SEOUL, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Samsung Group, South Korea's biggest family-controlled conglomerate, said Wednesday that it will invest 180 trillion won (about 160 billion U.S. dollars) and hire 40,000 more employees for the next three years.

Samsung made the announcement to help revitalize the South Korean economy and foster new growth engines.

The government under South Korean President Moon Jae-in placed its top priority on job creation, especially among youths, unveiling supplementary budget to create decent jobs.

However, it has yet to take effect as the labor market was in the doldrums on soft corporate investment and weak private consumption.

Samsung said in a statement that it will invest 25 trillion won (22 billion U.S. dollars) in promising business areas of artificial intelligence (AI), 5G, automotive electronics components and biopharmaceuticals over the next three years.

Additional investment will be made in semiconductors and display to maintain global leadership, while opening up its venture incubation program to both external and internal start-up projects and providing software training.

Samsung said the announcement followed months of deliberations and review by the management and the board of directors of different Samsung companies, including Samsung Electronics.