Samsung names new smartphone, TV platform head

Samsung Electronics Co. has promoted Kim Yong-soo, vice president and former Google and Oracle software expert, to lead its smartphone and TV platform services division during its annual executive reshuffle on Monday.

He took over from Lee Won-Jin, who retired last week from the post of president of the South Korea-based memory chip and smartphone maker.

During his more than nine-year stint at Samsung, Lee, an ex-Google executive, was credited with leading its ascent into global leadership positions in the smart TV and smartphone platform markets, raking in sales in the billion-dollar range.

MOBILE EXPERIENCE

Samsung's executive reshuffle took place across all its divisions.

Han Sangsook, also known as Seline Han, was appointed as head of Mobile eXperience’s (MX) services business. She had been leading Samsung’s smart TV service as executive vice president.

DEVICE EXPERIENCE

Lim Seong Taek, in charge of Samsung’s Device eXperience (DX) business in the Middle East, was named head of the division’s South Korean operations.

In his new role, one of Samsung’s key positions, Lim will oversees the sales and marketing of Samsung’s smartphones and TVs.

Cho Sung-hyeok, vice president of the MX division’s strategy and marketing, will succeed Lim as head of the division’s operations in the Middle East. The English spelling of his name was not confirmed.

Choi Kyung-sik, ex-head of MX division’s strategic marketing office, will retain his role to lead the division’s US operations.

DEVICE SOLUTIONS

Kim Ki-nam, vice chairman and head of Samsung’s Device Solutions division in charge of the semiconductor business, retired following the regular executive reshuffle.

FUTURE BUSINESS PLANNING DIVISION

Alongside the annual executive reshuffle, Samsung created a future business planning division tasked with exploring new growth engines.

Jun Young Hyun, vice chairman of Samsung SDI Co., was tapped head of the new division. The memory chip and battery veteran has driven Samsung Electronics' and Samsung SDI’s advances in the semiconductor and secondary battery markets.

Taek Chung is joining the planning division as vice president. He has a doctorate in electrical engineering from Stanford University.

Following the executive reshuffle, Samsung Electronics is expected to hold a global strategy meeting as early as next week.

There the new lineup of executives is expected to discuss on-device memory chips suitable for artificial intelligence and generative AI applications, as well as next-generation memory chip development and advancing their processing nodes.

Write to Jeong-Soo Hwang at hjs@hankyung.com
 

Yeonhee Kim edited this article.