On December 2, the Financial Times reported that Samsung Electronics has refrained from any significant acquisitions over the past ten years, a move that has left it trailing behind SK Hynix in the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) market amidst the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution. To reverse this trend, Samsung's Chairman Lee Jae-yong is set on leveraging mergers and acquisitions (M&A) to secure a technological edge. This past November, he took a decisive step by establishing Samsung's inaugural official M&A team, helmed by seasoned dealmaker Ahn Joong-hyun, with the express goal of preserving its competitive stance in the global AI landscape.

While Samsung has recently made headlines by supplying its cutting-edge HBM chips to Nvidia and witnessed a substantial quarterly profit hike exceeding 30%, attributed to escalating chip prices, industry insiders remain skeptical about its capacity to sustain this growth trajectory and reclaim its former technological supremacy. Furthermore, Samsung's flagship products, including smartphones, are grappling with intensifying market rivalry.