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Key Takeaways
- South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics is set to trim overseas jobs, with some units reportedly facing cuts up to 30%, Reuters reported Wednesday.
- The total number of layoffs is unknown, and Samsung said it employed about 268,000 people worldwide late last year.
- Samsung has faced rising competition in the memory chip business, and has been less of a beneficiary than some of its rivals.
South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics reportedly is set to trim an unspecified number of overseas jobs, with cuts in some divisions potentially reaching 30% of the total headcount, according to Reuters.
Some of the company’s subsidiaries worldwide have been told to slash sales and marketing teams by roughly 15% and administrative staff by up to 30%, with cuts expected to impact Samsung’s operations in Europe, North America, Africa, and Asia, the report said.
Given that the cuts are percentages of individual teams within Samsung’s operations, it’s difficult to estimate a total number of its roughly 268,000 worldwide employees as of late 2023 who could be affected. Reuters reported that the layoffs are expected to be implemented by the end of the year.
Samsung did not immediately respond to Investopedia‘s request for comment.
Reported Cuts Come as Samsung Looks To Get Chip Business Back on Track
The conglomerate—which makes everything from smartphones to televisions—has fallen behind some of its tech rivals, which have seen sales surge on demand for high-powered memory chips to drive artificial intelligence (AI) investments.
Samsung’s stock received a boost earlier this year when Nvidia (NVDA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jensen Huang reportedly said the AI giant was testing Samsung’s next-generation memory chips for possible use in its future graphics processing units (GPUs). Samsung also will get up to $6.4 billion in CHIPS and Science Act funding to expand its manufacturing facilities in Texas.
Samsung shares closed 2% lower on the South Korean exchange Wednesday. They are down 17% this year.