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Samsung Electronics cultural issues causing disasters in foundry, LSI, DRAM

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Re: Samsung Electronics cultural issues causing disasters in foundry, LSI, DRAM

#111

Post by AtlasBarfed »

AceJohnny2 wrote: post #7

It has been clear to us for years that Samsung has baaad internal communication issues. When you're at the forefront of technology, you're bound to trip up as bets and explorations don't pan out. Humans being humans, mistakes will happen, but they must be recognized to be corrected and prevented in the future. It's clear that Samsung culture prevents people from admitting mistakes, which of course only leads to more…

I've heard Samsung gives new VP level heads of divisions a year to be a success, or they are canned. So if a division isn't a success when the leader comes in, a year probably isn't enough in high technology, so a VP/director churn happens.

Is this true? That model would NOT work for semiconductors, where each fab generation is a bit of a hit or miss, but the game requires that you gamble.

Re: Samsung Electronics cultural issues causing disasters in foundry, LSI, DRAM

#112

Post by rocqua »

creakingstairs wrote: post #103
kmeisthax wrote: post #8

>In other cases, Samsung LSI executives even seem to be blaming the change in Korean labor laws. Rather than hitting crunch time and having engineers do absurd hours, employees are supposed to be limited to 52 hours a week, maximum. While we hear this is not being adhered to fully, it has cut down on the overworking of many Samsung engineers. The pushback from Samsung is so strong that there is even legislation being…

This is a bit of a hot topic in Korea. I don’t agree with abolishing the 52 hour law but what the opposition is proposing is being able to crunch for a period and take the days off later which is more reasonable than 996 all the times.

Do they have a limit on how long you can crush, or how soon after a crush you need to have taken the time off?

Re: Samsung Electronics cultural issues causing disasters in foundry, LSI, DRAM

#113

Post by tomatowurst »

dylan522p wrote: post #47
opensrcken wrote: post #44

Clients and employees of SemiAnalysis may hold positions in companies referenced in this article. This article lacks the evidence to warrant the boldness of its arguments. And after reading through the paragraphs of poorly based assertions, I see this at the bottom of the article. Why am I not surprised?

It's at the bottom of every article. I have to disclose given my relationship with various funds. I am under no impression that my articles can move fucking Samsung's stock. That's hilarious you think I could profit off the market by writing this. There's plenty of evidence though. Be an industry insider and you'd recognize it all. I do know that my reports have moved smaller companies stocks by 20% in a single day,…

> no impression that my articles can move fucking Samsung's stock

> I do know that my reports have moved smaller companies stocks by 20% in a single day

seems like a weird contradiction. you really think a disclaimer can protect you here? Like many of us pointed out, you've made quite a bold, unsubstantiated claims with poorly cited evidence. You've admitted that your writing in the past have moved the targeted company's stock.

> If I thought I could move the stock, I'd make the position in the morning alongside my clients

I'm sure you could but writing a piece like this, without substantial evidence, I think could influence investors opinions and you've admitted that your writings in the past have moved stocks negatively.

> There's plenty of evidence though. Be an industry insider and you'd recognize it all.

so where are the evidence that support your claims?

Re: Samsung Electronics cultural issues causing disasters in foundry, LSI, DRAM

#114

Post by tomatowurst »

jason-phillips wrote: post #92
krisoft wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Communication issues? Not admitting mistakes? Please... enlighten me. Tell me how we worked. I’m not sure if this is supposed to be a satire or not. The forcefull and quite frankly agressive way you denied ever having a problem with admiting mistakes makes me think that there might be something to this allegiation. Every company I ever worked with had occasional issues with communication, and even rarer issues with…

> frankly agressive way you denied ever having a problem with admiting mistakes... Respectfully, that is a straw man. I never made that claim. I am saying that GGP's claim is unsupported and therefore baseless. Knowing myself exactly how things really work there, I read it as ignorant hyperbole. To answer your questions, are there problems in Samsung? Samsung has the same problems with communication and admitting mis…

It's an outright lie that disseminates. I bet you parent has never set foot in Samsung or has even interviewed for them. I bet you that they haven't even read past the headline seeing they are unable to actually cite the actual content or work experience at Samsung. How does someone on HN know more about Samsung from an article than somebody who has worked there?

