Seoul: Samsung Electronics Co said it expects to become the world's biggest maker of refrigerators next year, overtaking Whirlpool Corp, as it gains market share.
"We can cautiously say it's possible to get ahead of them this year as well, but it's certain that we can do that next year," Hong Chang Wan, head of the company's digital appliance business division, said at a briefing in Seoul today. Samsung is now the world's second-largest manufacturer of refrigerators.
Expansion
Samsung aims to produce more than 10 million refrigerators annually next year, he said without giving a forecast for this year. Samsung's digital media equipment business, of which refrigerators are a part, was the fastest-growing business of the company through the past two years, expanding at more than double the pace of semiconductors.
"Their market share has been steadily increasing," said Lee Seung Woo, a Seoul-based analyst at Shinyoung Securities Co. "The improving brand value of Samsung is having a synergy for all its products."
Samsung had a 10.7 per cent share of global refrigerator sales in 2009, said Jason Kim, a spokesman for the South Korean company. That will increase to 12.5 per cent this year, he said.The company aims to be the world's biggest maker of washing machines and vacuum cleaners by 2013, Hong said.
Samsung also plans to invest more than $150 million (Dh550 million) by next year to manufacture home appliances in Poland, a spokesman said yesterday.
