Samsung Boss Calls For Software Talent Boost

Samsung Electronics vice chairman JY Lee has called for active recruitment of software talent in a rare visit to one of the company's education centres.

Lee, the de facto leader of Samsung Group, visited the Samsung S/W Academy for Youth (SSAFY) at the city of Gwangju, one of four such institutions, to meet students and promote software development.

The South Korean tech giant set up the SSAFY institutes last year which offers free software education to unemployed university graduates under the age of 30. Students also get a monthly allowance of 1 million won ($830) and those with good grades get opportunities for training at Samsung's overseas research centres.

Besides Gwangju, the South Korean tech giant also operates centres at Seoul, Daejeon, and Gumi. The company also has plans to spend 500 billion won (US$413 million) until 2022 to educate 10,000 youths.

Samsung said in a statement Lee's visit to the centre was to stress the importance of national competence in the software sector.

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Software is integral for transforming massive data formed by 5G and the fourth industrial revolution, the conglomerate said, and Samsung is currently seeking to apply new ideas to lead the market.

The Gwanju centre is 700 square metres in size and has four classrooms with the latest technology and equipment. The classes conducted at the centre can hold 150 students simultaneously. Samsung plans to expand the facility by 2020 to be able to house 300 students at the same time.

Before his visit to SSAFY, Lee had visited the company's home appliance production line and met with senior executives, asking them to break traditional boundaries and to integrate products with 5G and Internet of Things connectivity.

Lee has been the driving force behind the company's decision to open AI centres globally, having stated previously the company will hire 1,000 AI experts by 2020.

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