Samsung Electronics, the world’s top technology firm in terms of sales, has made inroads into the medical equipment market with the rollout of an ultra-fast blood-testing device on Tuesday.

The Korean electronics giant is looking to invest 12 trillion won ($9.85 billion) in the healthcare business by 2020 with the goal of achieving 10 trillion won in annual sales that year.

The new device, which checks levels of glucose, cholesterol and 17 other substances in the blood, is smaller and cheaper than conventional blood-testing equipment, and targets small- and medium-sized hospitals.

The company claims it takes only 12 minutes to conduct a blood test with the device, whereas it usually takes two to three days with traditional equipment.

Samsung will partner with Choongwae Pharma Corp., a Korean pharmaceutical manufacturer, to exclusively sell the device to hospitals nationwide.

Samsung has developed the medical equipment with a 30 billion won investment with Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology for the past four years.

Samsung Group, the parent group of Samsung Electronics sees medical equipment as one of the five new growth drivers, along with solar cells, rechargeable cells for hybrid electric vehicles, light emitting diode technologies and biopharmaceuticals.

In May, Samsung Group announced a plan to spend 23.3 trillion won on its five new businesses by 2020. Samsung Electronics seeks to reduce its reliance on TVs, handsets, memory chips and displays and develop “health, environment and life care,” along with “infotainment” as new growth drivers.

By Jin Hyun-joo  (hjjin@heraldcorp.com)