Samsung leapfrogs Hewlett-Packard

Samsung Electronics now has sales that exceed those of Hewlett-Packard. The South Korean electronics giant is therefore the world’s largest technology company when measured by sales.

Both Samsung and H-P stayed just under $120 billion in sales last year, with Samsung in the sales lead by about $3 billion. That lead is expected to grow this year, with Samsung sales estimated at $127 billion, as compared to $120 billion for H-P. Manufacturers of all kinds in South Korea were long considered to be mere imitators of their counterparts in Japan and elsewhere in the world. However, even during a series of periods in the doldrums, companies like Samsung began to outshine their Japanese counterparts, like Sony, in the early years of the new century, and Samsung is expected to out-sell the top 15 Japanese tech companies combined this year.

The bulk of Samsung’s sales are are in the areas of memory, liquid crystal displays and cellular phones, though there are any number of other high-tech products in their arsenal, according to a CNN story. The size of the company has caused some problems, including the normal growing pains of a company of its bulk, and battles for internal supremacy by it’s largest division. The company also has to perform a fine balancing act, since many of it major competitors are also its customers. For example, it supplies Apple with components for the iPhone, but is also the world’s second leading cell phone manufacturer.

Lee Myung-bak, the  president of South Korea, is the current leader of the G20 organization of world economies. He is using that prestigious position, held for one year, to improve the visibility and prestige of his country in the eyes of the world. The Samsung picture is not all roses. Samsung’s revenues are not matched by a similar rise in profits. “Compare it with Apple. There is still a gap in profit margins of their phone businesses,” said Jae Lee of Daiwa Securities. Perhaps larger profits will come after this latest period of meteoric growth.

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