Chip manufacturing giant Samsung Electronics Co (SEC) is carrying out a company-wide restructuring program in a bid to fend off increasing economic troubles. Samsung, head of one of Korea’s five large industry conglomerates (or chaebols), has set up a task force to put strategies in place to cut costs and personnel across its subsidiaries. The move follows the ruling, last month, by the government-backed Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), that the chaebols issue closure orders for their non-profitable subsidiaries (CI No 3,444). A spokesperson for Samsung told one news service that the company plans to cut as many as 3,000 employees from its payroll and added that applications for early retirement were already rolling in. The cuts are particularly aimed at mid-level managers, the spokesperson said. Samsung Display Devices Co, a group subsidiary, also plans to implement an early retirement program this month. And others are expected to follow suit. SEC is also reportedly considering outsourcing areas of its business, including advertising and sales promotion, as a way of reducing labor costs. More details of the reshuffle are expected early next week. Meanwhile, Hitachi Ltd said yesterday that it plans to switch the bulk of its next-generation computer memory chip production to its Singapore plant. The plant will handle production of 256-megabit dynamic random access memory chips (DRAMs) while Hitachi’s memory chip plant near Tokyo will conduct testing. The move is in keeping with Hitachi’s strategy of phasing out loss-making domestic DRAM production.
