We have said farewell to 2025 and as we look ahead and welcome a new year, I am immensely proud of what our teams across Southeast Asia and Oceania (SEAO) have achieved together so far. To Samsung, the SEAO region is more than a collection of markets; it is a strategic hub of innovation, defined by dynamic growth, cultural diversity, and rapid digital adoption. While commercial targets continued to be important last year, we were also focused on anchoring Samsung as a genuine, long-term partner in SEAO’s development.

To strengthen the fundamentals that we established in 2025, I would like to share three core strategic pillars that will continue to anchor our growth path in 2026: delivering breakthrough innovations, empowering the next generation, and driving transformation for our customers; all underpinned by our commitment to become a truly AI-driven company.

Delivering Breakthrough Innovation Through an AI-Driven Future

At Samsung, we believe AI has fundamentally changed how we operate, innovate, and serve our customers. We have embraced a bold vision to be an AI-driven company and are already weaving AI meaningfully into our operations and innovations.

We first introduced Galaxy AI to the world back in 2024 and we reinforced our AI leadership in 2025 as we delivered an even broader vision of living with AI. In addition to democratization, we are driving a new era of multi-modal intelligence. This means ensuring that our hardware and software evolve together, creating devices that do not just process commands, but function as intuitive companions.

At CES 2026, we announced our efforts to unify intelligence across devices to deliver meaningful experiences as your trusted companion to AI living, creating a positive impact on how you work, live and play. I am excited for you to see how our commitment to AI innovations will shape our devices, solutions and services in 2026.

Some of our key announcements at CES 2026 include:

• A more intuitive and personal AI integrated into our home appliances and displays that understands you, adapts to your routines, and supports your daily life
• Partnerships with leading AI players and industry partners to introduce next level AI capabilities, including on-device and cloud hybrid AI, agentic AI, and more.
• A seamless and secure AI experience featuring a single design language and intuitive layer of contextual intelligence whether on One UI, Bixby or other services.

Empowering the Next Generation

What also continues to excite me is that the next generation in SEAO will not just be users of technology; they will be creators, innovators, and entrepreneurs who shape how these applications of AI serve their communities.

I believe that technology should serve as a bridge that enables everyone, regardless of background, to connect, create, and thrive. To fully unlock this potential, we have directed our corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts towards cultivating and investing in our youth, nurturing the next generation of talent.

Our flagship Solve for Tomorrow (SFT) program empowers young people to drive meaningful change through technology and innovation. In 2025, participation grew by 40% from 2024, with a total of more than 16,900 youth across the region developing solutions to address challenges in their communities. This growth highlights young people’s readiness to apply technology in practical and meaningful ways when given the tools and opportunities.

Last year, the Samsung Innovation Campus (SIC) actively bridged the regional skills gap by providing advanced information and communications technology (ICT), coding, and AI education across multiple SEAO markets. This approach mirrors our internal capability-building methodology: just as we train our employees through a structured GenAI curriculum, SIC provides youth with a similar roadmap for progression, enabling them to build foundational AI capabilities and progress to working with more complex applications.

These initiatives are more than CSR programs, but strategic investments we are making to contribute and build up the talent pipeline for our region’s AI-driven digital economy.

2026 is set to be a year where we build on this strong momentum with our CSR programs, as we aim to do even more with governments, corporations, schools, NGOs and community partners.

Driving Ecosystem Transformation

Finally, the foundation of a hyper-connected world fueled by AI agents must be trust. At Samsung, security and privacy are at the heart of our strategy. This principle is increasingly critical as we enter an era of Agentic AI, where intelligent systems do not just respond to commands but anticipate needs and act autonomously on users’ behalf. The power of our “One Samsung” ecosystem ensures that intelligence extends seamlessly from mobile to the entire connected home via SmartThings, protected by Samsung Knox.

We also uphold this standard of trust at the enterprise level. Last year, Samsung Business Experience Studios (BES) were launched in markets including Indonesia, Thailand, and Singapore. These spaces are designed to help organizations envision how they can adopt innovative Samsung solutions to meet their specific industry challenges. With additional studios set to roll out across Southeast Asia and Oceania, we look forward to more opportunities for collaboration as we partner with enterprises to implement smart and secure solutions for their businesses.

Shaping Our Future Together

My first year leading SEAO has been characterized by our efforts to innovate, empower youth, and transform ecosystems across industries, all anchored in our evolution as an AI leader.

While we are encouraged by what we have achieved so far, our work here is far from over. I invite all our partners, consumers, and regional leaders to continue this journey with us in 2026 and beyond. As we pursue our ambition to establish Samsung as the undisputed leader in AI, we will strive to ensure that AI serves everyone throughout everyday life.

Together, let us shape a future where technology does not just connect devices, but connects people, communities, and possibilities across our vibrant region.