Re: Samsung Electronics cultural issues causing disasters in foundry, LSI, DRAM

#115

Post by achow »

jitl wrote: post #10

Even in the Bay Area, the Samsung culture is extremely top-down and overwork focused. I’ve heard too many stories of whole departments needing to throw everything out and build something totally different at the very end of year-long projects because on an executive’s whims. On the other hand their cafeteria food is supposedly very good (especially if you like Korean and Japanese).

> ..whole departments needing to throw everything out and build something totally different..

The big reason for that is any overseas research center like SRA (Samsung Research America) works on future, whereas Korea works on current. When working on future features or tech, it is all about bets and experimentation. And these are wont to fail or be wrong quite frequently.

Re: Samsung Electronics cultural issues causing disasters in foundry, LSI, DRAM

#116

Post by vasco »

jason-phillips wrote: post #32
lostlogin wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has shot right over my head, but as a google suggests the place is well regarded, I’m going to say ‘with’…

We worked hard and we worked well together. We did whatever it took to succeed. Sometimes that meant working 20 hours days on some global supply chain project. I worked with a lot of really great people and a lot of terrific engineers. Best users I've ever had.

Imagine looking back at 20 hour days fondly. And you were an engineering manager. Nobody does good work 10+ hours into a shift. 20 hour days are good for one thing, allowing your boss to understaff teams with no consequence.

Re: Samsung Electronics cultural issues causing disasters in foundry, LSI, DRAM

#117

Post by ahahahahah »

throwaway9870 wrote: post #68
chevman wrote: post #5

There is a Facebook group with 100k+ members dedicated solely to the poor engineering, design, and fabrication of their refrigerators - [SAMSUNG REFRIGERATOR RECALL U.S.A. NOW] - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1520337151601316/

I bought a Samsung Frame TV for my parents for a Christmas present. Dear lord what a mistake. So much software shit on that TV. After two hours of playing with it and Googling it, I still can't figure out how TO TURN IT OFF. WTF. Their customer support is worthless. I would really think twice before I bought another Samsung consumer product.

Yeah, I'd recommend you stick to things with simple mechanical buttons or something.

When you press the power button and it goes to art mode (effectively a screensaver) instead of turning off, most people's next step would be to try holding the power button. Barring that, the manual clearly describes these two different operations if the power button.

Re: Samsung Electronics cultural issues causing disasters in foundry, LSI, DRAM

#118

Post by seanmcdirmid »

ineedasername wrote: post #83
userbinator wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

but that doesn't directly reflect on 5000 years of western culture. There hasn't even been 5000 years of western culture...

I believe the Classical Greek era is usually considered the roots of Western Civilization, so roughly 2500 years. But if you go back to the Early Greek era of the Minoan civilizations then it is about 5000 years. It's all slow, gradual accretion though, so you can draw the line in lots of places.

Wouldn’t you have to go back to Mesopotamia to get 5000 years? And I’m not sure if that is really considered western.

Re: Samsung Electronics cultural issues causing disasters in foundry, LSI, DRAM

#119

Post by geoffmunn »

rootusrootus wrote: post #36
lizardactivist wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

99% of which most likely don't even own one, and also partake in the other peculiar groups spreading the notion that dirty, foreign brands are dangerous and unreliable.

I have a Samsung fridge. It singlehandedly convinced me never to buy another Samsung appliance. The reputation is legit.

We built a new house, and I had a blanket ban on Samsung products. Unfortunately, the only fridge that looked nice was a Samsung so we reluctantly went with it.

Strangely, it's actually a really good fridge and it's one of the only items in our house that DOESN'T connect to the internet.

The LG we already had would occasionally freeze vegetables, the Fisher & Paykel had an internal light which stopped working... and the Samsung seems to be a simple fridge that works well (so far).

Re: Samsung Electronics cultural issues causing disasters in foundry, LSI, DRAM

#120

Post by wtallis »

poppytaker wrote: post #41
rootusrootus wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a Samsung fridge. It singlehandedly convinced me never to buy another Samsung appliance. The reputation is legit.

In Korea Samsung's whiteware business is considered vastly inferior to LG. It's not an area they excel in, and never have

Consumer Reports rankings tell a similar story. In several appliance categories, you have to scroll past at least a screenfull of LG models to get to other brands.
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