SEOUL, May 24: South Korean conglomerate Samsung Group on Tuesday unveiled a massive 450 trillion won ($356 billion) investment blueprint for the next five years aimed at making it a frontrunner in a wide range of sectors from semiconductors to biologics.

The new figure is an increase of more than a third over its investments spent over the past five years.

The tech giant is South Korea's largest chaebol -- the family-run conglomerates that dominate the economy -- and its overall turnover is equivalent to a fifth of the national gross domestic product.

Samsung Electronics, its flagship subsidiary, is the world's biggest smartphone maker.

The investment plan would bring "long-term growth in strategic businesses and help strengthen the global industrial ecosystem of crucial technology", Samsung said in a statement. The 80,000 new jobs would be created "primarily in core businesses including semiconductors and biopharmaceuticals" through 2026.

It also noted the investment would "bring forward the mass production of chips based on the 3-nanometer process", the latest technology to further shrink the size of semiconductors and boost computing power.    -AFP