timeline & history

Pioneering the digital age (2000 ~ Present)

With the start of the second millennium, SAMSUNG begins its second century.

The digital age has brought revolutionary opportunities and changes to global business. The SAMSUNG Group has responded to these changes and is currently upgrading its business structure, management perspective, and corporate culture to meet global standards.

At SAMSUNG, we see every challenge as an opportunity, and believe that we are perfectly positioned as one of the world's recognised leaders in the industry of digital technology.

Our commitment of being "World's Best" has won us the number one global market share for thirteen of our products. Our target is to have thirty of our products rated "number one in world products" by 2005, adding digital TVs, IMT 2000, and printers to our current list of world market leaders: semiconductors, TFT-LCDs, monitors and CDMA mobile phones.

Always a step ahead, we're making historic advances in research and development of our overall semiconductor line, including flash memory and non-memory, custom semiconductors, DRAM and SRAM. One example is SAMSUNG Electronics, which remains one of the world's "top 10" in US patents for four consecutive years, with 13,000 researchers representing a US$ 1.7 billion investment in Research and Development.

Financially, SAMSUNG is committed to being the World's Best, with the SAMSUNG Card, a payment solution selected as the "Best Card Company in the New Millennium" by Master Card. The SAMSUNG Card secured more than 1 million members within one year through the release of "Aha Loan Pass," the first loan-only card in Korea. Euromoney has also selected SAMSUNG Securities as the "Best Security Company" for the 3rd consecutive year, and SAMSUNG Life Insurance was ranked as "10th Largest Company" by Fortune's "Global 500" in the Life/Health insurance category.

We are also actively promoting our brand value, a key engine of business growth. SAMSUNG's brand value was increased to US$8.31 billion in 2002 from US$6.37 billion in 2001 and was recognised by Interbrand Corporation as a fastest growing global brand.

We succeeded in achieving the global competitiveness through continually improving our financial structure and profitability, as we examine the structure of our own organisation. Reducing production costs and working hard to maintain our brand image have greatly contributed to our progress, and SAMSUNG Electronics has secured a nation's credit rating from S&P and Moody's, while SAMSUNG Fire also has been recognised by S&P for its stability and growth potential, receiving its second consecutive A rating.

The quick pace of our development is reflected in our management philosophy "We will devote our human resources and technology to create superior products and services, thereby contributing to a better global society."

Our active participation in sporting events has helped promote community spirit, as well as return corporate profits to society. As a Worldwide Olympic partner in the wireless equipment sector for the 2000 Sydney Olympics, SAMSUNG provided 25,000 advanced digital wireless telecommunication devices including mobile phones. We have also served in that capacity at the 1999 Nagano Winter Olympics, and will be a Worldwide Olympic Partner in the 2006 Turin Olympics and 2008 Beijing Olympics. SAMSUNG is an active contributor to the Asian Games, SAMSUNG Nations Cup Riding Competition, SAMSUNG Running Festival, SAMSUNG World Championship (a U.S. LPGA Tour), and many other sporting events around the world.

In 2000, SAMSUNG started its management program with a new twist and aimed to stay ahead of the great waves of digital changes now engulfing the world. We expect nothing less than to lead the digitalisation of society with our advanced technologies, competitive products, and professional human resources.