SEOUL: Samsung Electronics said on Tuesday that its US subsidiary had acquired NeuroLogica, a maker of computed tomography (CT) machines, in its latest push into the medical equipment business to take on the likes of General Electric Co and Philips.

Samsung Electronics America has fully acquired Massachusetts-based start-up NeuroLogica for an undisclosed amount, the South Korean company said in a statement. NeuroLogica, which was established in 2004, manufactures portable CT scanners.

The head of Samsung’s consumer electronics division had told Reuters earlier this month that the company was seeking to grow its medical device unit by adding MRI scanners and CT machines, and the company was open to making acquisitions. Samsung has said it plans to spend 1.2 trillion won ($1.1 billion) in the medical equipment business by 2020 to make it a $10 billion operation by then.

It has acquired a controlling stake in Korean ultrasound equipment firm Medison in 2010 and its affiliate later for around $300 million in total, its biggest ever acquisition in the healthcare industry. “Samsung plans to leverage its global brand awareness and world-leading technology in consumer electronics, IT and communications with NeuroLogica in order to expand medical imaging business,” the company said in a statement.

Samsung Electronics, the world’s top maker of smartphones, memory chips and flat-screen TVs, is the flagship unit of the Samsung group. The group in 2010 vowed to spend $20 billion over the following 10 years on five “new growth” areas including light-emitting diode technology, medical devices, biotech drugs, electric-vehicle batteries and solar panels.