[Samsung on the Rise Again] 240 Trillion Investment for 'Post-Corona' Preparation... Direct Employment of 40,000 People

Samsung Electronics Seocho Building, Seocho-gu, Seoul [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] Samsung has unveiled a blueprint to invest 240 trillion won and directly hire 40,000 people over the next three years to prepare for the future after COVID-19.

On the 24th, Samsung Electronics and other major Samsung affiliates announced a plan to prepare for the 'post-COVID' era, focusing on ▲expanding investments to secure leadership in strategic industries ▲creating employment and opportunities for future generations ▲building an ecosystem for collective growth.

Samsung explained, "This is to fulfill the corporate role in addressing the challenges our economy and society will face in the future, in preparation for the major transformations expected in industry, international order, and social structure after COVID-19."

Employees are walking at the Samsung Electronics Seocho Building in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

Aggressive Investment to Secure Leadership in Strategic Industries

First, Samsung plans to make new investments totaling 240 trillion won over three years until 2023 in fields such as semiconductors, bio, next-generation communications, and new growth IT research and development (R&D). Of this, 180 trillion won will be spent domestically.

In the semiconductor sector, Samsung intends to implement its existing plan to invest 171 trillion won by 2030 to become the global No. 1 in system semiconductors. In the bio sector, the goal is to achieve the world's No. 1 position in CDMO (Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization for biopharmaceuticals) and reach a 30% market share by 2023. In communications, Samsung plans to lead advanced research in next-generation communication technologies, strengthen software capabilities related to communication networks, and expand new business areas and portfolios. Additionally, Samsung will enhance capabilities in future new technologies and businesses such as artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, and expand infrastructure investments including supercomputers.

Creating Employment and Opportunities for Future Generations

Samsung also presented a plan to directly hire 40,000 people over the next three years. This is an increase of 10,000 compared to the usual employment scale of about 30,000 over three years. The expansion of hiring will mainly focus on advanced industry sectors. Considering the job creation effect of 560,000 jobs induced by Samsung's large-scale domestic investments over the next three years, the company expects to play a significant role in building a social safety net.

Samsung will maintain its new college graduate recruitment, which is the only one among the four major conglomerates to continue this practice. Samsung stated, "As the first company to start open recruitment in Korea, we plan to continue open recruitment to ensure stability and predictability in the domestic hiring market." Furthermore, Samsung plans to expand the 'Youth SW Academy,' which provides quality software education opportunities to young people, on a nationwide scale.

Strengthening Win-Win Cooperation with Small and Medium Enterprises

To foster the startup ecosystem, Samsung will expand the C-Lab program operated both internally and externally. It will also solidify programs such as the smart factory initiative aimed at co-growth with small and medium-sized enterprises, and strengthen support for basic science and fundamental technology R&D as well as industry-academia cooperation.

Specifically, Samsung has supported 300 billion won over the past three years for industry-academia cooperation and basic science and fundamental technology R&D, and plans to increase this support to 350 billion won over the next three years. Samsung will also support industry-academia projects and doctoral-level talent development in the semiconductor and display fields, and establish contract departments and joint majors in major universities for semiconductors and communications to build a 'talent infrastructure' capable of leading the semiconductor and next-generation communication sectors.

Samsung emphasized, "The next three years are expected to be a period of reorganization of a new future order," adding, "As a company that opens the future and moves forward with society, we intend to revitalize our economy and society through investment, employment, and win-win cooperation, and meet the national expectations and hopes for Samsung."

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