Samsung Electronics America, a Richfield Park, Penn.-based arm of South Korea’s Samsung Group, is relocating the headquarters for its digital information technology unit to 51,263 square feet of space in Irvine’s Park Place.
The division markets computer monitors, laser printers, fax machines and optical disk drives made in South Korea or Mexico. Samsung signed a five-year lease valued at more than $5.9 million at the Park Place complex near the San Diego (I-405) Freeway and John Wayne Airport.
“New space in Silicon Valley is still more expensive than Southern California,” said Ray Roque, vice president of marketing for the division. “Proximity to an airport and San Diego across the border made Orange County a good in-between location.”
Starting this month, Samsung plans to move 130 positions to the new facility, which will house most of the division’s administrative staff, some product engineers and a large order center, executives said. Samsung estimates it will hire 10 people to fill out the 130 positions the company initially will house at the complex.
Samsung also plans to use the new facility to market its wares directly through a large showroom housed inside the Park Place building, where the division can show off new products to potential customers.
The Samsung division would be the 20th largest company on the Business Journal’s list of OC’s largest computer hardware companies, which ranks companies by employment. The combined division would have sales totalling nearly half a billion dollars,trumping all but eight of OC’s top 20 computer hardware makers.
Samsung formed the digital information technology division after combining its San Jose-based monitor and optical drive unit and its Rancho Dominguez-based printer division. Samsung Electronics America plans to keep its facilities in both Rancho Dominguez and Silicon Valley, but will house other divisions in them as soon as the digital information technology division completes its move.
The company said it opted to combine the units in a bid to more effectively market its monitors, printers and drives together.
“Samsung is consolidating the sales and marketing of its monitor, printer and optical drive divisions to meet our aggressive goals for the future,” said T.H. Kim, president of the digital information technology division, in a statement.
Kim, who has an OC residence, plans to split his time between OC and Samsung’s headquarters in Seoul. n
