South Korea's top 30 conglomerates increased their investment 28 percent on-year in the first half of this year on the back of strong performances by chip and display makers, a market tracker said Sunday.

The total amount of investment came to 37.14 trillion won ($32.5 billion) in the January-June period, sharply increasing from 29 trillion won recorded for the same period a year earlier, according to CEO Score.

The tally covers the groups' 271 subsidiaries that have unveiled their half-year business reports. One conglomerate, Booyoung Group, did not submit the first-half business report. 

The increase was led by tech giants Samsung and LG, whose investments came to 12.6 trillion won and 5 trillion won, up 66 percent and 51.7 percent on-year, respectively.

Samsung Electronics Co. alone invested 11.4 trillion won during the period. It was the only company to have spent over 10 trillion won among the companies surveyed, CEO Score said.

It was followed by chipmaker SK hynix Inc. and LG Display Co. with 4.5 trillion won and 2.4 trillion won, respectively.

Conglomerates in the automobile and heavy manufacturing industries, meanwhile, cut back on their investments.

Hyundai Motor Group, including Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp., invested 3.4 trillion won, down 13.8 percent compared with the same period last year. Its flaghip Hyundai Motor Co. has been faring poorly in its major overseas markets, such as the United States and China, with its second-quarter operating profit tumbling 23.7 percent on-year. (Yonhap)