Samsung Electronics increases R&D hires despite COVID-19 crisis

Samsung Electronics has reportedly expanded recruitment despite its business challenges from the COVID-19 outbreak in the first quarter of this year, reaching the highest number of executives and staff members since the company’s foundation. Its R&D spend also increased compared to the same period last year.

According to the 2020 1Q business report published by Samsung Electronics on Friday, the number of its executives and staff members in South Korea stood at 106,877 as of the end of March, 1,620 higher than the end of last year. In particular, the DS division now has 1,465 more employees, from 54,580 at the end of last year to 56,045 in the first quarter of this year.

The South Korean electronic giant seems to be pursuing its “super gap” strategy for its key business areas by recruiting more talents while a number of major companies have shut down new hiring due to the COVID-19 crisis. In particular, Samsung Electronics is conducting the process to hire a large number of talents with experience for 51 positions across 10 teams in the DS division after posting job openings on March 19. This will lead to a higher number of employees in the second quarter of the year.

Samsung Electronics’ R&D spend during the first quarter was about 5.36 trillion won, which is 6.4 percent higher year-over-year. The share of R&D spend in total sales also rose 0.1 percentage point to 9.7 percent. Given the current trend, this year’s annual R&D spend is likely to exceed 20 trillion won as it did last year.

“We will continue to do our best to ensure continuous growth in the future by further improving the competitiveness of our key business areas and making strategic investments in R&D despite the challenges presented by COVID-19,” Seo Byung-hoon, a member of Samsung Electronics in charge of investor relations, said during a conference call on April 29.


warum@donga.com