Bloomberg: AI semiconductor boom doubles Samsung family wealth, from $20 billion to $45.5 billion

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Before the deadline for paying the massive 12 trillion KRW inheritance tax following the passing of Samsung founder Lee Kun-hee, the family's total wealth has surged from approximately 20.1 billion USD a year ago to 45.5 billion USD, making them the third-wealthiest family in Asia. The driving force behind this is the explosive demand for High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) from AI data centers. (Previous coverage: NVIDIA launches new open-source multimodal large model "Nemotron 3 Nano Omni"! Capable of processing video, audio, images, and text, focusing on Agent applications) (Background supplement: Bitcoin faces a showdown this week with the FOMC meeting and tech earnings! QCP: If BTC breaks through 82,000 USD, the CME gap could target the 90,000 USD mark) Years ago, some observers worried that the massive inheritance tax bill left behind after the death of Samsung founder Lee Kun-hee might force the Samsung family to relinquish control of South Korea's largest conglomerate. Five years later, the answer is the exact opposite of expectations. Bloomberg reported that as of March this year, the total wealth of the Samsung Lee family was approximately 45.5 billion USD, nearly doubling from 20.1 billion USD a year ago. The family jumped from 10th to 3rd place on the list of Asia's wealthiest families, and the core variable driving this is the wave of semiconductor demand fueled by AI data centers. Samsung Electronics' stock price rose 126% last year, marking its best annual performance in over two decades. This allowed the Lee family to avoid large-scale share sales when paying the final installment of the inheritance tax. Bloomberg reporters noted that among family members, Lee Jae-yong's sisters, Lee Boo-jin and Lee Seo-hyun, and their mother, Hong Ra-hee, chose to sell some shares through block trades; Lee Jae-yong himself raised funds through share-pledged loans, retaining a larger actual stake. In the semiconductor sector, Samsung Electronics regained the global top spot in memory revenue in Q4 2025 and reported an 8-fold year-on-year profit increase in Q1 2026, primarily due to strong procurement of HBM by AI data centers. Samsung Electronics co-CEO Jun Young-hyun stated at this year's shareholders' meeting that AI infrastructure investment is driving an unprecedented semiconductor super-cycle, and demand for AI memory chips is expected to continue growing in 2026. Samsung also plans to invest over 110 trillion KRW in equipment and R&D this year. In terms of market share, SK Hynix remains dominant in the HBM field, but Samsung's HBM4 capacity for 2026 is reportedly already sold out, meaning the short-term supply-demand gap works in its favor. Lee Jae-yong, who was once imprisoned for bribing former President Park Geun-hye, has now fully returned to the public eye. Bloomberg noted that over the past year, he accompanied the South Korean President on visits to India, Vietnam, China, the UAE, and the US. Last week, a selfie of him with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi went viral; last October, photos of him drinking beer and eating fried chicken with NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang also sparked heated discussions online. Lee Jae-yong's personal wealth has surged to 26.9 billion USD over the past year, surpassing financial tycoon Cho Jung-ho to reclaim the title of South Korea's richest person (a title he briefly lost last year). In 2022, he received a presidential pardon, allowing him to officially take the helm of the Samsung Group, which was founded by his grandfather in 1938. However, the Bloomberg report also reveals a structural contradiction: the surge in stock prices has given the Samsung family more confidence to maintain the status quo, while weakening the momentum for corporate governance reform expected by outsiders. Park Sang-in, a professor at the Graduate School of Public Administration at Seoul National University, told Bloomberg: "At least in the near term, I don't think the Lee family has any incentive to further improve corporate governance. The stock price has risen so much that shareholders are happy." He believes that in the long run, South Korea may miss the window of opportunity to deepen governance reforms. Lee Chang-hwan, CEO of activist investment firm Align Partners Capital Management, said: "What really needs to happen is for the management and boards of these companies to proactively push toward maximizing shareholder value." He added that many conglomerates have yet to fulfill their promises. Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a report on March 17 that Samsung is "significantly lagging" behind other large local groups in presenting "value

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