5,000 staff move to new R&D center

Some 5,000 Samsung Electronics personnel moved on Thursday to the company’s new research and development center in Umyeon-dong, southern Seoul, from the company’s Seocho-dong and Suwon, Gyeonggi, offices.

The new 330,000-square meter (82-acre) Samsung Seoul research and development campus will become the center of the tech giant’s software and design research.

The center, which consists of five 10-story buildings and one eight-story building, will house designers from the design center in Seocho-dong and researchers from the DMC R&D Center in Suwon.

In addition to research facilities, the center will also house hospitals and day care centers.

The company collected workers’ opinions to name the new center.

More than 1,000 suggestions were made, and 7,000 employees participated in the vote.

The move will prompt other Samsung affiliates to move staff to the Seocho-dong office, as the building will have available space.

BY KIM HYUN-YE, PARK EUN-JEE [park.eunjee@joongang.co.kr]