The Korea Fair Trade Commission said on the 14th that the number of affiliates of 102 large business groups fell from 3,538 to 3,534 over three months (May 1–Aug. 3).
The Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said the number of affiliates in large business groups edged down as groups moved to restructure their business portfolios by shedding noncore operations, and as companies controlled by an identical owner's relatives or by executives of affiliates were excluded from the groups.
Notably, SK excluded five companies, including SK D&D, which is related to its noncore real estate development business, from the group. Line trimmed four companies, including Shindo, which are controlled by relatives.
However, additions to the groups to enter high value-added industries such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and silicon anode materials were active. Samsung brought in entities including FläktGroup Korea, a cooling and HVAC solutions corporations, to pursue the AI data center business.