The Korea Herald

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Samsung scales up investment, hiring scheme for 2011

By Cho Ji-hyun

Published : Jan. 6, 2011 - 10:12

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Samsung Group plans to spend a record 43.1 trillion won ($38.4 billion) this year to consolidate its global leadership in electronics and shore up its charge into growing fields.

Korea’s largest conglomerate on Wednesday announced its plan to increase investment by 18 percent year-on-year, which analysts say reflects its expectation of global demand recovery.

The conglomerate also said that it would hire up to 25,000 new employees this year, up from 22,500 in 2010.

Of the 43.1 trillion won, an 18 percent increase from last year, 29.9 trillion will be spent on facilities and 12.1 trillion won will be used for research and development. Another 1.1 trillion won is allocated for capital increase of overseas branches and stock investment to secure overseas resources for Samsung C&T Corp.

The announcement of the plan takes place shortly after Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee told reporters this week that the group expects to make bigger investments in 2011.

The group also said earlier in May that it plans to inject 23.3 trillion won in five new areas like health care business and solar batteries by 2020.

When looking into the facility investment portfolio, the largest amount of 10.3 trillion won has been allotted for the group’s cash-cow semiconductors, while 5.4 trillion each has been assigned for liquid-crystal displays and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays. About 700 billion won and 800 billion won have been allocated for light-emitting diode displays and televisions, respectively.

Involving the hirings, the group claimed it would employ 9,000 college graduates, 5,000 experienced workers and 11,000 workers with technical skills. Up to 4,000 university students will also be hired as interns.

“Although uncertainties remain in the global economy, we decided on the largest-ever yearly investment and hiring in 2011 for the development of the local economy and to enhance global competitiveness of our core projects,” said a Samsung official.

Analysts said making large investments at an early stage for Samsung is in the right direction and that Samsung has found its first new growth engine ― OLED displays.

OLED, made of thin films of organic molecules, could be applied to Samsung’s numerous gadgets, such as tablet PCs, smartphones and smart TVs.

“The 5 trillion won sum planned to be poured into OLED is a meaningful move. It could indicate that Samsung began to see the investment opportunity in nurturing the new future growth engine,” said Shin Hyun-joon, an analyst at Tongyang Securities, adding that about 1.4 trillion won was injected for OLED in 2010.

Song Myung-sup, a senior analyst at Hi Investment and Securities, also said that the early investments planned by the country’s top conglomerate will give the group a boost in case of a sluggish economy.


“Execution of early investment is a method Samsung has been using up to now to increase its competitiveness,” he said.

Involving the fact that the investment portfolio was made official two months earlier than usual, it is most likely that the investments need to be made early this year, as in the case of AMOLED investments, said Song.

By Cho Ji-hyun (sharon@heraldcorp.com)

<한글 기사> 

‘통큰 삼성’? 올해 사상 최대 투자ㆍ채용한다


삼성그룹이 올해 사상 최대 규모인 43조원 이상을 투자하기로 했다. 또 채용규모도 사상 최대인 2만5000명으로 확정했다.

국내 최대 기업집단인 삼성이 올해 사상 최대의 투자ㆍ채용 계획을 확정함에 따라 다른 대기업 그룹들도 잇따라 투자 및 채용 확대에 나설 것으로 보인다.

삼성은 올해 신사업과 주력사업에 대한 대규모 투자로 미래 성장동력을 확충하기 위해 사상 최대 수준인 총 43조1천억원을 투자하기로 했다고 5일 밝혔다. 이 같은 투자규모는 지난해의 36조5000억원보다 18%나 증가한 수치다.

올해 총투자 계획을 분야별로 보면 시설이 29조9000억원으로 가장 많고, 연구개발(R&D) 분야는 12조1000억원으로 잡혔다. 해외법인 증자 및 삼성물산의 해외자원 확보용 지분투자 등을 포함하는 자본 분야는 1조1000억원이다.

시설투자 중에는 반도체가 10조3000억원으로 가장 많이 배정됐고, LCD(액정표시장치)와 OLED(유기발광다이오드) 각 5조4000억원, LED(발광다이오드) 7000억원, TV에는 8000억원이 책정됐다.

삼성은 지난해에도 애초 계획보다 10조원 많은 36조5000억원의 총 투자를 단행해 반도체 12조원, LCD 4조원, TV 1조2000억원, LED 5000억원, OLED 1조4000억원, 정밀소재 분야에 1조원을 쏟아부었다.

삼성은 아울러 고용창출에 대한 사회적 관심이 증대되는 상황에서 청년실업 등 실업문제 해소에 적극적으로 기여하기 위해 올해 채용규모로 사상 최대이자 지난해(2만2500명)보다 11% 많은 2만5000명으로 확정했다고 밝혔다.

올해 채용내역은 대졸 신입사원 9000명, 경력직원 5000명, 기능직원 1만1000명이다. 삼성은 또 올해 정규 채용과는 별도로 작년보다 1000명 많은 4000명 규모의 대학생 인턴을 뽑을 예정이다.

삼성 관계자는 “세계 경제의 불확실성이 여전히 존재하지만 국가경제 발전과 주력사업의 국제경쟁력 강화를 위해 올해 사상 최대 규모의 투자와 채용을 실시하기로 했다”고 말했다.

헤럴드 생생뉴스/onlinenews@heraldcorp.com