Samsung

Samsung   (Company, Big tech)
Formation	1938
Headquarters	Seoul, South Korea
Leader	Lee Jae-yong
Interests	Platformization
Member of	Centre for European Policy Studies/Corporate Members

Samsung is a South Korean based technology company. Measured by trailing 12-month (TTM) revenue, Samsung is the second biggest tech company in the world, behind Apple. Under the Deep state factions called "Chaebols" (South Korean for "Rich clique") in South Korea, the family owning Samsung has over 10 billion US Dollars and has a leading influence over South Korean deep politics.

Background

Samsung’s Dangerous Dominance over South Korea - Wendover Productions

Samsung Electronics is rivals with Apple, ASML and other major tech companies worldwide in key product areas such as NVIDIA and Taiwanese company TSMC. It's engaged in a broad range of industries, including consumer electronics, information technology, and communications. The South Korean company sells mobile phones, tablets, wearable devices, virtual reality products, TVs and home theaters, computers, printers, home appliances and computer chips.

Actions

In Italy in 2018, an antitrust watchdog fined Samsung 5,000,000 Euros for deliberately slowing down their phones through updates, to encourage people to buy a newer model. Apple has the same approach to encourage users to switch to a newer model.

Markets

Samsung biggest market shares are in Active-matrix OLEDs (Active-matrix OLED (AMOLED) is a display technology used in mobile devices, digital cameras, media players, and televisions), DRAM (a vital piece of computer hardware), NAND flash (an advanced part of computer hardware) and smartphones, nearing a vertical monopoly on those markets.

Flight Risk

In 2016, it was reported that Samsung was delaying shipments of the Galaxy Note 7 in some regions to perform additional tests being conducted for product quality; this came alongside user reports of batteries exploding while charging. One month later, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration along with their Mexican and Canadian counterparts banned the Note 7 from being taken aboard any airplane, even if powered off. Samsung suspended sales of the Note 7 and gave buyers the chance to exchange their Note 7 for another Note 7, a Galaxy S7, or an S7 Edge.

Deep state interference

Samsung head pardoned - Gravitas.

Samsung family heir Lee Jae-yong, who was convicted of bribery and embezzlement in 2017 received a presentimental pardon in 2017. Lee was twice imprisoned for bribing former president Park Geun-hye (who later resigned and was jailed in a corruption sting) and her close friend Choi Soon-sil.

Millions of South Koreans protested multiple weekends in the 2016 and 2017 winter, demanding an end to Park's government and the cover up between politics and business. South Korea's government justified the move, saying "Lee, the de-facto leader of the country's biggest company was needed back at the helm to spearhead economic recovery post-pandemic". Lee was promoted to Executive Chairman of Samsung in 2022, with the Samsung and government ethics commission also pushing aside a drug conviction for propofol.

Spying

In 2015, website IGN reported that users on the social media Reddit began reporting that Samsung Smart TVs would display advertisements for Pepsi products during movies when viewed through the Plex app.

In 2017, Wikileaks revealed that the American CIA had been hacking Samsung smartphone and used a malware called "Weeping Angel" that transformed smart TVs into covert microphones. The program began targeting Samsung smart TVs in 2014.

Employees

5 employees of SEMES, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, leaked critical information on Samsung's new technology to China for large sums of money according to the Defense Business and Industrial Technology Crime Investigation Department of the Suwon District Prosecutor’s Office. The Suwon court announced that it had arrested and indicted former SEMES employee on charges of violating the Industrial Technology Protection Act and the Unfair Economy Prevention Act with selling secrets to China, getting paid over 5 million US Dollar in the process.

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