Samsung says it
will invest nearly
$1B in health
care by 2020.

Samsung could enter X-ray, MRI market

July 18, 2011
by Brendon Nafziger, DOTmed News Associate Editor
Samsung Electronics Co, the world's biggest electronics company, is in talks to expand into the X-ray and MRI markets, less than a year after it acquired diagnostic ultrasound maker Medison, Bloomberg reports.

In a July 15 interview, Jo Jae Moon, senior vice president with Samsung, said the Korean giant was in touch with unspecified companies in the medical equipment field, noting merely it intends to be "No. 1 across ultrasound devices, X-rays and MRIs," according to Bloomberg.

Samsung has already divulged muscular plans to enter the health care market. Last year, Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee said it would invest nearly $1 billion in health care by 2020. The company also hopes to employ 10,000 people in its medical equipment business by that date.

So far, the tablet and TV maker's biggest entry into health care was its December purchase of a 43.5 percent controlling stake in Medison, rumored to be worth $260-300 million. In April, Samsung bought additional shares from Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, giving it a 65.8 percent stake.

And in May, Samsung changed the name of Medison, which it says is the world's sixth-biggest ultrasound vendor, to Samsung Medison.