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Samsung has announced that it will invest US$21bn in renewable energy and healthcare over the next decade, identifying solar cells as one of its future growth drivers. The new investment plans will help Samsung challenge rival companies such as Philips Electronics, General Electric, and Sanyo Electric, reports the Financial Times.
Samsung expects that between its key growth developers, which include; solar cells, rechargeable batteries for hybrid cars, LED technology, biopharmaceuticals and medical equipment, it will generate US$44bn of annual sales by 2020. The group generated Won191, 000bn in sales in 2008 and hopes to increase the current workforce of 276,000 employees by 45,000 over the same period.
"Governments around the world are now investing in green industries to address the issues of depleting energy resources...we must move ahead decisively to take this opportunity while other global companies hesitate," said chairman Lee Kun-hee.
Samsung will invest approximately Won11, 400bn ($10bn) in solar cells and rechargeable batteries, while Won8, 600bn will be spent to expand S-LCD's LED business.
Lee indicated back in March that Samsung's future would be tough if it didn't rethink its business model, forecasting that most of the group's current businesses and products would disappear in 10 years.
In April 2010, Samsung also said it would substantially increase spending on semiconductors to ride on the chip sector's sharp recovery.
