Hyundai Motor, LG release investment and hiring plans for three years

South Korean large businesses released investment plans to secure future growth engines amid a receding economy. They even announced plans to create jobs at a time when concerns have only increased over low long-term growth, with the country having grown merely 1.4 percent last year.

Hyundai Motor Group announced on Wednesday that it will hire 80,000 workers with an investment of 68 trillion won in the domestic market over three years starting this year by 2026. It will allocate 44,000 out of 80,000 new employees to electrification, software-defined vehicles (SDVs), and other new, future-oriented fields. The planned job creation will be followed by an additional hiring of 118,000 workers in local parts industries, said the carmaker. As part of its 68-trillion-won domestic plan, it will invest 31 trillion won in research and development projects and 35 trillion won in facilities, respectively.

The same day, LG Group published a 100-trillion-won plan to invest in the country by 2028, which takes up 65 percent of its investments at home and abroad. Around half the scheduled investment of 100 trillion won will go to future technologies such as AI, biotech, and clean technologies and promising fields such as batteries, car parts, and new-gen display solutions. Around 55 percent of the investment fund will be dedicated to research & development projects to turn the domestic market into a hub for R&D and manufacturing.

In May 2022, right after the Yoon Suk Yeol administration took office, 11 major South Korean conglomerates announced that they would spend 1,060 trillion won over the next three to five years. Back then, Hyundai Motor Group and LG Group released their investment plans targeting 2025 and 2026, respectively. The latest plans extended their investment timelines one to two years. On Wednesday, Samsung, SK, and other groups said they would work seamlessly on their investment plans, which were released in 2022.


박현익 기자 beepark@donga.com