By Kim Yoo-chul
Staff Reporter
Samsung Group plans to invest up to 28 trillion won this year, up from 23 trillion won in 2007, capitalizing on semiconductor and flat-screen businesses where its key flagship Samsung Electronics has been involved in a ``survival game’’ with Japanese rivals in the global market.
``We will finalize this year’s investment plan today before the release of Samsung Electronics’ first-quarter earnings,’’ a ranking group official told The Korea Times, adding that the biggest conglomerate is considering an investment between 26 to 28 trillion won.
The remarks came two days after Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee stepped down from his 21-year chairmanship to take full responsibility for the latest scandal, which led himself and nine other key executives to be indicted.
The official, who asked not to be identified, said the group will hire some 5,500 new employees in the first half of this year, up from 4,700 from a year earlier.
``As far as I know, Samsung is likely to make public the details possibly in the second week of May,’’ the official said.
The group’s core money source Samsung Electronics is expected to spend a total of 7 trillion won in the memory business and 3.7 trillion won in the flat-screen business in 2008. A month ago, the electronics giant said it will invest 50.5 billion won for the construction of a handset plant in northern Vietnam. Samsung is the world’s No. 1 maker of memory chips and liquid crystal display TV sets and No. 2 in handsets after Finland-based Nokia.
Samsung SDI, a mass producer of next-generation organic displays, will also finalize this year’s 570 billion won investment plan within a week, including about 280 billion won solely for the organic display business.
On a question about where Chairman Lee’s son Jae-yong will be dispatched, the official said he will work in one of the BRIC territories (Brazil, Russia, China and India) to learn more about management.
``The group will launch a new decision-making body in June to replace the Strategic Planning Office,’’ another group official said, adding that staff members at the office will be back to their original posts in May.
``We held a global strategic meeting for the first time this year and discussed macro-economic woes in North America and Sony’s aggressive price-cuts,’’ the official said.
Key executives including Hwang Chang-gyu, chief of the Samsung Electronics semiconductor division, and Choi Gee-sung, head of Samsung’s telecom division, and 38 other regional heads attended the meeting.