SAMSUNG Group today unveiled a massive 450 trillion won (RM1.5 trillion) investment blueprint for the next five years aimed at making it a frontrunner in a wide range of sectors from biologics to semiconductors.

The new figure is an increase of more than a third over its investments spent over the past five years.

The tech giant is the largest conglomerate in South Korea, and its overall turnover is equivalent to a fifth of the national gross domestic product.

Samsung Electronics, its flagship subsidiary, is the biggest smartphone maker in the world.

The investment plan will bring “long-term growth in strategic businesses and help strengthen the global industrial ecosystem of crucial technology”, it said in a statement.

A total of 80,000 new jobs will be created “primarily in core businesses including semiconductors and biopharmaceuticals” through 2026.

It said the investment will “bring forward the mass production of chips based on the three-nanometer process”, the latest technology to boost computing power and further shrink down the size of semiconductors.

It will also invest heavily in biopharmaceuticals, with its affiliates Samsung Biologics and Samsung Bioepis in the field.

The new plan represents a 36% increase in investment over its total investments over the past five years.

Of the 450 trillion won, Samsung will commit 360 trillion won to South Korea.

This comes after United States President Joe Biden toured Samsung Electronics’ massive Pyeongtaek semiconductor factory on Friday, underscoring the South Korean giant’s role in securing global supply chains of microchips, on his first Asia trip as US leader.

South Korea and the US need to work to “keep our supply chains resilient, reliable and secure”, said Biden, calling semiconductors manufactured there as “a wonder of innovation” and crucial to the global economy.

Firm vice-chairman de facto leader of the wider Samsung conglomerate, Lee Jae-yong, escorted Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol inside the assembly line, and introduced the two to an audience in English in his highest-profile public appearance since his release on parole in August.

Lee spent more than half of a two and a half year sentence for bribery, embezzlement and other offences in connection with a corruption scandal that brought down ex-South Korean president Park Geun-hye before his release.

Samsung employs about 20,000 people within the US, and work is underway to build a new semiconductor plant in Texas. – AFP, May 24, 2022.