Samsung Electronics, South Korea’s largest conglomerate has announced that its parent company, the Samsung Group will invest $206 billion over the next three years to expand its footprint in biopharmaceuticals, artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors and robotics in the post-pandemic era.
The company confirmed that the investment, which will last until 2023, will help the firm to strengthen its global position in key industries like chip manufacturing while also allowing it to pursue growth opportunities in new areas like robotics and next-generation telecommunications.
Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest memory chip maker intends to solidify its technological and market supremacy through mergers and acquisitions. The company did not disclose a breakdown of the investment figures and whether the latest investment includes the $17 billion rumored to be invested on a new contract of chip factory in the US planned after the parole of its leader on the controversy over the legitimacy.
The plan is 30 percent bigger than Samsung’s previous three-year strategy, which was announced in 2018. To maintain technological superiority, the group decided to enhance investment, particularly during “emergencies” at home and abroad.
“The chip industry is the safety plate of the Korean economy. Our aggressive investment is a survival strategy in a sense that once we lose our competitiveness, it is almost impossible to make a comeback,” Samsung Electronics said in a statement
Competitors in the advanced chip industry, such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd. and Intel Corp, are investing heavily in response to a global chip scarcity and increased competitiveness. According to the South Korean Fair Trade Commission, Samsung Group has 59 affiliates with assets totaling $392 billion.
