South Korean media said Samsung Electronics will reduce 13 subsidiaries in 2021

Samsung Electronics reduced its subsidiaries by 13 in 2021. This is the largest drop in five years since it acquired Harman, a car electronics and audio company, in 2016 and reduced its subsidiaries by 18 in 2017. Some analysts believe that Samsung Electronics liquidates or sells its underperforming subsidiaries before making large-scale mergers and acquisitions.

According to BusinessKorea, Samsung Electronics' 2021 Audit Report released on the 22nd showed that Samsung Electronics had a total of 228 subsidiaries as of the end of 2021. This is 13 fewer than the 241 at the end of 2020. Its subsidiaries have been declining since reaching a peak of 270 in 2017.

Samsung Electronics liquidated Stellus Technologies, a company that manufactures and sells semiconductor storage systems for servers, and Sigmast Communications, a company that develops Rich Communication Services (RCS), which is considered the next-generation SMS standard. In 2021, it closed ZiiLabs, a company that analyzes next-generation network traffic and service quality, and Harman Connected Service, a subsidiary of Harman. Samsung Display's LCD factory in Suzhou, China was sold in its entirety in early 2021 and excluded from its subsidiaries. Viv Labs, an artificial intelligence platform company in Silicon Valley, and Prismview, an American LED company, were excluded from its subsidiaries through acquisitions.

Industry insiders believe that Samsung Electronics is likely to close its underperforming subsidiaries and use its existing cash assets to carry out large-scale mergers and acquisitions. According to previous reports, Samsung Electronics is interested in acquiring automotive semiconductor companies in the near future, and Infineon and NXP are on the candidate list.

While liquidating underperforming subsidiaries, Samsung Electronics also added some new companies to its list of subsidiaries, including Samsung Venture Investment (SVIC), the 52nd, 55th, and 56th funds established by Samsung Electronics to invest in new technology ventures.