A Samsung Electronics logo on the Galaxy Z Fold 3 smartphone (Bloomberg)

Samsung Electronics and its tech foundation said Tuesday they are spending a combined 48.65 billion won ($40 million) this year to fund 27 new research projects on futuristic technologies ranging from anti-aging to new materials for chips.

The tech giant has supported local researchers and their work through the Samsung Science & Technology Foundation since 2013. About 1.5 trillion won has been poured into supporting 735 projects involving 14,000 researchers at some 50 schools over the past decade.

Of this year’s recipients, 12 basic science projects have been selected for their fresh approaches as well as academic values, Samsung said.

One of the teams, led by Kang Chan-hee, a life science professor at Seoul National University, will verify the aging process of cells in human body.

Aged cells usually migrate to other parts of the body through senescence-associated secretory phenotype, or SASP. The team will look into why aging is accelerated in some cells more than others, which could lead to treatments for age-related diseases such as arthritis and metabolic syndrome.

Eight projects on new materials have also been selected, considering their potential for industrial uses such as in chips and batteries.

Another team, led by Kim Joon-seong, a physics professor of Pohang University of Science and Technology, will develop new magnetic materials that drastically increase the resistivity of semiconductors.

Low temperature and high magnetic field performance are considered crucial for massive computing and the data centers that consume enormous amounts of electricity. The new materials would speed up the commercialization of memory chips working at extremely low temperatures. A team led by Choi Young-jae, a materials engineering professor at Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, is developing a new refining technology for RNA structures that elevate the refinery rate from the current 70 percent to 99.

A higher refinery rate would help boost the overall efficiency of RNA-based vaccine production regardless of the amount or complexity.

The remaining seven projects are linked to technological innovations such as the 6G network and quantum computing.

Kwon Young-jin, a computer science professor at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, plans to develop a virtual system without memory bugs that secures both the safety and security of data-heavy research work for autonomous driving or cloud services.

Samsung said the selected projects will receive practical support as well, such as mentoring for commercialization and funding for up to five years.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)