By Yoon Ja-young
Samsung Group, the country’s biggest conglomerate, is planning its biggest investment and personnel recruitment ever this year.
It unveiled its plan Tuesday, according to which it will invest 47.8 trillion won, up 12 percent from last year, and create 26,000 jobs.
“Despite the global economic recession and uncertainties surrounding businesses, we decided on the biggest investment and recruitment ever to secure future growth and contribute to the national economy,” the group said in the announcement.
The decision reflects the management philosophy of Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee, who has made aggressive investments while others hesitated to reap greater rewards when the economy turns for the better.
The investment aims at securing dominance of its main businesses in the global market as well as taking leadership in new growth areas. It allocated 31 trillion won for facilities, 13.6 percent for research and development, and 3.2 trillion won in capital investment, all up by over 10 percent from last year.
Samsung didn’t reveal a concrete investment plan but it is expected to focus on bolstering its semiconductor and display segments. Memory and non-memory chips are expected to see the biggest investment as they are main pillars of the group. Organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) as well as bio-pharmaceutical and medical equipment, areas seen as holding huge potential, are also likely to see massive investment.
The capital investment is expected to include capital increase of its overseas businesses as well as betting on merger and acquisition deals.
It also plans to increase hiring by 4 percent from last year. It will take on some 9,000 applicants with high school diplomas, up 1,000 from the previous year, to provide more opportunities for those without college degrees.
The group’s huge investment is expected to have a positive impact on the domestic economy.
It represents around one third of the total investment and its new hires will take one fifth of the total number of jobs by the country’s top 30 conglomerates. Lee said earlier this year that the group will make more aggressive investments and create more jobs. Samsung Electronics CEO Choi Gee-sung also said that the company will make a landmark investment this year of over 26 trillion won.