Han Jong-Hee, co-director of Samsung Electronics and nearly four-year veteran of South Korean consumer technology giant, passed away on Tuesday.
According to a company spokesperson, Han, 63, suffered a sudden heart attack.
Since 2022, Han has shared the director and chief executive of Samsung's semiconductor business and has been a member of the board. He has been running Samsung's Consumer Electronics business since 2021 and added the operation of a digital appliance to his brief a year later. Previously, he oversaw a group that created visual displays for various Samsung electronic devices.
Han joined Samsung in 1988 after graduating with an electrical engineering degree from INHA University in Incheon, South Korea. He joined Samsung shortly after the death of founder Lee Byung-Chull at a pivotal time in the company's history.
Lee's son and successor dominated the market for thin displays and mobile phones, pushing Samsung mercilessly through the technological changes of the 1990s and 2000s.
Samsung is the largest and most successful conglomerate known as Choi Bol, which transformed South Korea's economy into a global export powerhouse. Samsung Electronics is a significant part of it of the country's exports. Samsung is one of the most popular brands in the global smartphone market, competing with Apple and Xiaomi. It is also the world's largest manufacturer of memory chips used in everything from electric vehicles and smartwatches to advanced artificial intelligence servers.
The company had not yet made plans for who would replace Han, a spokesperson said.
