Samsung is a South Korean multinational conglomerate based in Seoul, South Korea. Its main products are consumer electronics, semiconductors and telecommunications equipment. The company was founded by Lee Byung-chul in 1938 as a trading company and has grown to become one of the world’s largest manufacturers of cell phones and televisions. It employs approximately 370,000 people worldwide (2017).
The story behind Samsung’s success
Samsung began producing televisions in 1970 with its first color television – they were so successful that just two years later they became a leading producer of black and white receivers as well. In 1979, he launched his first VCR, which marked his entry into the home appliance market, where he soon became number one in microwave ovens as well. In 1980, Samsung boldly entered the semiconductor market with 256K DRAMs. In 1982, Samsung launched its first home computer, and in 1985 began producing computers for IBM – a year later it launched its own personal computer division, which made it very profitable for him.
In 1988, Samsung entered the telecommunications equipment market, in 1993, it began the production of mobile phones, in 1995, semiconductors for computer processors, and in 1996, it launched the world’s first digital cellular network based on CDMA technology.
In 1997, Samsung launched its own Asiasat 5 satellite system, allowing direct transmissions from South Korea to North America – the company apparently took advantage of a loophole in international regulation and launched its own satellite company to bypass government restrictions on foreign investment.
In 1998, he began producing liquid crystal displays (LCD), which until now were used only by laptop manufacturers such as IBM and Apple. This started a long campaign of patent litigation with the two companies, which were terminated under a mutual licensing agreement in 2003.
In 2004, Samsung was the second largest LCD TV supplier and overtook Sony as the world’s number one TV manufacturer. In 2009, Samsung bought its main competitor, LG’s liquid crystal display (LCD) division, for $ 500 million, in an effort to increase its global market share to 50%. In 2010, it overtook HP as the world’s leading personal computer manufacturer in terms of unit sales.
Samsung has become one of the world’s most successful technology brands – nearly 20% of its annual revenue comes from phones and tablets, but its semiconductor business is booming as well. It has approximately 23% of the market share. DRi is a memory supplier to Apple, which outsources its chip production.
Samsung was named the best brand in the world in Interbrand’s annual Best Global Brands report in 2010 and 2012 – it has been ranked first six times since 2005. In 2011, Samsung Electronics became the largest technology company in the world in terms of revenues ($ 143 billion), ahead of Microsoft, which had been in this position since 1999.
Samsung is associated with many consumer products besides mobile phones and televisions – producing digital cameras, MP3 players, DVD players, microwave ovens, washing machines, refrigerators and vacuum cleaners. He even tried his luck in the IT security market with his “defense-class” SAFE security platform.
Samsung is a huge multinational company with branches all over the world and even owns one of South Korea’s most famous soccer teams, FC Seoul. It also has large R&D centers in America (San Jose), Japan, India and Russia.