​Samsung offloads shares of Seagate, Rambus

Samsung Electronics sold its shares in partner firms ASML, Seagate, Rambus, and Sharp, the company said, to efficiently manage assets and focus on its core businesses.

Partnerships with the companies will continue "unaffected" by the selling of shares, it added.

The sales are to "efficiently manage past investments to focus on core business," the company said in a statement.

The South Korean tech giant sold 1.5 percent share of the Netherlands' ASML, half of its total of 3 percent, or 6.3 million shares.

Samsung bought the shares of the semiconductor equipment maker back in 2012, to co-develop steppers, used for photolithography in the production line.

The company sold all of its 12.5 million shares, or 4.2 percent stake, of HDD maker Seagate Technology. Samsung got the shares when it sold its HDD business to Seagate back in 2011.

The South Korean tech giant sold its 4.5 percent stake, or 4.8 million shares, of US semiconductor designer Rambus.

Samsung, the world's second-largest semiconductor maker, bought a 9 percent stake of Rambus to get access to patents. It sold 4.5 percent in 2011.

First reported by Nikkei, the company last week confirmed the sale of its 0.7 percent stake, or 35.8 million shares, of Japanese display maker Sharp. Samsung bought a stake of 3 percent back in 2013, but it shrinked following Foxconn's acquisiton.

Samsung stressed that display panel supply -- it uses Sharp for its premium TV line-up -- will be unaffected by the sales.

The company last week sold its printer business to HP for $1.05 billion.

The company currently holds around $65 billion.