How To Invest in Samsung (ETF: EWY)

You have to be impressed with the Samsung story. The South Korean company that not so long ago made only cheap TVs, now produces a full range of top-notch consumer electronics products -- from LCD monitors (you pay a premium for Samsung's LCDs... and it's worth it), to cellphones, to flash memory.

Samsung's revenues rose at a CAGR of 18% between 2000 and 2004, and the company claims the top world market share spot in eight product categories: TVs (9.8% market share), monitors (14.9%), CDMA cell-phone handsets (20.6%), SRAM chips (34%), LCD panels (23.3%), VCRs (21.4%), DRAM chips (31%) and NAND flash chips (61%).

Moreover, Samsung -- which is believed to account for fully 15% of S. Korea’s GDP -- has just unveiled a $45 billion R&D investment plan for the next 5 years. The bulk of this R&D will be in its 13 'growth engines' including high-capacity memory chips, next-generation display devices, mobile telecommunications and digital TVs.

But as Samsung stock is only traded on the S. Korean exchange, how can a US investor gain exposure to this market leader?

Seeking Alpha's Steven Towns says investors essentially have two options:

1) The best option is probably to go with iShares MSCI South Korea Index (ticker: EWY). As of the end of Sept., it consisted approx. 22% of Samsung Electronics and about 7% of other Samsung businesses. It is often said that “Samsung is Korea