Despite Recent Hardships, Samsung Remains Korea’s Top Economic Contributor

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For a country’s GDP, conglomerate businesses generally make up a huge amount of it. South Korea is no different, with the top 5 conglomerate businesses in the country contributing 40% of the total GDP in 2024. As you might expect, Samsung was the biggest contributor, accounting for 13% of GDP.

Samsung accounted for 13% of Korea’s total GDP in 2024

According to data from the Fair Trade Commission, the top Korean conglomerates — including Samsung, SK Hynix, Hyundai Motors, LG, and Lotte — together contributed a total of 1,025 trillion won in 2024. If we only talk about Samsung, it made 331.8 trillion won last year. Samsung is way above the others, making up a whopping 13% of the total GDP of the entire country in 2024.

Hyundai Motors holds the second spot with a GDP share of 11%, with 279.8 trillion won worth of sales. SK Hynix, key rivals to Samsung in the HBM market, collected a 205.9 trillion revenue, contributing 8.1% to Korea’s total GDP.

Samsung is the top economic contributor in Korea because of its diverse business portfolio. Primarily known as a smartphone maker, the company also supplies key components to multiple manufacturers. It also has a presence beyond the smartphone and electronics space.

In the future, Samsung may contribute even more to Korea’s GDP. It has a long-term growth strategy by accelerating large-scale mergers and acquisitions (M&A). For example, the firm recently acquired all shares of FlaktGroup for $1.68 billion to expand its presence in the fast-growing HVAC market.

Korean media reports that the Korean government’s new policies prioritize the growth of large businesses. The Yoon Seok-yeol government has lowered the top corporate tax rates and made the corporate regulations much easier. As a result, the sales to GDP percentage shot up to 79.4% in 2023 and 78.8% in 2024. It was as low as 65.3% in 2020. The older government (Moon Jae-in administration) made economic democratization and focused on preventing unfair internal transactions among large corporations.

Written by

Binay Konwar

Binay Konwar started his blogging journey in 2014 and has since written plenty of tech articles. At present, he is working as a News Writer at SammyGuru, covering everything about Samsung. He holds a Master's degree in Mathematics, but his real passion lies in tech and writing. In his free time, he enjoys playing chess and watching movies.

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