[Exclusive] Samsung Executives Pledge Sweeping AI Transformation; Handwritten Messages After Meeting Sam Altman

[Financial News]“Let’s make AI our new way of working and redefine the fundamental competitiveness of semiconductors.” (Jun Young-hyun, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics)“Through innovation in artificial intelligence transformation (AX), we will become an AI-native company that proactively responds to rapidly changing global markets and consumers.” (Roh Tae-moon, president of Samsung Electronics)Key Samsung Group executives, including Jun Young-hyun, vice chairman and head of Samsung Electronics’ Device Solutions (DS) Division, and Roh Tae-moon, president and head of its Device eXperience (DX) Division, reaffirmed their resolve to drive a sweeping transformation through artificial intelligence (AI) following their meeting with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. The plan is to strengthen the competitiveness of businesses across the group—including semiconductors, finished products, finance and biotech—with AI at the center, while also overhauling existing work practices and organizational systems. With executives personally expressing their commitment to change in handwritten messages, group-wide AI transformation (AX) is also expected to gain momentum.
On the 11th, Financial News exclusively obtained handwritten messages from the presidents of key Samsung Group affiliates. They were written after a meeting with CEO Altman, held on the 31st of last month at the Samsung Human Resources Development Center in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, and Samsung displayed them outside its AI training center for executives. About 50 presidents of Samsung affiliates, including those in electronics, finance and biotech, attended the meeting.
The messages on display conveyed executives’ resolve to make AI not merely a tool for improving work efficiency but a key factor determining corporate competitiveness. Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Jun Young-hyun, who leads its semiconductor business, and President Roh Tae-moon, who oversees its finished-products division, both identified an AI-centered transformation of the company’s fundamentals as a key priority.
Executives at other major Samsung affiliates also expressed their commitment to AI innovation.
Samsung Display President Chung Yi pledged, “We will lead in advanced display technology and secure competitiveness by transforming our work culture through AI.” Samsung SDI President Choi Joo-sun left the message, “Let’s boldly ride the huge wave of change brought by agentic AI.” Samsung Electro-Mechanics President Jang Deok-hyun emphasized the urgency of change, saying, “There is no future without AX, and AX without tangible results is meaningless. Belated AX offers no competitiveness.”
The handwritten messages are noteworthy because they were written immediately after CEO Altman called on Samsung’s presidents to pursue AI-centered management innovation. At the meeting, Altman said, “In three to five years, it will be impossible to remain competitive without an AI foundation,” urging executives to make bold decisions. He also stressed that organizations must be restructured so AI leads the entire process of developing new businesses and products, rather than merely boosting employee productivity.
Samsung plans to accelerate AX across the group by first improving executives’ understanding of AI technology and their ability to use it. The decision to display the presidents’ handwritten messages at the executive training center is also seen as an effort to spread this commitment to change throughout the organization.
[email protected] Lim Su-bin, Park Ji-yeon, Park So-hyeon Reporter