Of the 10 largest Korean conglomerates, only four plan to increase investment next year amid economic uncertainties stemming from the European debt crisis.

Samsung, Hyundai Motor, Lotte and GS said they would expand investment next year.

SK Group, which is expected to invest a lot due to its recent acquisition of Hynix Semiconductor, was yet to draft detailed plans for next year, with the ongoing prosecutorial investigation of its chairman Chey Tae-won.

POSCO, Hyundai Heavy Industries and Hanwha are set to make investments of similar size to this year’s. LG and Hanjin are to reduce investments next year.

The key businesses of conglomerates that plan to freeze or reduce investments are in the sectors of steel, shipbuilding, liquefied crystal display and solar energy development.

POSCO said early this year that it will invest 7.3 trillion won ($6.2 billion), but ended up pouring in only 6 trillion won as international steel prices ebbed. The world’s third-largest steelmaker deferred its plan to invest 300 billion won to repair a furnace in the Gwangyang steel mill, previously scheduled for next year, to after 2013.

LG Display, which invests the most among LG affiliates, cut its annual investment from over 4 trillion won this year to around 2.5 trillion won next year.

The LCD maker put off the groundbreaking of an eighth-generation LCD production plant in Guangzhou, China. LG Group’s total investment is to slightly drop from this year’s 19.5 trillion won.

Hanjin Group invested 3.9 trillion won this year to buy five A380 airplanes among other things, but said it would spend less next year.

Hyundai Heavy outlines investments close to this year’s 2.2 trillion won in facilities and technology. Hanwha Group is set to invest about 2 trillion won, similar to this year’s amount, in its defense and resort businesses.

Samsung Group plans to increase investment slightly from this year’s 43 trillion won.

Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee said early this month that Samsung “should invest more aggressively than usual because the global economy is in distress.”

KDB Daewoo Securities estimated Samsung Electronics’ investment in the semiconductor business next year at 14 trillion won, the largest-ever.

Samsung’s investment in non-memory semiconductors (7.5 trillion won) will surpass that in memory semiconductors (6.5 trillion won) for the first time.

Hyundai Motor Group, which posted record earnings this year, is projected to step up investments, with construction of Hyundai Steel’s third furnace at the Dangjin mill scheduled to begin next year.

By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)