Samsung sets series of goals to seize global markets

Samsung Electronics Co set a series of ambitious goals yesterday, including more than doubling sales and seizing top global market share in 20 products by 2010, top executives said.

Chief executive officer Yun Jong-yong and other officials met for the first time with industry analysts and investors to share information about the company's outlook and showcase its emergence as a world-leading manufacturer of both consumer electronics and key components like memory chips that make them work.

Yun said Samsung aimed to be "one of the top three electronics companies in the world in quantity and quality by 2010, by increasing the number of our leading market-share products from the current eight to more than 20 products and also by more than doubling our 2004 sales."

Samsung, the world's largest memory chip maker and a top producer of consumer electronics, including flat-screen televisions, mobile phone handsets, MP3 players and laptop computers, recorded sales of 78.9 trillion won (US$76 billion) last year.

The company, which employs over 113,000 people in 48 countries, has emerged as a first-class technology company with global name recognition thanks to its sleek flat-screen televisions and gadget-laden mobile phones.

It is the world's second-biggest semiconductor maker after Intel Corp.