Meet the Man Behind Samsung’s Downfall: Jung Hyun-ho

The embodiment of cost-cutting, the culprit behind Samsung’s downfall.

“Many blame TM Roh for the cost-cutting measures imposed on Galaxy devices. But the truth is, he was merely following orders.”

Today, we take a closer look at the man behind it all: Jung Hyun-ho.

For most people, his name might sound unfamiliar.

But here’s the bold truth:

“He is the key reason behind Samsung’s current struggles.”

1. Who Is Jung Hyun-ho?

Jung Hyun-ho joined Samsung Electronics in 1983 as part of its International Finance Division. Over the years, he climbed the corporate ladder, holding key positions such as:

• 2002: Head of Samsung Electronics’ Management Group

• 2006: Executive of the Strategic Planning Office

• 2008: Head of the Wireless Business Support Team

In 2010, he became the head of the Digital Imaging Division, a role he held for only six months before being promoted to the Future Strategy Office as the Head of the Management Diagnosis Team.

While this swift promotion was seen by some as recognition of his management capabilities, others questioned whether six months was sufficient to evaluate his competence.

In 2014, he took on the role of Head of the HR Support Team within the Future Strategy Office. However, the office was disbanded in 2017 due to its involvement in South Korea’s political scandal, leading to his temporary departure from Samsung.

Later that year, Jung returned as the head of the Business Support Task Force (TF), a position directly under Chairman Lee Jae-yong. His role involved coordinating key issues across Samsung’s electronics affiliates and shaping the group’s long-term strategy.

Jung is often described as the de facto controller of Samsung’s electronics business, wielding considerable influence behind the scenes.

2. The Dismantling of the Mongoose Core Development Team

In 2015, Samsung began developing its own Mongoose cores to compete with ARM reference cores.

However, Jung Hyun-ho decided to shut down the Mongoose team entirely, citing underperformance.

His reasoning:

“There’s no need to stick to an in-house design at such a high cost.”

The result?

Talented developers left Samsung, with many joining competitors like Google.

Ironically, after Samsung abandoned the Mongoose project, ARM’s reference cores saw a significant slowdown in performance improvement.

Two years later, Samsung tried to revive its custom core project, but by then, competitors like Qualcomm had already surged ahead with innovations like the Oryon cores.

3. Rejecting Apple’s Modem Supply Request in 2019

In 2019, Apple approached Samsung for Exynos modems during its legal dispute with Qualcomm.

This was a golden opportunity for Samsung to expand its modem business.

But Jung Hyun-ho rejected the request outright:

“There’s no reason to allocate Samsung’s resources for external use beyond Galaxy.”

As a result, Apple returned to Qualcomm, and Samsung missed a critical chance to close the gap with its competitors in the modem market.

4. In 2019, he dismantled the HBM development department.

Jung Hyun-ho already deserves criticism for the management mistakes mentioned earlier, but this decision inflicted irreparable damage on Samsung.

It happened in 2019 when he completely got rid of the HBM development team.

He dismissed HBM as merely a niche market in the memory industry, where mass production of general-purpose products dominates, and shut down the development team!!

At the time, Samsung had superior HBM technology compared to SK Hynix. The company boasted overwhelming production capacity and exceptional researchers.

However, due to Jung Hyun-ho’s mistake, many of these researchers moved to competitors like SK Hynix. As a result, SK Hynix surpassed Samsung in HBM technology, and this gap remains unbridged to this day.

5. The Culprit Behind Galaxy’s Cost-Cutting

There are often misunderstandings where people blame TM Roh as the final decision-maker behind Galaxy’s struggles and cost-cutting. However, this is far from the truth.

Why blame TM Roh when it’s actually Seocho (a reference to Jung Hyun-ho) that allocates a limited budget to the MX division in the first place?

TM Roh is doing his best to include the highest possible specs within the constrained budget. Personally, I think TM Roh must feel unfairly criticized.

Conclusion

Jung Hyun-ho’s career is as much defined by his significant influence as it is by controversy.

While many of his decisions brought short-term cost savings and efficiency, they are increasingly criticized for steering Samsung into its current state of crisis.

Key examples include the dismantling of the HBM development team, which severely weakened Samsung’s competitiveness in the high-end memory market, and the aggressive cost-cutting measures imposed on the Galaxy division. These decisions not only alienated top talent, who migrated to competitors, but also led to a noticeable decline in the quality and innovation of Samsung’s flagship products.

The dismantling of the Mongoose development team and the rejection of Apple’s partnership further underscore decisions that undermined Samsung’s long-term competitiveness.

Under his leadership, conservative approaches were often prioritized over innovation, resulting in the significant weakening of Samsung’s technological edge.

Samsung’s current struggles may not merely be the result of external market pressures. They might well stem from the structural issues and shortsighted choices created under Jung Hyun-ho’s leadership.

“Samsung’s decline may be an inevitable consequence of Jung Hyun-ho’s decisions, from disbanding critical teams to enforcing relentless cost-cutting.”