Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Samsung Electronics and The Chinese Threat
Samsung Electronics and The Chinese Threat
MBA 290G Fall 07 Prof Charles Wu TEAM 9 Alex Mehr, Bindiya Jadhwani, Kerem Tutuncu, Lucian Popa, Rodrigo Fonseca, Uttara Parikh
DRAM INDUSTRY
Types of Memory
Volatile
DRAM: Dynamic RAM SRAM: Static RAM
Higher density, lower cost, power hungry Lower density, higher cost, 2-4X faster than DRAM
Non-volatile
Flash PCM (PRAM) - Most promising new technology
High growth market (mobile, digital music and imaging) Slow to write, degrades over time Fast, long lasting Prototypes by Samsung (512Mb), Intel/STM, Sep 2006
Sources: Introduction to Memory Types http://www.netrino.com/Publications/Glossary/MemoryTypes.php Samsung Sep 11,2006 Press release and http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2021822,00.asp
Memory Industry
Global Memory Chip Industry Approx $250 billion in 2006 (10% growth) $227.5 billion in 2005 from $213.0 billion in 2004 Segmentation DRAM ( over 50% of this market) SRAM (10%) Flash (32%) Asia-Pacific projected to be the largest and fastest growing market Cyclic industry with massive swings 2006 was a good year, prices were rising (revenue had 10% growth) 1 2007 was a bad year, significant price plunge (by 39%) 2
http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/05/31/78779_HNchipforecast_1.html http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201201654
1. 2.
Steep Learning Curves higher variations of price Large R&D investments Periodic Technology Shocks
Products Breakdown
DRAM : - Traditionally in PCs ( 80% of DRAM shipments in 1990,declined to 67% by 2003) - Telecommunications and consumer electronic markets are growing consumers : mobile phones, switches, hubs - 2008 Prediction: TVs, set top boxes and game devices to represent 7% of this DRAM market
Value Chain
Powerful players - only 2 or 3 main dominating players Price conscious customers
End user is not aware of DRAM brand Customers were fragmented No single OEM controlled more than 20% of the global PC market
Porter Analyses
Demand Conditions Korea has early adopters Demand in east Asia is high
Strategy and Structure High internal competition Hynix Technology know-how, experience
Suppliers No significant differentiation of inputs Suppliers not concentrated No threat of forward integration
Rivalry Small no. of competitors Significant exit barriers Cyclic Industry growth
Substitute products Danger of future substitutes given rapid changes Probable little switch cost
Customers No significant buyers by volume Buyers are very price sensitive Price limited by other memory substitutes Little threat of backward integration?
SAMSUNG
Samsung History
Established in 1969 to manufacture black and white TV sets Purchased a Korea Semiconductor Business in 1974 In 1980 dedicated most of its resources to semiconductor business and built its first manufacturing facility. By early 1990s, was amongst the industrys top contenders Brand value rank grew from 43rd in the world ($ 5.2 billion) in 2000 to 21st in the world ( $12.6 billion) in 2004 and 20th in 2006 (16.1 billion) Ahead of many brands such as Pepsi, Google, and Siemens Total net revenue in 2004 was $78.5 billion, and $78.7 billion in 2006
Samsung Structure
Spans 58 countries Samsung Electronics has 5 business divisions :
Semiconductor Digital Media Telecommunications LCD Digital Appliances
Total DRAM Volume 896.4M units (2003) Over 1200 DRAM products
Frontier to legacy products Specialty and customized products
M ic ro n
Sa m
In fin e
H yn
SM IC
on
su n
ix
Samsung Performance
Cost Advantages
Lowest raw materials cost (volume) Lowest depreciation Labor and SG&A not high Shared core designs Lower cost fabs (12%) Flexible production lines Higher yields (because of process quality)
Highest Price
Highest reliability in industry: >$1 premium
Cost of Materials
DRAM Cost of Materials vs Volume
(2003)
2.5
SMIC
Hynix
Micron Infineon
1.5
Samsung
0.5
200
400
600
800
1000
SAMSUNG STRATEGY
created around it, has successfully spread its product line across both of these dimensions
Differentiation
Target Market
Difficult to implement
stuck in the middle Firms products are too costly to compete with low costs providers product, and too undifferentiated to command the price premium gained by variety of internal and external factors A the differentiated firm
have helped Samsung achieve this desirable position
Easy access to Asian market Combination of educated guessing and pure luck (e.g. stack design vs trench design) Talent pool strategy: Access to local talents, sponsoring employees for PhD and MBA education) Availability of capital: E.g. from 1983 to 1985 during recession of semiconductor industry, Samsung allocated significant capital to build capacity
CHINESE THREAT
Emerging Competitors
Elpida Hynix Infineon Micron Technology Nanya Technology SMIC Japans only remaining DRAM producer Has many financial problems Major DRAM player with 25 R&D locations all over the globe Investing in next generation DRAM technology with a $500 million investment from Intel Producing 256 Mbit DRAM in a Joint Venture with Infineon The only Chinese DRAM manufacturer. It is Chinas most advanced producer and a major competitor for Samsung
Chinese Environment
Regulatory A zero tariff rate for importing semi-conductors Tax rebates to domestically produced semiconductors (avail in 2003 but stopped since April 2004) Other preferential policies although not announced in detail, are in the pipeline to encourage investment in semiconductors Market Access issues still exist
Technology China lacks the critical infrastructure necessary to support a cutting edge semi-conductor industry The US and Taiwan governments have forbidden shipment of cutting edge production technology to China. So China went to other countries Alliances Chinese government provided cheap credit, abundant land, cheap utilities, engineering talent, tax incentives to anyone who was willing to partner with a Chinese company China still enjoys an advantage in labor intensive
Labor
Chinese Advantages
Ample access to capital Low cost of labor and administration Government incentives
Cheap credit, land, utilities Tax incentives
RECOMMENDATIONS
Options (1)
1. Do not cooperate with the Chinese
Save the current ecosystem in Korea Cost reduction on low end DRAM: reduce from a margin of 24% close to zero with the extra benefit of reliability incurring significant losses to Chinese companies (already at -9%) For how long can both sustain the war? Chinese gain in workforce and capital whereas Samsung in volume Danger in the future that Chinese might learn and overtake (just as Samsung did in the past) Will it appear in time?
Options (2)
2. Collaborate with Chinese firms
Lose the local ecosystem and increase some costs Lose perhaps on quality, i.e. reliability Easier to penetrate the Chinese Market
Recommendation
Do not Open a fab in China for now
Currently, it is not yet viable to move to China
current prices are higher; extra cost of a new fab; potential decrease in quality might even affect other Samsung products;
If future prices of the Chinese products will be lower, consider building a fab there with the low-end Samsung technology
Focus on R&D to maintain technological lead Try to suppress the Chinese companies by price reduction on low end DRAMs
Do not allow them to gain market share Also affect Infineon and Micron which provide them with the initial design Samsung is a large company that can afford to have lower margins in one segment (lower end DRAM) Not even the Chinese can afford to lose a lot of money on long term
BACKUP SLIDES
DRAM Competitors
Samsung, 2nd (+11%, +2B) Hynix, 8th,first time among top 10 (+32%, +1.8B) Qimonda AG, newly created Infineon memory division spin off, 12th Micron, 13th (+10.8%, +.5B) Elpida 20th (+89%, +1.6B)
Major Players
Samsung is the market leader, ahead of Japanese rivals in both size and profits In 2005, large scale entry by Chinese firms
Easy access to money from local and international forces Were willing to sacrifice profits for market share.
In 2004 Samsung announced sharp drop in market prices due to increase in industry capacity and partly due to cyclic downturn