Samsung has announced plans to boost investments in businesses that will drive its future growth, committing to a KRW 25 trillion ($22.3 billion) investment over the next three years, primarily led by Samsung Electronics, in the areas of AI, 5G, automotive electronics components and biopharmaceuticals.
Samsung expects that AI technology will drive the industry’s transformation, while 5G telecommunications technology will create new opportunities in autonomous driving, IoT and robotics. The company plans to expand its research capability, increasing its number of AI researchers to a thousand worldwide. It will also invest to become a global player in markets for 5G chipsets and related devices and equipment.
The company says it aims to become a leader in electronics components for future cars such as system-on-chips for autonomous driving, drawing on its experience in semiconductors, telecommunications and display technologies.
For displays, investments will be increased to develop high-value, differentiated products amid rising competition in the industry.
Overall, Samsung plans to invest a total of KRW 180 trillion ($160.64 billion) over the next three years, including spending on future growth businesses. This amount includes capital expenditures and investments in research and development. KRW 130 trillion ($115.97 billion) of the total will be spent in Korea.
Together with the new investment, Samsung expects to create 40,000 new jobs over the next three years. This includes generating up to 20,000 additional new jobs on top of previous hiring plans. Along with the direct employment, investment in Korea is expected to help create approximately 700,000 jobs in related industries and businesses.
Samsung will expand its internal venture incubation programme, C-Lab, which was introduced in 2012, to support external start-up projects. The platform will benefit 500 projects — 300 external candidates and 200 inside the company — in the next five years, to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship.
In conjunction with the Korean government, Samsung will also set up and operate software education centres across the country. The centres will train 10,000 students and job candidates and provide employment consulting services for the next five years. Additionally, the company says it will strengthen joint research with leading higher education institutions in the areas of semiconductor and other core technology.
Samsung will boost its supplier support programmes to a total of KRW 4 trillion ($3.57 billion), extending financing to more sub-contractors in the lower-level supply chain and increasing incentive payments. These programmes will not only create stability within the supply chain, but also facilitate improvements within partner businesses, the company said.
Samsung will also increase the scale of its “Smart Factory” programme, an initiative that provides automation solutions and upgrades for small and medium enterprises’ (SMEs) manufacturing facilities.
The programme has already helped over a thousand manufacturers switch to smart factories and create 4,600 jobs between 2015 and 2017, by improving productivity and generating growth, the company said. Samsung and the Korean government will jointly set up a new KRW 110 billion ($98.2 million) fund to help 2,500 SMEs for the next five years.
