Hanwha Group to invest 22 trillion won and hire 35,000 employees

Hanwha Group announced on Sunday that it would invest a total of 22 trillion won and hire 35,000 people over the next five years beginning in this year’s second half. The nation’s No. 8 conglomerate has thus joined a massive investment and recruitment spree that started with LG Group in December last year, followed by Samsung, Hyundai Motor, and Shinsegae groups.

Hanwha’s investment translates into 4.4 trillion won, which represents a 37 percent increase from 3.2 trillion won in annual average investment made by the company over the past three years. The company’s planned annual average recruitment of 7,000 employees also represents a significant jump from 3,000 – 4,000 through 2015, and some 6,000 each in 2016 and 2017. Of its projected total investment, Hanwha plans to invest 14 trillion won in Korea and 8 trillion won overseas, respectively.

The entire 35,000 new employees will be recruited within Korea. Unlike other conglomerates that announced massive investment plans earlier, the government’s economic team including Economy and Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon has not paid a visit to Hanwha yet. Industry insiders say that Hanwha’s investment could be partly a response to President Moon Jae-in’s visit to Hanwha Q Cells in February, the first visit to a Korean company since his inauguration, where he commended the Hanwha subsidiary as a model in employment sharing.

“We have announced new investment and employment plans as we set mid- to long-term plans in order to flexibly cope with fast-changing business environment,” a Hanwha source said. “We also reflected in the plans our efforts to proactively take part in the national growth policy and to fulfill our corporate social responsibility.


Tae-Ho Hwang taeho@donga.com