Samsung Electronics is planning on discussing new business growth engines as part of a series of global strategy meetings set to take place over a three-day period in the second half of December, BusinessKorea reported Wednesday, citing industry insiders with knowledge of the company’s plans. The meetings will take place from the 18th to the 20th of the month and will start with a conference involving the top management of Samsung’s Device Solutions unit. The division’s head Kim Ki-nam who was recently promoted will use the event discuss diversification with other managers as the firm is still seeking ways in which it could continue its explosive growth caused by the spiking demand for semiconductor solutions, sources claim. The record profits Samsung has been posting in recent quarters are primarily driven by the company’s semiconductor operations but many industry analysts believe the soaring global demand for chips manufactured by Samsung will soon drop and the South Korean tech giant is said to agree with these estimates, which is why it’s now preparing for a comprehensive internal discussion on how to maintain its momentum, insiders say.
IT and Mobile unit should use the meetings to reevaluate its Android smartphone strategy for 2018, though no radical changes are expected from the division. The 2016 Galaxy Note 7 debacle is also said to be part of the conversation as Samsung will be seeking to confirm its quality control and manufacturing practices are now sufficient to avoid another fiasco of a similar magnitude. Samsung’s other businesses like IoT, AI, and autonomous driving units are all expected to be formally entrusted to the Samsung Strategy & Innovation Center which is already largely overseeing them. Major M&A activity that SSIC chief recently announced may also be discussed at the meetings in a limited capacity.
At the same time, the conglomerate’s Consumer Electronics unit will focus on how to tackle the protectionist economic policy of the United States as the Trump administration recently imposed extra tariffs on washing machine imports through the International Trade Commission. As Samsung expects this trade policy to intensify in the future, it’s looking to form a concrete strategy to tackle the matter as quickly as possible. The chaebol is still unlikely to pull all of its additionally taxed products from the U.S. market but may limit their availability or only focus on more premium offerings with higher profit margins whose target demographics are less likely to be put off by having extra tariff-related expenses passed on to them. Samsung is also planning on discussing its existing QLED TV strategy at the upcoming meetings but details on the matter remain unknown.