While Samsung (005930) has traditionally been a Korean company through and through, it may now want to put more of an American stamp on its operations. The Los Angeles Times reports that Samsung has been aggressively expanding its presence in Silicon Valley recently by building its own innovation center, by launching a $100 million venture fund for Silicon Valley startups and by building “a massive new semiconductor campus with a distinctive design destined to compete with Apple’s proposed spaceship-like campus for the title of Silicon Valley’s most distinctive architectural landmark.”
So why is Samsung taking all these expensive steps to move into the United States when the company has been doing very well for itself over the past year while keeping its roots primarily in Korea? The L.A. Times suggests that Samsung is worried about its products growing stale and that it wants to capture some of the entrepreneurial spirit that’s characteristic of Silicon Valley.
“This is the epicenter of disruptive forces,” Samsung chief strategy officer Young Sohn told the L.A. Times. “And I want to make sure we’re part of those disruptions.”
