Samsung Electronics CO-CEO Han Jong-hee has passed away suddenly after suffering a heart attack, as announced Tuesday. The sudden demise has put the South Korean tech giant through a transition with new CEO, Jun Young-hyun, sashaying into the leadership role alone. The leadership was changed at a time very crucial as the company was working on revamping its poorly performing chip division and was also facing global trade uncertainties.
Han was 63 when he was appointed Samsung’s CEO in 2022. He presided over the consumer electronics and mobile devices divisions. His demise means that Jun, who had just been promoted to co-CEO within a week of the annual meeting for shareholders, will head Samsung alone. Jun has been at the helm of Samsung’s semiconductor division since 2024, a sector struggling to keep pace with competitors like SK Hynix and TSMC in the booming artificial intelligence chip market.
Samsung corroborated in an official stock exchange filing that Jun would succeed Han in the sole CEO position. The shares fell back down by 0.5 percent in line with the rest of South Korea’s market. As per a company spokesperson, Han died in the hospital while getting treated for cardiac arrest. The company has not announced successors for him yet, thus leaving the future structure of leadership uncertain.
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Almost 40 years together were spent by Han as an important part of Samsung, a legacy he slowly built into the television world’s history. Under his leadership, the TV division at Samsung became an imposing global entity. This unexpected passing is among the popular opinions that long-run influence Samsung’s business strategy, particularly in marketing, where even most analysts feel his influence.
Absence here will surely cause headaches in the home appliance division because the tariffs that may be imposed and the ongoing trade battle put the company in a very uphill battle towards improving performance in this division.
Last week, Han himself chaired the shareholders’ meeting, wherein he warned that the year 2025 would prove to be a tough year. Han stated the plans of adjusting the global supply chain of Samsung in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs. The shareholders, however, were candid in their frustration about Samsung’s inability to capitalize on the AI boom, which had deleterious effects on the stock of the company last year.
