Samsung

Latest news on Samsung, a South Korean multinational conglomerate company famed for its electronics division and headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the Samsung brand, and is the largest South Korean chaebol (business conglomerate). Samsung was founded by Lee Byung-chul in 1938 as a trading company. Over the next three decades, the group diversified into areas including food processing, textiles, insurance, securities and retail. Samsung entered the electronics industry in the late 1960s and the construction and shipbuilding industries in the mid-1970s; these areas would drive its subsequent growth. Following Lee's death in 1987, Samsung was separated into four business groups – Samsung Group, Shinsegae Group, CJ Group and Hansol Group. Since 1990, Samsung has increasingly globalised its activities and electronics; in particular, its mobile phones and semiconductors have become its most important source of income.

Samsung Electronics has been the world's largest information technology company by revenue since 2009, and the world's second-largest semiconductor chip maker since 2017. Samsung has been the world's largest television manufacturer since 2006, and the world's largest manufacturer of mobile phones since 2011. It is also the world's largest memory chips manufacturer. In July 2017, Samsung Electronics overtook Intel as the largest semiconductor chip maker in the world. Samsung has numerous subsidiary companies, most of them united under the Samsung brand and is the largest South Korean chaebol. Samsung Electronics is a major part of the South Korean economy; in 2012 it was responsible for 20% of the country's GDP, up from 17% in 2009 and 15% in 2007.