Samsung’s regional chief mulls investing in Turkish market

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Samsung executives including Kyung Tae Bea (2nd R) of the MENA region and Sung Yong Hong (R) of Samsung Electronics Turkey are seen at an Istanbul event.

South Korean electronics giant Samsung is considering investing in Turkey and bidding for major Turkish government tenders to gradually replace traditional blackboards and textbooks with electronic boards and tablets, said a top company executive yesterday.

“Investing in Turkey depends on the situation in the market,” said Kyung Tae Bae, president of the Middle East and North African (MENA) headquarters, on the sidelines of the Samsung Forum. 

The forum is a regional summit and exhibition presenting the company’s new products and was hosted in Istanbul again this year. 

Fatih project on the agenda

Without giving the details of a possible investment in Turkey, Bae said the firm aimed to take part in Turkey’s Fatih project to modernize classrooms across the country, nearly 570,000 classrooms in 42,000 schools over the next four years, and manufacturing e-tablets for Turkish students. 

He said the company’s total revenue was $9 billion last year, and the company aimed for a 50 percent rise by the end of this year. He said the firm grew 44 percent in the MENA region between 2010 and 2011. 

The firm launched its voice-controlled, face recognition-based Smart TVs and Galaxy Beam Smartphone with a projector during the forum.