Samsung takes TCL CSOT stake as SK hynix forms a US unit

Korea’s two chip giants both looked abroad as the week ended. Samsung Electronics is taking over a stake in a Chinese panel maker, and SK hynix has created a US division for its largest technology customers. Seoul’s market also fell hard on Friday, Oct 30.

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A 1.27 trillion won stake in a Chinese panel maker

Samsung Electronics will acquire the whole 10.16% holding that its display subsidiary, Samsung Display, owns in TCL CSOT, a panel maker in China. The price is 1,271,821 million won, or about 1.27 trillion won. Because the seller is an affiliate, the shares will change hands in a private deal rather than on an exchange. Samsung’s board approved it on Oct 29, 2026.

The filing values the deal at US$960.4 million, converted at the Oct 28 rate of 1,324.30 won per dollar. It adds that the won amount may shift with the exchange rate on the payment date. Seoul Economic Daily gave a figure of $890 million, and The Korea Herald gave $950 million.

Payment is planned for December, once approvals in Korea and abroad are in hand. Samsung named closer strategic cooperation as the aim and said terms may change as the deal moves forward.

Securing LCD panels for Samsung’s TVs

According to The Korea Herald, the stake firms up LCD supply links for Samsung’s TV business while Samsung Display puts its effort into premium OLED panels. Chosunbiz also framed the purchase as a way to lock in LCD supply.

The price is modest next to Samsung’s own earnings. Its preliminary consolidated operating profit for the third quarter of 2026 came to 107.44 trillion won on revenue of 195.25 trillion won, figures it filed on Oct 29. Pacific Tape covered those third-quarter results when they came out.

A US division near SK hynix’s biggest customers

SK hynix has named Ahn Hyun, the president who runs its development work, to lead a newly formed Americas division. The unit is based in the US and will concentrate on research and on major technology customers, as reported by Maeil Business Newspaper, The Korea Herald, Chosunbiz and DigiTimes.

The move came in SK Group’s annual executive reshuffle on Friday, Oct 30. CEO Kwak Noh-jung stays in his role, and the appointments take effect for 2027. The group’s energy units saw larger changes at the top than its chipmaker did.

DigiTimes called Ahn a veteran of HBM development. HBM, or high-bandwidth memory, is stacked memory placed beside AI processors; Pacific Tape compares the two Korean makers in this explainer. In DigiTimes’ view, the posting puts Ahn nearer to large US clients as the industry turns toward customized HBM and tighter work with chip designers.

The reshuffle follows SK hynix’s preliminary consolidated third-quarter operating profit of 83.33 trillion won, filed on Oct 28. That was up 632.1% from a year earlier and the highest quarterly figure since at least the second quarter of 2025, as Pacific Tape reported in its results story.

SK hynix drops 7.08% as US tech results weigh

Korean stocks slumped on Friday morning, Korea Economic Daily reported. The paper said weak results from US technology companies had renewed worries about how much is being spent on AI, and that both Samsung Electronics and SK hynix took a hit. Maeil Business Newspaper also reported the morning slide.

SK hynix finished the session at 1,418,000 won, down 7.08% from 1,526,000 won on Thursday. Its drop was steeper than that of the TIGER 200 ETF, a fund that tracks the KOSPI 200 index of large Korean companies, which lost 3.8% over the same session. The wider KOSPI ended the day at 5,730.74, down 3.48%.

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Information only, not investment advice.