[Exclusive] Samsung Electronics to Double Robot Business Team Workforce by Year-End

Aggressive Talent Recruitment Ahead of 'Gems' Launch
Full-Scale Promotion of 'Robot Business' Selected by Lee Jae-yong

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Samsung Electronics is significantly increasing its workforce in the robotics business division. This move is seen as an aggressive talent acquisition effort ahead of the launch of its first commercial product, ‘GEMS.’ It is also interpreted as a clear intention to actively pursue robotics, a core future business selected by Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, as a new growth engine.

According to Asia Economy’s report on the 18th, Samsung Electronics’ robotics business team is planning to more than double its current workforce of around 130 employees by the end of the year. A source familiar with internal affairs stated, "Since it is a newly established organization, the reality is that there is a shortage of personnel," adding, "We plan to significantly increase the workforce to twice the current size by the end of the year."

The reason Samsung Electronics’ robotics business team is aggressively securing talent is that although it was elevated from a robotics commercialization task force (TF) to a formal department through an organizational restructuring at the end of last year, the workforce size still remains at the TF level. It is also reported that due to manpower shortages, a proper new business and development planning team has yet to be formed.

In particular, due to the nature of the newly established organization, it is known to be facing considerable difficulties in securing excellent personnel internally. Another source hinted, "Since it is a newly created department, employees are naturally most concerned about performance and evaluations," adding, "Internal job postings to recruit necessary personnel are not proceeding smoothly."

In fact, Samsung Electronics has recently been actively pursuing external experienced hires. This is interpreted as a move to accelerate the business by actively recruiting outstanding talent from outside. The robotics business team recently conducted large-scale recruitment for 19 job categories, including ▲mechanical and hardware development ▲overseas sales ▲product planning ▲robot standards ▲business strategy. Last month, they also posted job openings related to clinical marketing and clinical research closely linked to medical robot development.

Samsung Electronics is currently preparing to launch its first medical robot product, ‘GEMS.’ As the commercialization of the robot approaches, the aggressive talent acquisition trend is expected to continue for the time being. If the plan to double the workforce is realized, the team is estimated to reach around 260 employees by the end of the year. Compared to the 12 members when the team was newly established early last year, this represents an increase of about 20 times in size.

Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics’ decision to make robotics a core future business and provide full support is analyzed to be influenced by the judgment that as society ages, the role of home appliances that can care for health and daily life becomes increasingly important. Han Jong-hee, Vice Chairman and CEO of Samsung Electronics, emphasized at the regular shareholders’ meeting in March, "We are actively pursuing new business discovery, and the first step is robotics," adding, "We will consider commercialization in various robotics areas so that future generations can experience ‘Life Companion.’"