the R&D workforce & organisation

Our greatest asset is the solid pool of talented people who can develop value-added, market-leading products that bring new value to consumers. Thirty-six thousand people, 26% of our entire workforce, are involved in creating and developing tomorrow's products. These researchers and engineers work at forty-two research facilities around the world and they are trained continuously in order to lead the company into the future. The various research facilities are closely linked to develop strategic technologies for the future as well as original technologies to establish new market trends.

The R&D personnel at SAMSUNG Electronics are increasing by some 20% a year and will surpass 50,000, or over 30% of all employees, in 2010. They will provide us with the capability to lead the digital convergence revolution in the fast-changing IT market.

The R&D Organisation

The SAMSUNG R&D organisation is systematically structured in three layers. The development teams within each business unit are responsible for commercialising products scheduled to hit the market within one or two years. The R&D centres of each business focus on technology that is expected to bring results in three to five years. Finally, core technologies for new business areas are developed under the Corporate Technology Office (CTO).

The CTO serves as the "control tower" for technology companywide. As such, its mission is to work at the corporate level to strengthen SAMSUNG's technology competitiveness in major business areas and materialise growth engines for the future.

Thus, the CTO offers an R&D direction for new business areas with high growth potential as well as constructs and operates a systematic and creative R&D structure. To this end, the Office restructures as needed to seek out future growth engines and incubate new business areas from a company-wide perspective. The New Business Team was also reorganised as a separate entity that can uncover new platform technologies that are beneficial for every business of SAMSUNG Electronics.

The Companywide R&D Organisation