April 26, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Korea’s dependence on large companies for economic growth deepened in 2017, with global tech giant Samsung Electronics alone accounting for nearly 15 percent of its gross domestic product), a corporate tracker said on Sept. 5.

The combined sales of Samsung and the nine other largest companies by turnover came to US$677.8 billion last year, or 44.2 percent of Korea’s GDP tallied at US$1.53 trillion, according to CEO Score.

The proportion was up from 41.5 percent recorded two years earlier, indicating its growing dependence on big businesses for economic growth.

Comparable figures were 24.6 percent for Japan and 11.8 percent for the United States.

Samsung, the world’s No. 1 maker of smartphones and memory chips, was by far the largest contributor to Korea’s GDP.

Its sales reached US$224.2 billion last year, taking up 14.6 percent of Korea’s GDP.

Leading automaker Hyundai Motor came next with US$90.2 billion (5.9 percent), followed by LG Electronics with US$57.5 billion (3.8 percent), steel giant POSCO with US$56.8 billion (3.7 percent) and state power firm KEPCO with US$56 billion (3.7 percent).

Others include Kia Motors with US$50.1 billion (3.3 percent), Hanwha with US$47.2 billion (3.1 percent), Hyundai Mobis with US$32.9 billion (2.1 percent), Samsung Display with US$32.1 billion (2.1 percent) and KEB Hana Bank with US$30.9 billion (2 percent).

By Song Seung-hyun and newswires (ssh@heraldcorp.com)