Samsung to lavish $1.1bn on semiconductor start-ups

Samsung has promised to invest more than $1bn in venture capital funding for semiconductor start-ups.

The company on Monday said that it would be committing some $1.1bn total in research and development funding through its Samsung Venture Americas branch and Catalyst Fund investment operations, according to multiple reports.

The investment fund will target the semiconductor and manufacturing spaces. Samsung will look to fund start-ups who could assist in its hardware units. The company will also be opening a new research and development facility in Silicon Valley.

The investment comes as Samsung has seen its revenues hit record levels. The company said that its quarterly profits hit £5.2bn in the final quarter of 2012 and sales from Samsung's handset unit reached record levels.

Analysts believe that the company now controls some 22.9 percent of the smartphone market. The jump in hardware sales has brought with it a healthy appetite for components. Earlier this month Samsung passed Apple to become the world's largest single purchaser of semiconductor materials.

Last year, Samsung committed $4bn in funding to build a manufacturing plant in Las Vegas. The plant, set to open in late 2013, will be taxed with manufacturing the company's tablet and handset CPU units.