Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
Samsung chairman visits bio units before planned spin-off
Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong attends the award ceremony of the 2025 Samsung Ho-Am Prize at The Shilla Seoul in Seoul, May 30. Yonhap
By Nam Hyun-woo
Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong on Monday visited the group’s two biotech units — Samsung Biologics and Samsung Bioepis — in what appears to be a move to review their operations ahead of a planned spin-off.
According to industry officials Monday, Lee visited Samsung Biologics’ office in Songdo, Incheon, along with Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Chung Hyun-ho, who leads the company's business support task force and is widely regarded as Lee's right-hand man. Samsung Biologics CEO John Rim also accompanied.
Samsung confirmed Lee’s visit but declined to provide further details. He reportedly toured the contract drug manufacturer’s fifth manufacturing plant, which is under construction with plans to secure an annual capacity of 180,000 liters, and met with Samsung Biologics employees. He also visited the office of biosimilar developer Samsung Bioepis later that day.
Lee has identified the biopharmaceutical business as one of Samsung’s three key growth drivers, along with semiconductors and artificial intelligence.
Under the chairman’s vision, Samsung Biologics has been making handsome investments in manufacturing capacity. The investments have been paying off, with Samsung Biologics estimating 5 trillion won ($3.68 billion) in sales for this year, just a year after it surpassed the 4 trillion won mark.
Samsung Biologics announced last month that it will spin off its wholly-owned biosimilar subsidiary Bioepis as an independent firm, in order to address clients’ concerns for potential conflict of interest between Samsung Biologics’ contract drug manufacturing and development business and Bioepis’ biosimilar business.
The move was interpreted as a Samsung Group strategy to boost the valuation of both companies and ensure each company was capable of more agile responses to shifts in the global biopharmaceutical industry.
"The rapidly changing external environment, including United States tariffs and drug pricing policies, increased the necessity for us to proactively resolve structural risks stemming from the parent-subsidiary relationship in order to maintain growth momentum," Samsung Biologics Chief Financial Officer Ryu Seung-ho said during a conference call on May 22.
Meanwhile, Bioepis said Monday it will make its entry into the Japanese market through a commercialization partnership with NIPRO, a Japanese health care company.