The Zhitong Finance App learned that according to relevant documents and two people familiar with the matter, Samsung Electronics (SSNLF.US) has laid off employees in its display, mobile phone, and other consumer electronics business divisions in the US. The affected employees are mainly concentrated in New Jersey and Texas.
The South Korean tech giant issued a statement last Sunday saying that Samsung Electronics America (SEA) plans to move its headquarters to Texas, so its 739 jobs in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey will be affected. According to information, SEA mainly focuses on the consumer electronics business and is not involved in the semiconductor sector. The statement added that most of the affected employees have received job transfer proposals, but some have also been directly fired, but no further details have been provided.
According to an insider claiming to be an employee who has been laid off, about 100 employees have been laid off from SEA's office in Blano, Texas, including those in the mobile phone department.
Although this layoff is related to the relocation of the headquarters, it also reflects the uneven heat and temperature of the Korean tech giant's internal business segment — the semiconductor sector's profits soared to record highs due to the AI boom, while the consumer electronics business continued to slump due to soaring chip costs.
Samsung's decision to move its SEA headquarters to Texas attracted a lot of attention, as its New Jersey employees made a high-profile move into the new office less than a year ago. US Representative Josh Gottheimer attended the opening ceremony of the new office in September last year. The press release showed that SEA has about 1,200 employees in New Jersey.
Although the exact scale of SEA's layoffs is unknown, documents show that the department notified some employees on June 30 that it will carry out “company-wide staff downsizing,” adding that “the impact is quite broad.”
The LinkedIn post read also showed that over the past few weeks, more than 30 employees claimed to have been fired or left their jobs, including senior sales and marketing executives in Texas and New Jersey, as well as a few employees from other regions.
Details about SEA's current layoffs have not been publicly reported before.
Samsung said in a statement that the relocation of the SEA headquarters “may result in personnel restructuring, such as employees who cannot be transferred, or optimizing some functions to ensure that job settings are consistent with the core business direction.”
The semiconductor business is making great strides, and the mobile phone division may lose money for the first time
Samsung previously predicted that profits for the second quarter could skyrocket 19 times year over year, driven by AI demand. The company also announced last month that it would invest tens of billions of dollars to build a new chip factory.
However, its mobile phone division is expected to lose money for the first time, mainly due to intense competition from Apple (AAPL.US). Meanwhile, Chinese rivals such as TCL and Hisense are also challenging Samsung in the TV and home appliance markets. The rise in chip costs brought about by the AI boom has further suppressed the profit margins of Samsung's consumer electronics business in all categories.
Samsung's current layoffs are in line with global companies such as Microsoft (MSFT.US), Amazon (AMZN.US), and Meta (META.US) — these companies are cutting jobs while shifting capital to AI infrastructure construction.
In addition, Samsung has joined the ranks of technology companies such as Tesla (TSLA.US) and Oracle (ORCL.US) to move its headquarters or main business to Texas known for its low tax rates and business-friendly policies. The state is already home to Samsung's chip factory and Brano's mobile business center.
A current SEA employee said that the company's internal concerns about recent layoffs are only the beginning; there may be more layoffs in the future, and the home appliance, home entertainment, and mobile phone businesses will be integrated to focus resources on the chip sector.
Samsung clarified in a statement that there is currently no large-scale global restructuring of the consumer products business. The headquarters move aims to “promote closer collaboration and optimize the organizational structure by integrating more teams into the growing technology and AI ecosystem.”
By the end of 2025, Samsung Electronics had a total of 11,770 employees in the US, including those in the semiconductor sector.
Furthermore, in accordance with the June filing notice required by state law, Samsung SDS America, an IT service subsidiary of Samsung, has indicated that 179 of its jobs in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey, may face abolition. Samsung explained that the personnel change was due to the relocation of Samsung SDS's North American headquarters and had nothing to do with layoffs or restructuring.