Samsung targets connected car market

The BBC reports that Samsung Electronics is to acquire automotive electronics-maker Harman International Industries for about $8bn (£6.4bn) in cash as it makes a big push into connected car technologies.

Samsung is quoted as saying automotive electronics was ‘a strategic priority’ as the connected technologies market is expected to grow to $100bn by 2025.

‘The vehicle of tomorrow will be transformed by smart technology and connectivity in the same way that simple feature phones have become sophisticated smart devices over the past decade,’ Young Sohn, Samsung’s president and chief strategy officer, said in a statement.

South Korean firm Harman, which has its headquarters in Connecticut, makes products that are used in more than 30 million vehicles.

IHS Markit commented, ‘The combination of Samsung and Harman in terms of its benefits for each in automotive technology is a no brainer. Samsung has tremendous scale when it comes to procurement, allowing it to bring efficiencies to the supply line when it comes to Harman’s products. Harman is a market leader when it comes to automotive services, such as cybersecurity, over-the-air updates, analytics, cloud services, and apps integration, all of which are growth white spaces in automotive. Furthermore, there doesn’t appear to be much overlap between both companies and no existing relationships or agreements that would negatively impact the tie-up.’

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