To invest KRW 25 trillion in AI, 5G, automotive electronics parts and biopharmaceuticals
Samsung announced plans to boost investments in businesses that will drive its future growth, committing to a KRW 25 trillion investment over the next three years, primarily led by Samsung Electronics, in the areas of artificial intelligence (AI), 5G, automotive electronics components and biopharmaceuticals.
Samsung also announced a set of initiatives to become a force in building and energising the ecosystem of innovative businesses for the digital economy. By drawing on its well-established expertise in technology and start-up investments, Samsung will open up its venture incubation programme to both external and internal start up projects and provide software training.
This announcement follows many months of deliberations and review by the management and board of directors of different Samsung companies that will make the investments, including Samsung Electronics.
Samsung expects innovations powered by AI technology will drive the industry’s transformation, while the next generation 5G telecommunications technology will create new opportunities in autonomous driving, the Internet of Things (IoT) and robotics.
In AI, Samsung plans to significantly expand its research capability, increasing the number of advanced AI researchers to 1,000 across its global AI Centres. It will also invest aggressively to become a global player in the advanced markets for 5G chipsets and related devices and equipment.
Separately, Samsung will increase its existing support of basic sciences to identify new growth opportunities, while widening the programme to include areas of future technologies such as AI, 5G, IoT and biopharmaceuticals.
Overall, Samsung plans to invest a total of KRW 180 trillion over the next three years, including the spending on future growth businesses. The amount includes capital expenditures and R&D investments, and KRW130 trillion out of the total will be spent in Korea.
In semiconductors, Samsung will expand investments in manufacturing hubs, including in Pyeongtaek, to maintain global technology leadership and meet significant new demand from applications in AI, 5G, data centers and automotive electronics. In addition to investments for memory products, spending will include those for non-memory and new advanced manufacturing equipment.
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, reflecting Samsung’s commitment to support youth employment.
Along with the direct employment, the investment in Korea is expected to help induce approximately 700,000 jobs in related industries and businesses.
Samsung will expand its internal venture incubation program, 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 innovations and entrepreneurship.
