Busan city said on the 3rd it will sign an investment memorandum of understanding with Samsung Heavy Industries(010140) to expand the Busan research and development (R&D) center.
The investment is intended to respond to increased workload following a recent rise in orders. Samsung Heavy Industries recently won a contract for a floating liquefied natural gas production facility (FLNG) from U.S. company Delfin. As a result, work at the Busan R&D center, including the start of full-fledged design, also increased.
Samsung Heavy Industries will invest about 8.6 billion won to expand and relocate the R&D center to a gross floor area of about 5,620㎡ (1,700 pyeong) within the Munhyeon Financial Complex in Nam-gu.
It also plans to push for new hiring. By 2028, it will newly employ marine design and research personnel. Through this, it plans to build the Busan center into an integrated design hub that covers the entire marine business process, including sales, research, and information technology (IT) departments outside design, moving beyond its initial role of merely supporting detailed design.
Busan city expected this investment to be a representative case of investment attraction that brought the core research functions of a large corporation to the region, further strengthening the region's industrial competitiveness and serving as a catalyst to promote the development of future new industries, including the shipbuilding and marine fields.
Jeon Jae-soo, Busan mayor, plans to say, "With the synergy effect from the transfer of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Korea's leading shipbuilding and marine corporations are flocking to Busan," and "to realize the marine capital, we will provide full support to Samsung Heavy Industries so that the administration and corporations can be organically connected."