Samsung scales back R&D investment for the first time in 18 years

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Samsung spends large amounts of money on research and development (or R&D), and even in the face of disappointing sales last year
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, coming in second globally for its spending with an R&D budget of $14.1 billion while also
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in semiconductor spending (though still less than it spent in 2014; Samsung
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but didn’t grow). Samsung even
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to its already over 160 projects mid-year last year. Yet and still, the Korean giant has said that it has
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in 2016 in the smartphone market, and
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for 2016 in January. It’s eight weeks later, but we’re starting to get some insight on just how big of a structural reorganization Samsung has made to wade this competitive year in the market.

According to a new report out of Korea, Samsung has decreased its workforce between the end of 2015 and now by 2,480 personnel at the company’s headquarters, dropping from 99,382 employees down to 96,902 employees. In addition to employees, Samsung has also reduced its R&D centers, eliminating 3 of its 44 R&D centers last year (from 44 down to 41) and shutting down the electronic materials research and information application research centers in the US. Other divisions of the company, are also seeing employee reductions. To exacerbate the financial situation, the Korean giant has also reduced its R&D costs for the first time since 1998, the publication says, hinting to more than just employee streamlining.

Samsung’s reason behind the structural reorganization is to provide a pre-emptive strike to what could be a rough year financially and wade it as best it can. At the same time, however, Samsung has been doing everything it can to provide a positive spin on this difficult financial weather: the mobile division has been working to boost its component profit, having placed its own Exynos 7420 processor in all worldwide variants of the Galaxy S6, S6 edge, Galaxy S6 edge+, and the Galaxy Note 5 to
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between 2.5 to 5 percent. Samsung is now
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behind the likes of Qualcomm and Apple.

Outside of the smartphone, components, and TV market, the Korean giant has also begun investing in virtual reality,
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, Gear VR, for average consumers (with a goal
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as VR users, too) while also
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such as Baobab Studios and creating VR partnerships with global hotel chain
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, the International Olympic Committee for
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, Six Flags for
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, and
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, with the possibility that Samsung
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. Samsung also has automobile ambitions, with the company having created
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, partnered with SEAT and SAP
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,
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to implement in autonomous vehicles, and Panasonic to produce a smart vehicle assistant for the same.

Overseas business is looking up as well, with Samsung
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in 2015 (for a total of 159), some based in the US. Samsung’s found a new chapter in its own homegrown mobile operating system, Tizen, with
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last year. Samsung’s newest high-end Android-powered smartphones, the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge,
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. As for the TV sector, Samsung’s Tizen-powered TVs are in high demand – and Samsung’s TV market share is leaving its competitors
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.

Samsung is no stranger to structural reorganizations: the company
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last year as part of its global agenda, and has
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as part of its commitment to Korean business tradition.

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