such as Tocco and Omnia. Samsung overtook declining Motorola to become the world's second largest mobile phone marker during 2007. Presently, Samsung's flagship mobile handset line is the Galaxy S series of smartphones, which many consider a direct competitor of the iPhone. It was initially launched in Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea in June 2010, followed by the United States in July. It sold more than one million units within the first 45 days on sale in the United States. While many other handset manufacturers focused on one or two operating systems, Samsung for a time used several of them: Symbian, Windows Phone, Linux-based LiMo, and Samsung's proprietary TouchWiz, Bada and Tizen. By 2013 Samsung had dropped all operating systems except Android phone and Windows Phone. That year Samsung released at least 43 Android phones or tablets and two Windows Phones. At the end of the third quarter of 2010, the company had surpassed the 70 million unit mark in shipped phones, giving it a global market share of 22 percent, trailing Nokia by 12 percent. Overall, the company sold 280 million mobile phones in 2010, corresponding to a market share of 20.2 percent. The company overtook Apple in worldwide smartphone sales during the third quarter 2011, with a total market share of 23.8 percent, compared to Apple's 14.6 percent share. Samsung became the world's largest smartphone manufacturer in 2012, with the sales of 95 million in the first quarter. During the third quarter of 2013, Samsung's smartphone sales improved in emerging markets such as India and the Middle East, where cheaper handsets were most popular. As of October 2013, the company offers 40 smartphone models on its US website. In 2019, Samsung announced that it has ended production of mobile phones in China, due to lack of Chinese demand. As of 2019 Samsung employs over 200,000 employees in the Hanoi-area of Vietnam to produce smartphones, while outsourcing some manufacturing to China and manufacturing large portions of its phones in India. In May 2022, Samsung Electronics announced the company had expanded the Samsung Knox enterprise mobile security platform with the introduction of Samsung Knox Guard. It allows companies to quickly make phones unusable to potentially deter theft and reduce risk of fraud and data breaches. In February 2023, Samsung launched the Galaxy S23 series. The lineup presented a custom Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform optimized for Samsung use. ## Sources - Samsung Electronics · Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/?curid=46445426 Source: Wikipedia contributors — https://en.wikipedia.org/?curid=46445426&oldid=1380195559 Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Adaptation notice: Reformatted for XPay; the source may be abridged, restructured or translated. 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