Samsung Electronics first South Korean company to earn top rating in shared growth assessment for 15 consecutive years

[Financial News] Samsung Electronics is the only South Korean company to have received the highest rating in the Shared Growth Index for 15 consecutive years. The evaluation took into account its financial, technical and personnel support for partner companies, as well as initiatives to improve manufacturing competitiveness at small and medium-sized enterprises with which it has no business dealings.
Samsung Electronics said on the 11th that it had received the highest rating in the Shared Growth Committee’s 2026 Shared Growth Index assessment. The evaluation covered performance from the previous year. The company has maintained the top rating for 15 consecutive years since the assessment was introduced in 2011.
Samsung Electronics supports technology development and facility investment by its first-, second- and third-tier partners. It provides low-interest loans through a 1.4 trillion won mutual growth fund established in 2010. In 2024, it set up an 800 billion won ESG fund with the five major financial holding companies to provide interest-free loans for partners’ facility investments and technology development.
Samsung Electronics has also made its patents available to small and medium-sized enterprises with which it has no business dealings, transferring around 2,500 patents free of charge to date. Since 2009, it has also expanded the reach of its technology support by holding “Excellent Technology Presentations” to introduce technologies from South Korean universities and research institutes to partner companies.
The company is also working to develop the workforce at partner companies. At the Shared Growth Cooperation Academy, which Samsung Electronics has operated since 2013, about 270,000 partner-company employees have completed training in areas such as manufacturing, quality, purchasing and sales. The company has also supported the hiring of about 9,800 people through job fairs and online recruitment centers.
Samsung Electronics is also running a smart factory construction support program. Around 3,600 small and medium-sized enterprises nationwide have benefited from the program, which began in 2015. Around 160 Samsung Electronics manufacturing experts are stationed at the sites, helping with system setup, manufacturing-process improvements, workforce training, market development and follow-up management.
This year, Samsung Electronics is also supporting the adoption of manufacturing AI solutions through Smart Factory 4.0. The aim is to strengthen the manufacturing capabilities of small and medium-sized enterprises by adding AI applications to efforts to improve existing production sites.
[email protected] Park Ji-yeon Reporter