The largest South Korean business conglomerate, which in the Korean language is known as a "chaebol," pronounced "
chay-bil." Founded as a trading company in 1938 by Lee Byung-chul, the Samsung Group, now comprising more than 75 companies, diversified into textiles, insurance, food processing and other businesses. One of the largest tech companies in the world, Samsung Electronics makes chips, consumer electronics and smartphones. In the U.S., Samsung is known for its TVs and line of Galaxy smartphones (see
Galaxy S and
Galaxy Note).