Bloomberg reported that the family of late Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee saw its combined wealth rise from about $20.1 billion a year earlier to $45.5 billion before the final deadline for paying inheritance tax. That jump moved the family from 10th to 3rd in the ranking of Asia’s richest families. The main driver was the surge in demand for high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, tied to AI data centers.
Five years ago, some observers thought the inheritance tax bill of 12 trillion won could force the Lee family to loosen its grip on South Korea’s largest conglomerate. The outcome has been very different. Samsung Electronics shares rose 126% last year, their best annual performance in more than two decades, giving the family more room to meet tax obligations without a broad disposal of holdings.
Rising share price changed the tax calculation
According to the report, Lee Jae-yong’s sisters Lee Boo-jin and Lee Seo-hyun, along with their mother Hong Ra-hee, sold part of their holdings through block trades. Lee Jae-yong chose to raise funds through share-backed loans, which allowed him to keep a larger portion of his stake. The stock rally reshaped how the family managed both tax payments and ownership retention.
On the operating side, Samsung Electronics regained the top global position in memory revenue in the fourth quarter of 2025. In the first quarter of 2026, it posted profit growth of about eight times from a year earlier. Bloomberg tied that performance to strong procurement of HBM by AI data centers.
HBM demand supports a larger investment push
Samsung Electronics co-CEO Jun Young-hyun said at this year’s shareholder meeting that investment in AI infrastructure is driving an unprecedented semiconductor supercycle, with demand for AI memory chips expected to keep growing in 2026. The company also plans to invest more than 110 trillion won this year in facilities and research.
SK Hynix still leads the HBM market by share, but Bloomberg said Samsung’s 2026 HBM4 capacity is already fully sold out. That points to a near-term supply gap that could work in Samsung’s favor.
Lee Jae-yong returns to the center of public attention
Lee Jae-yong has become far more visible over the past year. Bloomberg noted that he joined South Korea’s president on trips to India, Vietnam, China, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States. Last week, a selfie featuring Lee, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi circulated widely. In October last year, photos of Lee having beer and fried chicken with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang also drew attention online.
Lee Jae-yong’s personal wealth rose to $26.9 billion over the past year, putting him back at the top of South Korea’s rich list ahead of Cho Jung-ho. He had briefly lost that title last year. In 2022, he received a presidential pardon, allowing him to formally take charge of Samsung Group, founded by his grandfather in 1938.
Governance reform pressure loses momentum
Bloomberg also highlighted a structural tension. As the family’s wealth and Samsung’s stock price climbed, the pressure for corporate governance reform weakened. Park Sang-in, a professor at Seoul National University’s Graduate School of Public Administration, said that at least in the near term, he does not see any incentive for the Lee family to improve governance because the stock has risen so much and shareholders are satisfied.
Lee Chang-hwan, chief executive of Align Partners Capital Management, said what really needs to happen is for management and boards at these companies to move on their own toward maximizing shareholder value, adding that many chaebol have yet to deliver on promises. In a report dated March 17, Morgan Stanley analysts wrote that Samsung was “clearly behind” other major domestic groups in presenting investors with a value-up plan.
Samsung has still taken some steps. It separated the roles of chairman and CEO in 2018, appointed an independent director as board chair for the first time in 2020, and now has a board with a majority of independent directors. Last year, the company paid a special dividend of 1.3 trillion won. In April this year, it retired more than 14 trillion won in treasury shares. South Korea’s National Assembly in February completed revisions to the Commercial Act requiring companies to cancel treasury shares that had long been used by chaebol groups to reinforce control.
By Bloomberg’s calculation, the combined revenue of Samsung’s seven main affiliates in 2025 reached 19.3% of South Korea’s GDP, up from 15.1% a decade earlier. Yoon Jung-in, chief executive of Fibonacci Asset Management Global, said the longer-term question is whether the next generation can continue to maintain control of Samsung under South Korea’s high inheritance tax system.