Samsung plans to expand operations in RP

Korean consumer electronics giant Samsung is looking at the possibility of transferring its manufacturing operations for optical disc drives (ODD) for CD-rom and DVD-rom to the Philippines, according to Maeng Dal Bae, vice president for marketing of Samsung.

Likewise, Maeng said that Samsung is also making a bid to get a bigger share of the booming cellular phone market in the Philippines.

Maeng disclosed that Samsung may transfer its current operations in Korea and Indonesia to the Philippines to be able to avail of lower operating cost.

Samsung is expecting to hit sales of $1 billion with its plan to expand its ODD manufacturing operation here.

All of its production, Maeng said, would be for export to other countries.

Samsung, Maeng further disclosed, wants to increase to 10 percent its share of the cellular phone market here.

He said that Samsung was able to corner a meager one percent of the country’s seven million cellular phone market last year.

In the Philippines, the market leader is the Finnish firm Nokia which control about 60 percent to 70 percent of the market, followed by the German Siemens and the Swedish Ericsson.

Maeng boasted that Samsung aims to get a bigger market share this year with the introduction of its latest cellular phone models – M100 MP3 and N100 Wap enabled.

Samsung has already successfully sold its M100 and N100 cellular phone models in Europe and the United States, Maeng said.

Samsung, however, does not intend to manufacture cellular phones locally, instead the firm will merely import its old models from Korea, Maeng explained.