He began his business in Taegu, Korea, trading noodles and other goods produced in and around the city and exporting them to China and its provinces. (The company name, Samsung, comes from the Korean word for "three stars.") Samsung first entered the electronics industry in 1969 with several electronics divisions.

Their first products were black and white televisions. In the 1970s, the company began exporting home electronics products abroad. Samsung was by then a major manufacturer in Korea and had acquired a 50 percent stake in Korea Semiconductor.

Samsung specialises in the manufacture of a wide range of consumer and industrial electronics products, including digital media devices, semiconductors, memory chips and integrated systems. It has become a household name in technology and accounts for around a fifth of South Korea's total exports.