Samsung Electronics Co-CEO Han Jong-Hee Dies Of Cardiac Arrest

According to a company spokesperson, Han passed away on Tuesday at a hospital where he was being treated for cardiac arrest

Han, who joined Samsung Electronics nearly 40 years ago, built his career in the TV business and rose to become vice chairman and CEO in 2022

Source : THE ELEC

South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics announced on Tuesday that its co-chief executive officer, Han Jong-hee, has passed away at the age of 63 due to cardiac arrest.

Han was responsible for overseeing Samsung's consumer electronics and mobile devices division, while his co-CEO, Jun Young-hyun, managed the company's chip business.

According to a company spokesperson, Han passed away on Tuesday at a hospital where he was being treated for cardiac arrest. The company also confirmed that a successor has not yet been appointed. Samsung Electronics shares remained unchanged during morning trading.

The South Korean company has been struggling with weak earnings and declining share prices in recent quarters, as it lags behind competitors in the advanced memory chip and contract chip manufacturing sectors, which have seen strong demand driven by AI projects. Additionally, Samsung has lost its lead in the smartphone market to Apple.

Han, who joined Samsung Electronics nearly 40 years ago, built his career in the TV business and rose to become vice chairman and CEO in 2022. He was also a member of the company's board of directors.

Just last week, Han chaired Samsung's shareholder meeting, where he and other executives faced tough questioning from shareholders following the company's failure to capitalize on the AI boom, resulting in one of the worst stock performances in the tech industry last year.

Samsung In The Semiconductor Sector

In the semiconductor sector, Samsung has fallen behind SK Hynix in HBM chips, which are crucial for AI graphic processing units used by companies like Nvidia.

"First and foremost, I sincerely apologise for the recent stock performance not meeting your expectations. Over the past year, our company failed to adequately respond to the rapidly evolving AI semiconductor market," Han said at the meeting.

He was set to attend Samsung's new home appliances launch event on Wednesday.