 |
| Samsung Electronics' home appliance manufacturing plant in Newberry, South Carolina / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics |
By Baek Byung-yeul
Samsung Electronics has expressed its willingness to support U.S. President-elect Joe Biden's measures to strengthen the U.S. manufacturing supply chain and bring more of the supply chain to the country.
The Korean tech giant's U.S. unit announced recently it is trying to create more jobs in the U.S., the world's largest consumer market, as its home appliance plant in Newberry, South Carolina, has already created more than 1,200 jobs, exceeding its original goal of around 1,000.
Though the U.S. is set to have a regime change on Jan. 20, 2021, Biden is forecasted to retain a similar strategy in terms of his industrial vision, as the president-elect has pledged to offer benefits such as tax incentives to companies that make public investments or move their manufacturing jobs to the U.S.
As the U.S. is expected to be consistent in creating more manufacturing jobs regardless of who's in the White House, companies making enormous profits there such as Samsung Electronics are likely to exert their efforts to create more local jobs.
In a press release statement titled "Samsung's Road to Success in South Carolina," Megan Pollock, vice president of strategic communications at Samsung Electronics America, noted Samsung exceeded its hiring goal of creating 1,000 local jobs as the company already employed over 1,200 people there.
"Today, I am proud to say that approach has borne fruit. We have not only met, but exceeded, the commitments we made in 2017. The original plan was to invest $350M and support nearly 1,000 full-time jobs. As of earlier this year, we have invested $470M and employ over 1,200 individuals at the SEHA facility," Pollock said.
SEHA refers to Samsung Electronics Home Appliances America, and its South Carolina facility is Samsung's first U.S.-based home appliance manufacturing plant.
Though Samsung has operated its semiconductor facility in Austin, Texas, since 1996, the company didn't have any home appliance facilities there.
However, the tech company announced a plan to build home appliance factories in the U.S. in 2017 after President Trump pressured domestic and overseas companies to build their plants in America as part of efforts to create more jobs under his campaign slogan of "Make America Great Again." And indeed the U.S. actually started to impose 50 percent tariffs on most imported washing machines as an industry safeguard in 2018.
Stating that Samsung has invested over $17 billion in the Texas chip facility in the last 24 years and has become one of the largest employers in the area, Pollock further wrote that "we knew establishing an American manufacturing presence would allow us to deliver home appliances to our customers faster and better reflect U.S. consumer preference. And we knew that our approach in Austin was the right road map to follow."
The vice president added the company's washing machine manufacturing plant is also contributing to the local community in South Carolina.
"And our relationships also extend outside of our investments and supply chain. Samsung cannot thrive in a community that does not thrive. So while our team was hard at work building washing machines, we were also in the community building partnerships. To date, we have donated over $300,000 to South Carolina communities and veterans," Pollock noted.
![[REVIEW] 'The ODD Of LOVE' concert: Taeyeon shows why she is among K-pop's top vocalists](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/e385d0918b054c1286a1cfaa3142439e.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
![[INTERVIEW] 'One Day Off' star Lee Na-young, director on creating subtle, feel-good series](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/796618f56a44402eabe81fe4530ab988.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
