Bloomberg: A year of AI semiconductor boom doubles Samsung family's wealth, from $20 billion to $45.5 billion

Samsung founder Lee Kun-hee’s heirs, before the final deadline to pay up to 12 trillion Korean won in inheritance taxes, have seen the family’s total wealth rise from about $20.1 billion a year ago to $45.5 billion, making them the third-richest family in Asia. The driving force behind this is the explosive demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) in AI data centers.
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• AI memory demand cushions inheritance tax crisis
• Lee Jae-yong returns to the spotlight
• Wealth doubles, but governance reform momentum wanes

Five years ago, some observers worried that the massive inheritance tax bill left by Samsung founder Lee Kun-hee might force the Samsung family to relinquish control of Korea’s largest conglomerate. Five years later, the answer is quite the opposite of expectations.

Bloomberg reports that as of March this year, the Lee family’s total wealth is approximately $45.5 billion, nearly doubling from $20.1 billion a year earlier. The family has risen from 10th to 3rd place on Asia’s wealthiest families list, driven primarily by the semiconductor demand surge fueled by AI data centers.

AI memory demand cushions inheritance tax crisis

Samsung Electronics’ stock price rose 126% last year, marking its best annual performance in over two decades. This allowed the Lee family to pay the final installment of inheritance taxes without having to sell large amounts of their holdings. Bloomberg reporters note that family members, including Lee Jae-yong’s sisters Lee Boo-jin and Lee Seo-hyun, as well as their mother Hong Ra-hee, chose to sell some shares via block trades; Lee Jae-yong himself raised funds through share pledge loans, retaining a larger shareholding stake.

On the semiconductor front, Samsung Electronics’ memory revenue in Q4 2025 is expected to reclaim the global No. 1 spot, and by Q1 2026, it will report an approximately 8-fold increase in profits, driven by strong AI data center demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM).

Samsung Electronics co-CEO Kyung Kye-hyun stated at this year’s shareholders’ meeting that AI infrastructure investments are fueling an unprecedented semiconductor supercycle, with demand for AI memory chips expected to continue growing through 2026. Samsung also plans to invest over 110 trillion Korean won this year in device manufacturing and R&D.

In terms of market share, SK Hynix still holds an advantage in the HBM sector, but Samsung’s HBM4 capacity for 2026 is reportedly fully sold out, indicating a short-term supply-demand gap favorable to them.

Lee Jae-yong returns to the spotlight

Once imprisoned over bribery related to former President Park Geun-hye, Lee Jae-yong has now fully re-entered the public eye. Bloomberg notes that over the past year, he has traveled with South Korea’s president to India, Vietnam, China, the UAE, and the US. Last week, photos of him taking selfies with President Yoon Suk-yeol and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi circulated widely; in October last year, photos of him drinking beer and eating fried chicken with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang also sparked online buzz.

Lee Jae-yong’s personal wealth has surged to $26.9 billion over the past year, surpassing financial giant Cho Yong-bil to reclaim South Korea’s richest man title (a position he temporarily lost last year).

In 2022, he received a presidential pardon, allowing him to officially take control of Samsung Group, founded by his grandfather in 1938.

Wealth doubles, but governance reform momentum wanes

However, Bloomberg also reveals a structural contradiction: the surge in stock prices has strengthened the Samsung family’s confidence to maintain the status quo but has weakened external expectations for corporate governance reforms.

Pusan National University’s Professor Park Sang-in told Bloomberg, “At least for now, I don’t think the Lee family has any motivation to further improve corporate governance. The stock price has risen so much, shareholders are very happy.” He believes that in the long run, Korea might miss the window for deeper governance reforms.

Activist investment firm Align Partners Capital Management CEO Lee Chang-hwan said, “What really needs to happen is for management and the board of these companies to proactively push toward maximizing shareholder value.” He added that many conglomerates still have yet to fulfill their promises.

A Morgan Stanley analyst’s report on March 17 stated that Samsung’s “value enhancement plans” are “significantly behind” compared to other large local groups.

Notably, Samsung has taken some steps: separating chairman and CEO roles in 2018, appointing independent directors as chairman for the first time in 2020, and now having a board majority of independent directors. Last year, the company paid a special dividend of 1.3 trillion Korean won and announced the cancellation of over 14 trillion won in treasury stock this April. The Korean National Assembly also passed amendments to the Commercial Act in February, requiring companies to cancel treasury stocks long used by conglomerates to consolidate control.

According to Bloomberg, Samsung’s seven major affiliated companies’ combined revenue in 2025 will account for 19.3% of Korea’s GDP, further expanding from 15.1% a decade ago. Long-term, wealth management CEO Yoon Dung-in of Fibonacci Asset Management Global posed a broader question: “Under Korea’s high inheritance tax system, whether the next generation can continue to control Samsung remains a key long-term variable.”

The AI wave has transformed the assets and liabilities of the Samsung family, but it has also made external pressure for chaebol reforms lighter. The louder the shareholders cheer, the harder it becomes to push structural change.