Korean companies, once copy-cat electronics manufacturers, quickly overtook their Japanese rivals in such markets as TVs, handsets, displays and chips in the 1990s.
Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics have made aggressive investments and speedy decisions under the leadership of chiefs at family-owned conglomerates.
During the latest economic downturn, they further widened their lead over Japanese competitors, benefited from the weak Korean won and the strong yen.
The persisting strength of the yen is a boon to Korean electronics giants which see increasing challenges from Japanese companies Sony, Panasonic andSharp, which returned to profit in the second quarter.
Korean companies seek to further cement their positions in their strongholds, while taking the lead in emerging technologies such as electric car batteries and organic displays.
Korean firms make nearly 50 percent of memory chips and displays sold worldwide, while they are the No. 1 and No. 2 TV makers and No. 2 and No. 3 handset vendors.
Samsung Electronics, Korea’s top electronics firm, reported its record-high operating profit of 5.01 trillion won ($4.22 billion) in the second quarter, while its Japanese peer Sony posted a second-quarter profit of 67 billion yen ($779 million) during the April to June period.
Samsung sold around 8 million units of LCD TVs in the second quarter, while third-ranked Sony shipped 5.1 million units of LCD TVs during the period.
However, Sony narrowed the gap with Korea’s LG Electronics, which displaced the Japanese firm as the world’s No. 2 TV maker last year. LG sold 5.13 million units of LCD TVs.
Japan’s Sharp and Panasonic ranked fourth and fifth with 2.6 million units and 2.5 million units, respectively.
In the handset market, Korean vendors increased shipments, while Sony Ericsson, Sony’s mobile phone joint venture with Ericsson, suffered a slump in shipments.
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