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The jury also found that Apple did not
infringe five Samsung patents cited in the
litigation. Apple also sought to ban the
sale of eight Samsung phone models, a
request that was denied.
Rise to semiconductor giant
Lee Kun-hee (the family name is always When this photo was taken, the Intel flag flew high over the San-
first in Korea), the third son of four sons ta Clara giant’s Dalian, China NAND/SSD fabcation plant. In Oc-
and six daughters of the founder, replaced tober 2020, Intel announced it sold the plant to SK hynix. (Intel)
his father as chairman in 1987. He served
in that post from 1987 - 2008 and again This presented an opportunity to Kang. “I
from 2010-2020. had been thinking that an electronics com-
pany without semiconductors was like a
He is often called the force that drove car without an engine,” Kang wrote. “With
Samsung into the leadership position in approval from founder Lee, Samsung
memory and other technologies. With bought Sudduth’s share in KSI.”
Lee’s passing at 78 in 2020, the chair-
man’s fuctions were split between multiple A warning
executives, without a board chairman. Samsung’s managers, wrote Cain, warned
against the acquisition. The chipsets that
Lee’s break in service was due to his two KSI was then fabricating were expensive
convictions for tax evasion and corruption to produce.
tied to several bribery cases. He was par-
doned twice. During much of Lee’s adult The semiconductor industry, was, Cain re-
life, he was the wealthiest person in Korea. called “notoriously unstable, required huge
investments and years to recoup one’s
The beginnings money and it would require Samsung to
Writer Geoffrey Cain recounts the begin- grapple with chaotic price fluctuations.”
ning of Samsung Semiconductor in his
book, Samsung Rising. In fact, KSI made semiconductors only
in name. Their products were little more
In 1974, Cain wrote, “Samsung CEO Jin-ku than transistors. “Unable to pull KSI out
Kang was told by entrepreneur Joe Sud- of the red, the remaining KSI owner sold
deth about the financial troubles Korean the remaining shares to Samsung.”
Semiconductor, one of the country’s first
technology businesses, was having. A controversial deal
Lee Kin-hee, then chairman, agreed to
finance part of the deal with his own mon-
“Then, as now, electronics companies, ey, he was so convinced in the longterm
such as KSI, were seen as a value-added importance of chipsets. From that deal,
proposition for Korea’s economy, which controversial both inside and outside
was stuggling to rise from its almost to- the corporation, Samsung Semiconductor
tally agrarian economy. next page
