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Samsung Electronics has notified employees in mainland China of a restructuring that will eliminate about 130 positions – equivalent to 8 per cent of domestic sales staff – according to South Korean media reports, as the company continues to grapple with sluggish smartphone and television demand in the world’s second-largest economy.

This marks the start of a broader restructuring initiative that would potentially cut up to 30 per cent of Samsung’s mainland workforce by next year, the Seoul Economic Daily reported earlier this week, citing a company official.

Samsung – the world’s largest smartphone vendor the past two quarters, according to research firm IDC – has already begun accepting voluntary resignations, the report said. Samsung is expected to pursue selected lay-offs in case the number of voluntary terminations falls short of its target.

In a statement to Chinese digital media outlet Jiemian, Samsung’s China unit said the staff adjustment aims to improve operational efficiency and strengthen market competitiveness. “The company plans to eliminate redundant positions to better allocate resources and enhance organisational performance,” the statement said.

The size of Samsung’s major local offices in Beijing, Nanjing and Xian has contracted in recent years owing to weak business performance, with research departments last year seeing lay-offs or non-renewal of contracts, according to a former Samsung China employee, who declined to be named because the matter has not been made public.

According to a Samsung report, the company’s workforce in China peaked at 63,316 employees in 2013. By early 2022, that number had fallen to fewer than 20,000.

Over the past several years, Samsung has shut down multiple production bases on the mainland, including its last smartphone plant in Huizhou, a city in southern Guangdong province, and last personal computer factory in Suzhou, a bustling metropolis in the eastern coastal province of Jiangsu.

Outside China, Samsung continues to be challenged by mainland smartphone vendors. Recently, Honor – a spin-off from Huawei – surpassed Samsung to top western Europe’s foldable smartphone market, according to data from industry consultancy Counterpoint Research.

The world’s largest maker of memory chips and smartphones posted a six-fold surge in net income to 9.64 trillion won (US$6.96 billion) in the June quarter, versus the average analysts’ projection for 7.97 trillion won. Earlier in July, Samsung reported a 15-fold rise in preliminary operating profit and a 23 per cent rise in revenue, the biggest gain in sales since 2021.

Editor：Vicky

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