Throughout Samsung’s history, we have made it our mission to devote our talent and technology in creating innovative products and services that contribute to the betterment of global society. As a global leader in technology, we also have a responsibility to leverage our innovations, skill and knowledge to bridge the widening digital divide and give more youths the opportunity to reap the benefits of digitalization.

Within the Southeast Asia and Oceania (SEAO) region, we are seeing rapid growth in the digital economy. This is fueled by factors such as increasing mobile penetration and social media usage, a booming e-commerce market, strong government push towards digitalization, and importantly, a population of young digital natives.

Youths are the future drivers for the region, both as consumers and innovators. As we celebrate Samsung Electronics’ 54^th anniversary globally on November 1^st, we remain committed to empowering our youth to meet the demands of the ever-evolving world, while at the same time, uplifting communities across the SEAO region.

Global programs with local impact

In the spirit of co-prosperity, we are committed to doing our part as a socially and environmentally responsible corporate citizen in the communities that we are in, and as champions of innovation, we continually push ourselves to do better in inspiring the next generation through technology. This year, we are excited to see Solve for Tomorrow (SFT), our global flagship STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) -based student competition, expand to more markets in SEAO, including Indonesia and the Philippines. SFT is also making headway in the Pacific Islands, with Samoa and Tonga kick-starting local editions for the very first time in August this year.

More than 500 students in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, participated in a SFT workshop in June 2023.

The 2023 edition of SFT is still ongoing in several SEAO markets, but we are already seeing massive momentum in the region, with projects covering creative solutions to address real-life challenges in a variety of themes including environment and sustainability, learning and education, wellness, and healthcare, and more. Beyond the technical competition element, our young participants also receive training in soft skills required for the future workforce, including the 4Cs of 21^st Century Skills – Communication, Collaboration, Critical thinking, and Creativity.

We estimate that over 110,000 students and over 1,000 schools are benefiting from this program so far this year, through the competition, online and offline workshops, and other SFT-related activities.

For the 2021 edition of Solve for Tomorrow in Australia, students were encouraged to create fun videos that presented social issues of personal relevance while highlighting STEM-based solutions. Tasmania-based Meg Phillips emerged as the overall winner, driven by her passion for animal conservation, with an RFID-based system to warn animals of approaching cars, with the aim of reducing wildlife casualties, as well as to keep drivers safe.

Recently, Samsung New Zealand announced its SFT 2023 winners. I am especially heartened by the winning submissions that are the embodiment of why we continue to dedicate our efforts for communities through this program. For example, 12-year old Thomas Costar’s hydro turbine mechanism that helps to generate electricity through household drainage systems – the scientific approach that he took is a great example of perseverance and design thinking.

Samsung Innovation Campus participants in Cambodia working diligently under the guidance of mentors.

Beyond encouraging innovative thinking with SFT, we also want to empower the next generation with practical skills needed for success in an increasingly digital world. This is where Samsung Innovation Campus (SIC) comes into play. Through SIC, we want to help youth develop real-world skills in the areas of AI, IoT, big data, and coding through formalized training programs, alongside other activities like Innovation Hackathons and IoT Bootcamps.

Since first launching in Indonesia and Vietnam in 2019, we continue to ramp up our work in SEAO. This year, we are excited to add Cambodia and Laos to the program roster. To date, we estimate that over 8,000 students are participating in the program from 135 schools across Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, along with significant interest from a number of national universities too. We are encouraged by the incredibly positive feedback received from students on how the SIC program has helped change their perspectives towards data science, as well as helping them better navigate their education journey.

We are immensely appreciative and humbled by all the cooperation, support, and the sharing of information and learnings from the various governmental agencies and educational organizations who have graciously partnered with us on this journey. These partnerships ensure that the local editions are tailored for the unique education needs of each community, enhancing the learning experience for students, and amplify the program’s impact across the region by increasing awareness of it and supporting its rollout in the markets.

There is no doubt that having passion for education played a significant role in the remarkable success that we have achieved in the spirit of co-creation with initiatives like SFT and SIC.

As an added plus, the activation of programs like SFT and SIC created more opportunities for Samsung to further contribute to local communities and education. For example, this year in Indonesia, we signed two agreements, one is with the Ministry of Religious Affairs of Republic Indonesia to roll out the ‘Samsung Digital for Indonesia’ program in support of the local smart madrasah program, and the other one with the Institute of Technology Bandung for developing digital technology on sustainable environmental conservation.

Looking to the next 54 years and beyond

At Samsung, we passionately believe that doing good is in fact, good business. We are committed to ongoing community engagements and impactful contributions, to continue growing with the SEAO region. At the same time, we look forward to working together with future generations of innovators, encouraging them to be bold and push the boundaries of innovation to shape a brighter future – not just for the next 54 years, but for generations to come.