Samsung Elec executive touts ‘significant progress’ in M&A efforts

BERLIN – Samsung Electronics Co. has made “significant progress” in the company’s merger and acquisition (M&A) efforts, according to Han Jong-hee, head of the electronics giant’s Device Experience division on Sept. 1. 

Han was speaking at a press briefing held on the sidelines of IFA 2022, Europe’s biggest tech show.

“We are exploring M&A opportunities on a broad front to secure future growth engines and have made significant progress so far,” said the Samsung veteran. 

In January, Han had forecast that there will be positive news regarding an acquisition in the near future. 

The company has even formed a task force in charge of new businesses under the direct control of the DX Division chief earlier this year, consisting of about a dozen planning and strategy experts from different departments. 

Samsung Electronics completed the acquisition of Harman International Industries, Inc. in March 2017 for 9 trillion won or close to $8 billion. 

The world’s largest mobile chipmaker has not made an acquisition in the billion-dollar range since then. 

SUSTAINABILITY & CONNECTIVITY 

Han implied that the company could join the RE100, a global initiative bringing together the world's most influential businesses committed to 100% renewable electricity.

Citing the domestic renewable energy infrastructure, Samsung Group is the only conglomerate that has not joined the initiative among the four biggest business groups in South Korea.

“We will soon make a major announcement on the company’s vision,” Han said. “The announcement will encompass an actionable blueprint with clear attainment targets.”

The head of the DX division vowed to continue working on reducing industrial waste produced during the manufacturing cycle. 

Samsung Electronics manufactures 5 billion units of household appliances a year on average.  

Regarding SmartThings, a platform that enables users to manage different products on a single app, Han said the goal is to increase the number of users to 500 million from the current 230 million. 

The app is aimed at empowering consumers to get the most out of their Samsung devices, as well as third-party products they may already own.

Han said that while numerous household appliance makers, including Samsung, have pushed out internet of things (IoT) platforms, many customers still find it difficult to connect various devices. He added that Samsung will work on addressing such difficulties proactively. 

The first step to making SmartThings go mainstream, Han said, is connectivity to third-party products. 

The South Korean company plans to adopt the Home Connective Alliance (HCA) standard for all of its TV and household appliances – to connect devices made by the 13 members of the alliance.

LG Electronics Inc., Sweden’s Electrolux AB, and China’s Haier Group Corp. are members of the international alliance. 

Come next year, Samsung Electronics is poised to apply Matter, the new smart home standard that promises to make connected devices more interoperable, flexible and private, to its SmartThings hub. 

Write to Shin-Young Park, Sung-Soo Bae at nyusos@hankyung.com
Jee Abbey Lee edited this article.