Samsung May Restructure China Operations Amid Rising Competition

It looks like Samsung is planning to restructure its business in China. The company could scale back some operations while focusing more on its key global businesses, particularly semiconductors. This is because Chinese brands continue to grow on their home turf in areas like home appliances, putting pressure on foreign companies.

Samsung aims to give greater focus on the semiconductor business in China

According to reports (1, 2), Samsung is revisiting parts of its China operations, including home appliances and display businesses. These divisions continue to face setbacks in gaining solid market share in the country. As a result, the Korean firm may focus mainly on its mobile phones and storage businesses, while giving more priority to semiconductors.

Furthermore, Samsung could pass on the distribution of home appliances to local partners. Of course, manufacturing operations will likely remain under its control. The company has reportedly already been cutting jobs in some underperforming units, suggesting that a restructuring is indeed in the pipeline.

“Samsung faces a strategic dilemma: put resources into defending market share in China or better competing against Chinese firms globally,” said an industry watcher. “With intensifying competition and declining share in China’s domestic market, Samsung appears to have concluded its best strategy is to focus on global competition rather than competing head-on in China.”

In recent years, Samsung’s share of the Chinese home appliance market has dropped greatly. The current market share in China stood at 3.6% in TVs, 0.4% in refrigerators, and 0.4% in washing machines. These figures rank it fifth, 14th, and 15th, respectively.

Meanwhile, Samsung is investing heavily in its Xi’an factory (a key NAND flash production hub) in China to boost production capacity. Last year, the company invested 465.4 billion won in the plant, a 67.5% growth from 277.8 billion won in 2024. This shows that the firm is still focusing on its core areas of strength, as rising memory demand could support future growth.