New Delhi, July 14 -- who goes next.

The answer, according to people familiar with the matter cited by Bloomberg News, is that Samsung Electronics is exploring precisely that question. The world's largest maker of memory chips has held early discussions with investment banks about a potential American Depositary Receipt program that would make its shares available to dollar-based investors for the first time. No exchange has been chosen, no timeline set, and the company declined to comment when contacted by reporters. Those briefed on the talks describe them as being in "very early stages," a formulation that typically signals feasibility work rather than a decision.

The deliberations land against a backdrop that Seoul's financial estab...