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.
