Reliable Lee Jae-yong... Samsung Expected to Achieve '180 Trillion Won Investment and 40,000 Jobs'

Domestic Investment Promise of 130 Trillion Won Likely to Exceed by Over 7 Trillion Won

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] Samsung announced its achievements so far, two years after declaring an investment of a total of 180 trillion KRW domestically and internationally over three years.

According to Samsung Electronics Newsroom on the 13th, Samsung invested about 110 trillion KRW in facilities and research and development from 2018 to 2019, and plans to further expand additional investments this year, expecting to reach the target without any setbacks.

In particular, the domestic investment target of 130 trillion KRW is expected to exceed by 7 trillion KRW, and investments in the semiconductor business and research and development are estimated to surpass expectations.

Samsung explained that the scale of new hires already exceeded 80% of the three-year target by the end of last year, so achieving 40,000 hires by the end of this year is expected to be smooth.

Earlier, on August 8, 2018, Samsung announced a new investment of 180 trillion KRW over three years, with 130 trillion KRW invested domestically. During this period, about 40,000 new hires were planned, along with providing software education opportunities to 10,000 young job seekers over five years and supporting 500 startup projects. Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong of Samsung Electronics emphasized again in February, stating, "The company's duty is job creation and innovation investment, and we will definitely keep the promise made two years ago," reaffirming the goal achievement.

So far, 2,250 people have been selected for the 'Samsung Youth Software Academy (SSAFY),' which provides software education to job seekers. To produce 10,000 graduates, a total of 500 billion KRW will be invested in operating costs by 2024.

Additionally, through internal and external venture nurturing programs, a total of 302 projects have been supported over three years from 2018 to this year, with more than 50 billion KRW invested.

Samsung is also making aggressive investments in non-memory (system) semiconductors, bio, and future automobiles, which the government has selected as key industries for development.

First, to achieve the 133 trillion KRW investment plan for system semiconductors announced last April, about 26 trillion KRW will be invested from last year through the end of this year. In the first half of this year, sales of the System LSI and foundry businesses recorded a total of 8.12 trillion KRW, growing about 20% compared to the same period last year, showing visible results in this field.

In bio, Samsung Biologics announced on the 11th a plan to build the world's largest biopharmaceutical production plant in Songdo, Incheon, with a total investment of 1.74 trillion KRW. Samsung expects Samsung Biologics to achieve a production inducement effect of 5.6 trillion KRW and create 27,000 jobs.

In the automotive sector, Samsung is securing competitiveness by collaborating with global companies based on its semiconductor technology gap. Recently, Vice Chairman Lee met Hyundai Motor Group's Executive Vice Chairman Chung Eui-sun twice within three months to discuss cooperation plans.

Furthermore, Samsung is making efforts to realize Vice Chairman Lee's 'Together' vision. Samsung expanded the smart factory construction support project, which started in 2015 targeting small and medium enterprises in the Gyeongbuk region, nationwide and significantly increased the support targets since 2018.

From 2018 to 2019, the smart factory support project was conducted for about 1,070 companies, and this year, Samsung plans to focus on strengthening and advancing the SME business, investing 100 billion KRW by 2022 to support a total of 2,500 companies.

Since 2018, Samsung has supported partner companies with about 450 billion KRW by reflecting the minimum wage increase in the delivery price. Linked with the Semiconductor Vision 2030, Samsung provides intellectual property (IP), technical education, and other support to domestic fabless companies, and has been conducting industry-academia cooperation projects worth 100 billion KRW annually since 2018.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.