Next Investment Targets
Samsung Group has decided to invest 240 trillion won over the three years from 2021, 180 trillion won at home and 60 trillion won overseas. Of the 60 trillion won set aside for overseas, 20 trillion won will be used to build a new foundry in Taylor, Texas of the United States.
Samsung plans to invest in four technology areas -- semiconductors, biotechnology, next-generation telecommunications, and artificial intelligence (AI) and robots.
Samsung has made no M&A deals since the acquisition of Harman International, a U.S. automotive electronic equipment company, in 2016. Hence, analysts expect the group will beef up its capabilities through large-scale overseas M&A deals.
As the group has recently announced a large-scale investment plan in the semiconductor sector, analysts predict that the group Samsung will shift its focus to biotechnology, AI and robots.
Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong visited DS America (DSA) and Samsung Research America, both of which are research organizations, during his recent business trip to the United States and checked the development status of next-generation core technologies such as AI and 6G.
Samsung may consider taking over promising IT companies to internalize technology capabilities. It has experiences of developing new technologies by acquiring foreign companies. For instance, it developed Samsung Pay and Bixby by acquiring Loop Pay and Bigo Labs, respectively.
Biotechnology is also considered a significant investment item. Samsung announced that it would expand its CDMO business to produce vaccines and cell and gene therapies. John Rim, CEO of Samsung BioLogics, suggested the possibility of making M&A deals in an interview with a media outlet.
In the semiconductor field, automotive semiconductor makers are expected to be Samsung’s M&A targets. They include NXP Semiconductor, an automotive semiconductor company of the Netherlands, the microcontroller business unit of Texas Instruments in the United States, Renaissance Electronics of Japan, Infineon Technologies of Germany, and ST Microelectronics of Switzerland.
Samsung has enough funds to make M&A deals. As of the third quarter of 2021, cashable assets of major Samsung Group companies, including Samsung Electronics, Samsung Biologics, Samsung SDS, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Samsung SDI, and Samsung Display, were estimated at 144.4 trillion won.