[Asia Economy Reporter Park Sun-mi] Samsung Electronics, which promised to hire 80,000 new employees over the next five years, has added about 4,400 employees in the first half of this year, bringing the total number of employees close to 118,000. This is the highest level ever.
According to Samsung Electronics' semi-annual report disclosed on the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system on the 17th, the number of employees as of the end of June this year was 117,904, with an average length of service of 12.5 years. This is an increase of about 4,400 from 113,485 at the end of last year.
The increase is also significant on a half-year basis. Compared to 111,683 at the end of June last year, it increased by more than 6,200, which is larger than the increase of 5,609 in the first half of 2020-2021.
Samsung, the only company among the four major groups to maintain regular recruitment of new employees, plans to start recruiting new college graduate employees for the second half of the year in September, so the number of employees is expected to increase further.
In particular, Samsung Electronics announced a large-scale plan to directly hire 80,000 new employees over the next five years in line with the new government’s launch, raising expectations that the scale of hiring will be significantly expanded, focusing on future growth businesses such as semiconductors and bio. Lee Jae-yong, Vice Chairman of Samsung Electronics, who was pardoned in the special amnesty on Liberation Day, also emphasized youth job creation, creating anticipation that the number of hires will be higher than usual starting from the second half recruitment.
Samsung Electronics also recorded the largest-ever research and development (R&D) investment in the first half of the year, emphasizing securing a super-gap technology.
More than 12.1779 trillion won was spent, exceeding 10.9941 trillion won in the first half of last year, mainly on semiconductors and smartphones. Through R&D investment exceeding 12 trillion won, 4,630 domestic patents and 4,170 U.S. patents were registered. Samsung Electronics explained, "Most of the intellectual property rights are patents related to smartphones, smart TVs, memory, and system LSI, which are used in strategic business products or will be utilized in the future. They play a role not only in protecting the business but also in checking competitors in a situation where similar technologies and patents are rampant."
Due to the record-high sales increase, the ratio of R&D expenses to sales was 7.9% at the end of June, down from 8.1% at the end of last year.
Facility investment was concentrated on semiconductors.
In the first half, Samsung Electronics' facility investment amounted to 20.2519 trillion won, of which 17.5598 trillion won, or 80%, was invested in new and expanded semiconductor facilities and improvements. However, since new and expanded lines and improvements were concentrated in the semiconductor and display businesses, the scale was slightly reduced compared to 23.3 trillion won invested in the first half of last year.
Samsung Electronics stated, "Under the continuous facility investment plan to strengthen the competitiveness of this year's core businesses and respond to future demand increases, we will respond flexibly according to market changes and promote facility investment considering efficiency for solid growth." After the special amnesty decision on Liberation Day, Vice Chairman Lee promised, "I will strive to ensure that this leads to the responsibility and duty of entrepreneurs," and "I will support the economy through continuous investment and youth job creation."
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