Samsung Global Research has initiated a management audit of the system LSI division, which is responsible for semiconductor design at Samsung Electronics, according to industry sources on Friday.
Samsung’s management diagnosis office has been auditing the system LSI division since January. The division plays a fabless role in designing mobile application processors, which serve as the brain of smartphones.
This marks the first management audit conducted by the management diagnosis office since its establishment in November.
The system LSI division was reportedly chosen as the first target for an audit due to its sluggish business performance in recent years.
Samsung has previously set an ambitious goal of becoming the leader in the system chip industry by 2030, with an investment of 171 trillion won ($118 billion). However, the company’s in-house mobile AP series, Exynos, has yet to secure competitive yields and performance.
Additionally, system LSI’s image sensor business is still struggling to reclaim market share from Japanese competitors.
Sources said that a management audit of Samsung’s foundry business would take place soon.
The foundry unit has been suffering from a decline in customer orders, widening the market share gap with Taiwan’s TSMC. In the fourth quarter of last year, Samsung’s foundry market share stood at 8.2 percent, trailing far behind TSMC’s 67.1 percent.
The foundry division is reportedly incurring trillions of won in losses each quarter.
Samsung Global Research, formerly the Samsung Economic Research Institute, was rebranded in November. As part of this restructuring, it established the management diagnosis office, a president-level unit tasked with auditing and consulting for affiliated companies.
The initiative extends beyond Samsung Electronics, aiming to enhance the competitiveness of Samsung Group’s affiliates as a whole.
By Jie Ye-eun (yeeun@heraldcorp.com)
