Samsung to invest $22 billion in 5G and AI

Samsung Group, today announced that it would invest $22 billion over the next three years in cutting-edge technology including 5G, artificial intelligence, self-driving cars, and biopharmaceuticals, as these are the secrets to future growth.

The investment will primarily be provided and led by Samsung Electronics which is the world’s biggest maker of memory chips, which has faced some backlash in recent years, including a fall in smartphone sales and a corruption scandal that caused its vice-chairman Lee Jae-Yong to get arrested last year. However, the demand for its memory chips remains high but the market for its smartphones showed a decline in growth and it is prompting the company to search for fresh growth opportunities.

The company said in a statement, “Samsung expects innovations powered by AI technology will drive the industry’s transformation, while the next-generation 5G telecommunications technology will create new opportunities in autonomous driving, the Internet of Things (IoT) and robotics.”

The company anticipates 40,000 new jobs over the next three years that will likely bring relief to South Korea’s government which is currently struggling with high youth unemployment. The announcement came two days after South Korean Finance Minister Kim Dong-Yeon met the group’s de-facto head, Lee, calling for Samsung to create new jobs and boost the economy.

The group plans to significantly expand artificial intelligence (AI) research capability, increasing the number of advanced AI researchers to 1,000 across its global AI centers, and heavily invest in biopharmaceuticals.

The company’s second-quarter profit declined slightly year on year. Total sales for the April-June period dropped 4.1 percent, and the revenues for the company’s mobile division are also decreasing 22 percent in the same period.