From black-and-white TVs to chips and Galaxy: how Samsung Electronics became a technology powerhouse
Samsung Electronics did not begin with smartphones, memory chips or foldable displays. Its first years were built around televisions, appliances and the effort to create a competitive electronics manufacturer in a South Korean economy that was industrialising rapidly.
The company was formally established in January 1969. Samsung’s own historical material identifies founding chairman Lee Byung-chull among the promoters who decided to enter electronics, while Samsung Electronics itself became a distinct operating company inside the wider Samsung group.
Over the following decades it moved from black-and-white televisions into colour TVs, appliances, semiconductors, memory, displays, mobile phones and increasingly sophisticated components. That breadth matters because Samsung Electronics became unusual among major technology companies: it sells finished consumer devices while also manufacturing many of the components that make modern electronics possible.
A television factory became the starting line
Samsung Electronics began producing black-and-white televisions in 1970. Within a few years it added refrigerators, washing machines, colour televisions, VCRs and microwave ovens.
The company started exporting early, including black-and-white TVs to Panama in 1971. By 1978 Samsung said cumulative black-and-white TV production had reached four million units, while its first overseas sales subsidiary had opened in the United States.
This appliance and television business gave Samsung manufacturing scale before semiconductors became a central strategic priority.
The semiconductor decision changed Samsung’s future
Samsung Electronics acquired control of Korea Semiconductor during the 1970s and absorbed semiconductor operations into the company in 1980.
The move eventually pushed Samsung into one of the most capital-intensive industries in technology. Memory manufacturing requires repeated investment in new process technology, enormous fabrication plants and tight control of yields.
Samsung developed DRAM products during the 1980s and steadily expanded memory capacity. The semiconductor business later became one of the foundations of the company’s global scale.
Memory turned Samsung into a component supplier to the world
Samsung’s rise in DRAM and NAND flash meant the company increasingly supplied components used inside products made by many other technology brands.
That component role broadened further through displays, image sensors, application processors and other semiconductor technologies.
The result was a business model with two faces: Samsung competes in consumer markets while also supplying parts to the broader electronics industry.
Mobile phones created another global franchise
Samsung entered mobile communications before the smartphone era and built a large handset business across feature phones and early smartphones.
The introduction of the Galaxy brand became the defining mobile shift. Samsung used Android as the software foundation while differentiating through displays, cameras, industrial design, processors, software features and a very broad range of price points.
Galaxy eventually expanded beyond phones into tablets, watches, earbuds, laptops and connected-device software.
OLED displays gave Samsung another technology advantage
Samsung invested heavily in display technology, including organic light-emitting diode panels.
OLED became especially important in premium smartphones because each pixel can emit its own light, allowing deep blacks, high contrast and flexible panel designs.
Display expertise later supported foldable phones. Devices such as the Galaxy Z Fold and Galaxy Z Flip depend on flexible OLED panels, hinge engineering and software designed for screens that physically change shape.
The Galaxy era made Samsung a platform company as well as a manufacturer
Samsung’s mobile strategy gradually expanded beyond selling hardware.
One UI became the company’s software layer over Android. Samsung Knox developed into a security platform, while Samsung Health, SmartThings, Wallet and other services created a wider ecosystem around Galaxy devices.
This does not make Samsung a vertically integrated software company in the same way as a business that controls its own mobile operating system, but it gives the company more influence over the user experience than a hardware-only manufacturer.
Foundries, memory and consumer devices now sit under one roof
Samsung Electronics today spans device solutions and finished products. Its semiconductor operations manufacture memory and logic products, while Samsung Foundry produces chips for internal and external customers.
On the consumer side, the company sells smartphones, televisions, monitors, appliances, wearables and other electronics.
That combination means a downturn in one technology cycle can affect Samsung differently from a company focused on a single market.
Why Samsung’s history matters to future product coverage
A Galaxy phone is not an isolated product from a phone manufacturer. It comes from a company with decades of experience in displays, memory, semiconductor manufacturing and mass-market electronics.
Likewise, a Samsung memory announcement belongs to the same corporate history as its televisions and smartphones, even though the customers and economics can be completely different.
As of 18 September 2026, Samsung Electronics remains one of the broadest technology manufacturers in the world. Its story is best understood as repeated movement into technologies that became foundational to the next generation of electronics.
Sources reviewed include Samsung Electronics’ official company history, Samsung Global Newsroom historical series and Samsung South Africa company material. Facts are current to 18 September 2026.