back to article Samsung plans new R&D centre in Finland

Samsung has confirmed that it’s opening an R&D facility in Nokia’s home country of Finland. A brief statement from the Korean electronics giant sent to The Reg offered the following information: On June 13, 2013, we plan to open a new R&D centre in Finland, which will be a branch of the Samsung Electronics R&D Institute UK ( …

COMMENTS

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  1. LarsG
    Meh

    Research or Tax fiddle for big business?

    It's also a way to mitigate taxes in Europe, don't be fooled with the altruism, it's all about money and how to avoid giving it to the tax man.

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Paris Hilton

      Re: Research or Tax fiddle for big business?

      ...and so?

    2. Raumkraut

      Re: Research or Tax fiddle for big business?

      If your aim is to fiddle the tax man, it doesn't matter where you have a physical presence, nor even where your money is made, as Google, Apple, et al have shown.

      My first thought was that Finland could be where a lot of mobile R&D talent is still located, post-Elopcalypse. Perhaps this is Samsung positioning itself to snap up local talent, ready for when Nokia lays off more staff, or finally sinks beneath the waves. Or perhaps, by establishing themselves in Nokia's back yard, they hope to hasten the unfortunate company's demise, by poaching away their current talent...

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Research or Tax fiddle for big business?

        Perhaps they want to pick up Jolla. Or some of the thousands of laid-off Nokia engineers who know a lot about Meego/Maemo. In which case, Nokia has absolutely nobody to blame but themselves.

        The idea of some posts that Samsung should say "well, there's this huge pool of underemployed talent but we shouldn't exploit it because that wouldn't be the done thing" - is absurd.

        Incidentally, Koreans are far from being entirely Asiatic. Among their ancestors are migrants from Northern Europe. Finns and Koreans share genetic links, as well as an almost obsessive insistence on high educational standards and a liking for food that the inhabitants of other countries find a bit strange.

        1. djack

          Re: Research or Tax fiddle for big business?

          With their foray into Tizen, I wouldn't be surprised to see them go for the Maemo expertise. I hope that they don't raid Jolla though. I prefer the open approach to the carrier friendly lock down that Sammy is likely to produce.

          Given the nature of the operating systems being open source, it is possible that it could be mutually beneficial.

        2. Lars Silver badge

          Re: Research or Tax fiddle for big business?

          @ribosome, what an incredible piece of shit you have com up with both regarding genetics and food.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Research or Tax fiddle for big business?

      "It's also a way to mitigate taxes in Europe, don't be fooled with the altruism, it's all about money and how to avoid giving it to the tax man."

      I'm not sure that you understand a lot about how offshoring tax fiddles work.

      Applying Occam's razor, it's more likely that it's to hoover up all the underemployed nerds) (not just Nokia fallout but grads from some excellent technical universities), rather than a curiously inept attempt to save tax with an odd choice of European tax umbrella.

      Far more likely to launder tax through .nl and into .ie, or such, if that's what you're up to.

  2. jake Silver badge

    "Mountains so lofty, treetops so tall, it's where mobe-makers want to be"

    If that is Samsung's fetish, they might want to investigate the North Coast of California. We call 4500 feet of altitude "hills" in these here parts (Finland's highest peak doesn't clear 4,350 feet) ... and I'm pretty certain that the Redwoods are a lot taller than any tree ever grown in Finland.

    Probably explains why all my Great Grandparents emigrated from Lapland to Mendocino County ;-)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "Mountains so lofty, treetops so tall, it's where mobe-makers want to be"

      If you really missed the reference (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGWqtwhS2KY), you need to turn in your geek card now.

      1. jake Silver badge

        Re: "Mountains so lofty, treetops so tall, it's where mobe-makers want to be"

        Perhaps you missed the final line of my commentardy ;-)

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    They setting up shop to steal Nokias remaining secrets/IPs?

  4. Parax

    Sounds like a good idea..

    lots of decent technicians and developers to poach.

    it will keep Nokia/Microsoft on their toes, and make them not so keen to lay off staff at the drop of a hat.

  5. John Savard

    Talent Pool

    Well, this gives Samsung the opportunity to hire unemployed experts in mobile phone design from Nokia, since it is closing things down there... so I think it's wonderful this opportunity is being provided.

  6. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge
    Black Helicopters

    The next step

    in Samsung's plan for world domination of everything that uses technology in your home or on your person.

    When they have done with Apple, watch out Microsoft you will be next.

  7. Kevin McMurtrie Silver badge
    Happy

    One bar of death

    Ha! Now employees can experience the overheating, crashing, radio malfunctions, nonsense roaming warnings, and circuit crosstalk gremlins in their phones when the signal is weak.

  8. Daniel B.

    Maemo

    Maybe they'll take in the people behind Maemo/Meego/Harmattan and make that project live. Basically, do what Nokia should've done instead of selling out to MicroSopht.

    1. Havin_it
      Alert

      Re: Maemo

      Wasn't Harmattan (yet) another competing UI? It got hard to keep up for a while there.

      They want to watch out hiring the remnants of more than one UI team, they might just inherit the civil war that drained so much of Nokia's vitality.

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