According to sources in the light emitting diode (LED) industry on December 1, Samsung Electronics recently started to recruit LED professionals by targeting companies at home and abroad.
Samsung’s move is getting a lot of attention, since it is seen as groundwork to strengthen its LEC business next year. The scope of recruitment reportedly varies from technical fields including R&D to departments that support the LED business such as marketing. The recruitment of LED personnel is made in the fields of LED modules and finished goods, which are weaker than LED chips and packages.
The LED business has been named one of the five future growth engines for Samsung along with secondary cells for electric cars, solar cells, biopharmaceuticals, and medical devices, but the business has never been prosperous.
The poor performance of its LED business generated rumors in July that Samsung was considering selling a 50 percent stake in Samsung Sumitomo LED Materials (SSLM), which produces a key LED component called sapphire wafers, to Japan’s Sumitomo Chemical.
However, Samsung Electronics denied the story by saying, “We are not actively recruiting LED personnel,” adding, “The recruitment in the LED business is made in the same way as other lines of business.”