Samsung enters R&D partnership with Clemson & USC

Together with the state government, Samsung will create the Palmetto Consortium for Home Appliance Innovation [PCHAI], a R&D program designed to catalyse innovation, foster public/private collaboration, and nurture the next generation of advanced manufacturing professionals in South Carolina. “Samsung’s ambition is for South Carolina to become our U.S. hub for every stage in the home appliance lifecycle—from concept and R&D to manufacturing, quality assurance, distribution and customer care,” said Dr. Dochul Choi, Senior Vice President of R&D at Samsung Electronics America. “Today’s announcement is a down payment on that vision. By investing in R&D and the future of our workforce, we can better position Samsung and South Carolina to meet the high demands and desires of customers across America, our fastest growing and most important home appliance market.” The creation of the Consortium comes six months after Samsung announced it would open a new home appliance manufacturing plant in Newberry, South Carolina, where production of washers will begin in the first quarter of 2018. The mission of the new partnership, which will be implemented over five years, is to enable world class research into areas such as new consumer electronics, energy efficient technology, advanced manufacturing technology, sensor technology, and other areas that are core to the innovation and production of quality home appliances. Samsung selected Clemson University and the University of South Carolina for the new partnership because of their research programs in engineering, information technology and computer science. They are the two largest universities in the state of South Carolina and are both classified as R1 Research Universities by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Samsung has already begun recruiting talent for its Newberry facility. More than 350 employees have been hired to date, and by 2020 the plant will create nearly 1’000 local jobs. Samsung’s investment in the site is set to reach USD 380 million by 2022.