Type | Public Korean: 삼성전자 KRX: 005930 KRX: 005935 LSE: SMSN LSE: SMSD |
---|---|
Industry | Consumer electronics Telecommunication Semiconductor |
Founded | 1969 |
Headquarters | Samsung Town, Seoul,South Korea[1][2] |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | CEO: Lee Yoon-woo Former Chairman: Lee Kun-hee |
Revenue | ▲ US$ 117.4 billion (2009)[3] |
Net income | ▲ US$ 8.33 billion (2009)[4] |
Owner(s) | Kun-Hee Lee & Affiliates 17.57%, Treasury Stocks(of Samsung Electronics) 13.07%, National Pension Service 5.90% (as of September 31, 2009)[5] |
Employees | Over 164,600 (2008) |
Parent | Samsung Group |
Website | Samsung.com |
History
Samsung Electronics was founded in 1969 in Suwon, South Korea as Samsung Electric Industries, originally manufacturing electronic appliances such as TVs, calculators, refrigerators, air conditioners and washers. By 1981, the company had manufactured over 10 million black and white TVs. In 1988, it merged with Samsung Semiconductor & Communications.
[edit]Growth
In 2006, Business Week rated Samsung as 20th on its list of global brands, 2nd in the electronics industry.[9] Business Week also ranked Samsung as 20th in innovation.[10] In January 2007, BrandFinance ranked the company as the number 1 global brand in electronics.[11]
In 2005, Samsung surpassed Japanese rival Sony for the first time to become the world's largest and most popular consumer electronics brand as measured by Interbrand.[12] In 2007, Samsung Electronics' handset division overtook American rival Motorola, making it the world's second-largest mobile phone maker.[13] In 2009, Samsung overtook Siemens of Germany and Hewlett-Packard of the USA with a revenue of $117.4 billion to take the No.1 spot as the world's largest technology company.[3]
The semiconductor division of Samsung Electronics is the world's largest memory chip and second largest semiconductor manufacturer worldwide.[14] This has been the case for DRAM andSRAM for over a decade.[citation needed]
[edit]Antitrust conviction
From 1999 to 2002, Samsung conspired with an international consortium of firms consisting of another Korean manufacturer, Hynix Semiconductor, a German manufacturer, Infineon Technologies, Elpida Memory(Hitachi, NEC) and the US manufacturer, Micron Technology to fix prices of DRAM chips sold to American computer makers. In 2005 Samsung pleaded guilty and paid a $300 million fine, the second-largest criminal antitrust fine in U.S. history and nearly twice as much as the largest fine of the previously-mentioned semiconductor firms
Samsung has been the world's most popular consumer electronics brand since 2005 and is the best known South Korean brand in the world.Samsung Group accounts for more than 20% of South Korea's total exports and is the leader in many domestic industries, such as the financial, chemical, retail and entertainment industries.
Samsung brand, including Samsung Electronics, the world's largest electronics company, Samsung Heavy Industries, the world's second largest shipbuilder and Samsung Engineering & Construction, a major global construction company.