Samsung Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong encourages employees and tours production lines in a Samsung Electronics factory in Manaus, Brazil on Jan. 27. (Photo: Samsung Electronics)

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jay-yong made an inspection tour of a smartphone & TV production operation in Brazil on Jan. 27 to take stock of business prospects in Central and South America. His latest visit to the production center was his first in 19 years.

Vice Chairman Lee visited the Samsung operation in Manaus, Brazil, and gave words of encouragement to executives and staff working during the lunar New Year holiday on Jan. 27.

He was accompanied by President Han Jong-hee of Samsung Electronics’ visual display business, new inaugurated President Roh Tae-moon of Samsung Electronics’ mobile business, and Senior Executive Vice President Jang Si-ho, head of Global Technology Center.

Lee was scheduled to tour Samsung Electronics’ operation in Sau Paulo, overseeing the Central and South American business to look at local business strategies.

He then visited a smartphone plant in Campinas. Vice Chairman Lee’s selection of Brazil as his first overseas inspection tour of the year may be construed as a move by Samsung Electronics to protect its Central and South American smartphone market from competition by Huawei.

A survey by market research firm Strategy Analytics (SA) showed that Samsung Electronics ranked first in the Central and South American smartphone market with a 42.3 percent share as of the third quarter of last year.

Huawei is hot on Samsung’s tail. Huawei’s market share shot up to 16.6 percent in 2019 Q1, a surge from 8.2 percent in 2016, before declining to 13.6 percent in 2019 Q3. Huawei Chairman Ren Zhengfei unveiled an ambitious plan to sell 300 million smartphones this year, anticipating confrontation with Samsung Electronics.

Huawei decided to plunk down $800 million (1 trillion won) to build a smartphone production operation in Sau Palo to tap the South American market.

The 5G telecom equipment field is yet another battlefield between Samsung Electronics and Huawei. The Brazilian government said it would refuse a U.S. request to exclude Huawei in the course of telecom equipment biddings. Brazil plans to inaugurate 5G telecom services starting in 2022.

Given the situation, Vice Chairman Lee’s official visit here may be analyzed as a preemptive move by Samsung Electronics in the Brazilian 5G telecom equipment market.

While visiting the Manaus plant, Lee stressed the significance of the future. “The power to transfer a crisis into opportunities originates from endless challenges and innovation,” he was quoted as saying.

Lee called for workers to mark Samsung’s 100 year anniversary with dramatic a challenging spirit.
Samsung Undergoes Restructuring to Break Down Business Boundaries

Samsung Electronics underwent restructuring of operations in an attempt to shatter business barriers. The company also conducted a reshuffle of executives.

Samsung Electronics inaugurated the tentatively named Next-Generation Platform Center within the Mobile Business to oversee all department related to AI, IoT and big data and appointed Senior Executive Vice President Chung Ui-suk to head the new unit.

Senior Executive Vice President Lee Won-jin, who had a stint with Google, will concurrently serve as head of the Service Team of both the Mobile Business in charge of smartphones and the Visual Display Business responsible for TVs. It’s a move by Samsung Electronics to launch innovative service businesses related to AI and IoT by tearing down business boundaries.

Senior Executive Vice President Chung was in charge of mobile platform development at Samsung Research America in Silicon Valley, the United States, and oversaw AI secretary “Bixby” since 2017.

The Service Business Office of the Mobile Business was reorganized into a team, which is headed concurrently by Senior Executive Vice President Lee, head of the Service Business Team under the jurisdiction of the Visual Display Business.