Why Samsung should revisit Jun Young-hyun’s 'letter of reflection'

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Why Samsung should revisit Jun Young-hyun’s 'letter of reflection'

Published: 23 Jan. 2026, 00:03

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Lee Sang-jai

The author is a deputy director of economic and industry news at the JoongAng Ilbo.

Few television dramas would dare script a plot this dramatic. Samsung Electronics’ past 15 months read like a series of plot twists worthy of prime time.

This year alone, consensus forecasts put Samsung’s operating profit at about 101 trillion won (roughly $70 billion). Citigroup goes further, projecting as much as 155 trillion won (about $105 billion). That translates into roughly 420 billion won (roughly $290 million) piling up in the vault each day. The stock price has tripled in a year, powered by the artificial intelligence driven semiconductor supercycle.

Samsung Electronics' Seocho office building in southern Seoul [YONHAP]

Just a year and a half ago, the mood could not have been more different. Morgan Stanley warned that “winter looms,” citing slowing chip demand and falling prices. In reality, it was a “solo winter” for Samsung. SK hynix, long regarded as a step behind, landed a decisive blow by supplying high bandwidth memory (HBM) to Jensen Huang's Nvidia.

It was around this time that the so-called Jun Young-hyun letter of reflection emerged. Four months after his emergency appointment in May 2024 as head of Samsung’s semiconductor business, Jun issued a public statement addressed to customers, investors and employees. He apologized, saying results had fallen short of market expectations. He identified restoring fundamental technological competitiveness as the core task and pledged to overhaul organizational culture. Such an open admission was rare and unsettling. Even so, doubts lingered over whether a turnaround was possible. The outcome is now clear.

That raises an obvious question. Is the rebound structural or simply a ride on favorable AI winds? The answer is both, and still uncertain. At CES 2026 earlier this month, Huang said the world needs far more AI factories and that memory suppliers stand to benefit most. With its unmatched memory technology and manufacturing scale, Samsung sits at the center of that structure. On Thursday, the company notified customers that prices for all memory products would rise by as much as 80 percent. Only a dominant supplier can do that. Samsung is also seen as having regained momentum in HBM, once a source of humiliation. In foundry services, it has secured meaningful clients such as Tesla and Apple.

Even so, it is too early to declare the restoration of an unassailable technology gap. When market conditions cool, when Big Tech slows AI infrastructure spending and demand eases, Samsung’s true capabilities will be tested.

Another concern is the “memory boomerang.” Rising chip prices feed into device prices, which consumers eventually feel. That, in turn, can erode demand. A new laptop now costs about five million won, roughly one million more than last year. The upcoming Galaxy S26 is also expected to be pricier. With household budgets already stretched, opening wallets is getting harder.

New uncertainty has emerged as well. Tariff negotiations with the United States remain unresolved. Last week, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that memory chipmakers face only two choices: Pay a 100 percent tariff or manufacture in the United States. He made the remarks at the groundbreaking of a New York plant by Micron, the world’s third-largest memory producer after Samsung and SK hynix. Korea, which accounts for about 70 percent of global dynamic random access memory (DRAM) output, holds leverage but such pressure is uncomfortable.

President Lee Jae Myung pushed back at a news conference on Wednesday, asking whether companies would simply move if the government told them to. Still, politics is unpredictable. Talk of luring semiconductor plants to Saemangeum could resurface at any time. One industry official called it an ember that has not gone out. What some see as courtship can feel like coercion to others.

Jun Young-hyun, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics and head of its Device Solutions division. [SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS]

Talent management is becoming harder too. The medical school boom makes it difficult to nurture the kind of genius that can support 100,000 jobs and it is getting tougher to treat such talent exceptionally. Membership in Samsung Electronics’ super union is nearing 60,000. If it surpasses half the work force of 123,000, it will gain representative status and push for egalitarian bonuses, often mentioning SK hynix’s practice of distributing 10 percent of its operating profit.

Jun’s letter was not just an apology. It signaled a resolve to rework technology strategy and corporate culture. What matters now is substance, not numbers. Has communication improved? Has failure management evolved? When results are good, complacency sets in. Warm performance acts as anesthesia. Internal criticism fades and warnings are dismissed as mood killers. Yet the most dangerous moment in corporate history is not deep losses but triumph. Nokia vanished almost overnight. General Electric was split into aviation, energy and health care. That is why Samsung should reread Jun’s letter today, at the height of success.

Government and politics also have clear roles. They must defend against tariff pressure and do more to cultivate warriors for the technology war. If all they offer is “come to my backyard,” they may end up writing a hollow letter of regret later.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.