Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a leading mobile and telecommunications equipment provider as well's as well as world's biggest memory chipmaker on Wednesday announced that it had bought an Israel non-memory chip developer, Transchip.

Samsung took over Transchip, a fabless chip designer in Israel with about 60 researchers to strengthen its development capability in the image sensor business.

This year, Samsung's sales would reach $100bn and the company would enter new growth areas such as bio, health, energy and environment, said Yun Jong-yong, vice chairman, Samsung Electronics.

The acquisition of the Israeli company is part of Samsung's efforts to develop the non-memory business.

Samsung suffered a drop in its semiconductor profit margins in the third quarter as D-ram prices fell to record lows. The company said it would develop the printer and system LSI business as new growth drivers in addition to its mainstay business of memory chips, mobile phones, liquid crystal display and digital TVs.

Israel Energy Electronics Samsung