Samsung Group will boost investment by nearly one-fifth to a record amount this year, seeking to build new businesses and to widen its lead in technology sectors such as display screens, South Korea's largest business group said on Wednesday.

Samsung , whose core units include Samsung Electronics <005930.KS> and Samsung Heavy Industries <010140.KS>, said in a statement it would invest a record 43.1 trillion won ($38.3 billion) this year, up 18 percent from last year.

The investment plan underlines the group's aim to strengthen future growth engines by increasing investment in new businesses while strengthening dominance in major businesses in the global markets, Samsung said in statement.

The group has nearly 70 member companies in sectors for production of chips to ships and mobile phones and its annual sales of more than 220 trillion won is equivalent to some one-fifth of the country's annual gross domestic product.

Samsung Electronics is the world's top maker of memory chips, flat screens and flat-screen TVs, and the world's No.2 maker of mobile phones. Samsung Heavy is the world's third-largest shipbuilder.

The organic light-emitting diode (OLED) sector will see the fastest gain in annual investment to 5.4 trillion won from 1.4 trillion last year, while the chip sector will see investment falling slightly to 10.3 trillion won from 12 trillion won.

(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Yoo Choonsik)

South Korea Samsung Investment