2018.04.1519:17:00UTC+00 Samsung Considering Use of Blockchain Tech to Manage Supply Chain

Samsung Electronics, the world's biggest manufacturer of smartphones and semiconductors, is considering to use the technology behind digital currencies to manage its massive global supply network.

The tech giant is considering to utilize a blockchain ledger system to monitor its global shipments worth tens of billions of dollar annually, according to Song Kwan Woo, the blockchain chief at Samsung SDS, the company's logistical and information and technology division. According to SDS, the system is estimated to reduce shipping costs by 20 percent.

While global firms have said they are planning to launch blockchain technology on varying aspects of their businesses ranging from cross-border payments to monitoring supermarket chickens' life cycle, Samsung is the one of the first global manufacturers to seriously take into consideration the use of distributed ledgers in its operations. SDS is working on the system for Samsung Electronics, the company's prized unit.

Since bitcoin's meteoric rise in popularity, blockchain technology has been lauded as a breakthrough that will change the way transactions are recorded, verified and shared. While its effects on the corporate world has been limited so far, Gartner Inc. estimates blockchain-related enterprises will create $176 billion of value by 2025.

Proponents of the technology in the shipping industry said that the tech reduces the time required to communicate paperwork back and forth and to coordinate with port authorities. According to International Business Machines Corp., documentation costs for container shipments are more than twofold bigger as those for transportation. SDS anticipates handling 488, 000 tons of air cargo and one million 20-foot-equivalent shipping units this year, which includes organic light-emitting diode displays and Galaxy S9 phones made by Samsung Electronics.