Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are assessed as maintaining a structural competitive advantage over Japanese semiconductor companies even in the AI memory era. A Bain Capital official who led the acquisition of Kioxia, formerly Toshiba Memory, said governance that can quickly decide on large-scale investment is a core competitive strength in the semiconductor industry. The person praised South Korea’s chaebol-led decision-making system.

On July 9 local time, Business Insider reported that Yuji Sugimoto (스기모토 유지), head of Bain Capital Japan who led the Toshiba Memory acquisition, cited strong chaebol-led top-down leadership and ownership structures as reasons Samsung Electronics and SK hynix maintain competitiveness over Japanese companies, in an interview with the Nihon Keizai Shimbun.

“The reason Korean companies succeeded in the semiconductor industry is because of the strong top-down leadership and ownership structure of chaebol such as Samsung and SK,” he said. “In the semiconductor industry, if you cannot make decisions, you fall behind, and then the game is over. Under the governance structure of Japan’s large corporations, it is difficult to run this kind of business.”

Sugimoto made the remarks while explaining the recovery process of Japanese memory maker Kioxia. Kioxia began as Toshiba Memory, and a consortium led by Bain Capital acquired it for about 2 trillion yen in 2018 before changing it to its current name in 2019.

He assessed that Kioxia’s recovery would not have been easy under the Toshiba system at the time. Even as losses grew amid a worsening memory market, it needed to continue large-scale investment, and he said it would have been hard to push ahead due to opposition from other business units inside the conglomerate.

Kioxia continued capital investment despite weak performance, and its corporate value later jumped sharply as demand for memory semiconductors surged with the spread of AI. “Back in 2018, the term AI was not widely used, and we could not anticipate or fully understand demand like today,” Sugimoto said.

The market is also reflecting the change. Since listing in December 2024, Kioxia’s share price has risen more than 4,000 percent and it also climbed 8.5 percent intraday on the day, leading gains in the Nikkei 225. On the same day in South Korea, the KOSPI fell 1.7 percent and Samsung Electronics shares dropped 2.3 percent, while SK hynix rose 2.3 percent.

Bain Capital has also completed its investment exit. David Gross (데이비드 그로스), a managing partner at Bain Capital, said it has sold all of its Kioxia stake.

The remarks show that even as Japanese semiconductor companies regain competitiveness on expanding AI memory demand, how quickly they can decide on large-scale investment in line with market changes remains a core competitive strength.

Separately from Kioxia’s success case, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are assessed as having fast investment decision structures and governance systems that will continue to act as an important competitive advantage for Korean companies in the global memory semiconductor market.