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The Korean company has so far been tight-lipped about the research centre, which is due to open early next month. Earlier this month Samsung announced a million-euro partnership with the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland to work on new technology to improve energy efficiency.

Meanwhile the tech daily Digitoday reported Tuesday that Samsung has already outstripped the Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia on home ground in terms of smartphone market share.

According to Digitoday the technology research firm IDC gave Samsung a 36-percent market share in Finland during the first three months of the year, compared to Nokia’s 33 percent.

On a global scale Samsung had already overtaken Nokia to become the world’s largest phone maker last spring.

According to the daily, Samsung’s rise to prominence over the past few years has been as swift as Nokia’s fall from grace in the global mobile phone market.

As recently as early 2010 Nokia dominated the Finnish market with a 65 percent market share, while Samsung was the underdog with a market share of just 12 percent.