South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics spent a total of 22.7 trillion won ($20.05 billion) in facility investment on a consolidated basis last year. The company is planning a 25 trillion won investment in equipment and facilities for 2012.



In addition, Samsung injected 10.3 trillion won (approximately $9.1 billion), or 6.2 percent of its sales last year, in its research and development (R&D) in 2011, crossing the 10 trillion won mark for the first time in the corporate history.



Samsung invested 13 trillion won and 6.4 trillion won in equipment of its semiconductor and LCD sectors, each, in 2012, based on Samsung¡¯s business report unveiled Friday. The company injected 10.3 trillion won in R&D, up 9.6 percent from the previous year. Samsung Electronics spent a total of 33 trillion won in equipment and R&D investments last year.



Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics plans to invest record 15 trillion won in the semiconductor sector this year. The company¡¯s investment in non-memory chips (8.2 trillion won) will exceed the investment in memory chips (6.8 trillion won) for the first time for Samsung. Samsung injected 13 trillion won and 12 trillion won in the semiconductor business in 2011 and 2010, respectively.



Samsung strengthened its competitiveness of its business sectors including memory chips, TVs, smartphones, and OLED (organic light-emitting diode) panels last year, and the company appears to have determined that this year is the right time to concentrate on its non-memory chip business.



[Written by In-hyeok Hwang - Ha¡¯eun Bang / edited by Soyoung Chung]


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