UP on the 25th floor of Samsung Electronics’ skyscraper head office in Seoul, Jong-Yong Yun is thinking.

I had asked him, perhaps rudely, if he had ever imagined his company would become this successful — one of the most profitable global technology firms in the world last year, rising from cheap-end obscurity to bestride markets for mobile phones, flat-screen televisions, memory chips and more, all from its base in South Korea.

He smiles faintly. “I will give you an analogy,” he says in guttural Korean. “People know their eventual height by the time they are 20, but when you are little, you have no idea how big you will become.”

Then he watches as an interpreter translates for me, and nods to check I have understood. Beside him sit two more press aides and an assistant, who also chip in if they feel matters need explaining. Yun, with his thoughtful manner, slight frame and large, balding head, looks at times like he is conducting a professorial seminar.

But there is nothing academic about the success of Samsung Electronics. Since Yun took over as chief executive in 1997, the South Korean company has transformed itself from a firm best-known as a mass-market plodder to a world leader in some of the fastest-growing product sectors in technology. And at 61, farmer’s son Yun, who rarely gives interviews, is now one of the key business leaders in the world.

In nine years he has torn up traditional ways of doing business in conservative South Korea and refocused his firm on the “digital convergence revolution”. Its aim: to produce top-level digital devices for home, mobile and office networks around the world, as well as core components.

That focus has driven Samsung Electronics to world No3 in the mobile-phone market — only Nokia and Motorola are bigger. In the process it has surprised many people with its mix of design and technological innovation.

It is already the world’s largest producer of liquid crystal display screens (for flat-screen televisions and displays), of DRAM and SRAM chips, and of “flash memory” (which enables devices to hold data when the power is switched off).

Last year it made a net profit of $10 billion (£5.5 billion) on sales of $55 billion — a performance that fully justifies Yun’s strategy to push upmarket and concentrate on fewer products.

In Britain, Samsung Electronics celebrated those results by outbidding Nokia for an estimated £50m shirt-sponsorship deal with Premiership champions Chelsea. Yun thinks Samsung’s brand image in Europe lags behind its image in the rest of the world, and wants to show that it is a winner.

“When we first started exporting, our image was not so high because we were targeting low-end products,” says Yun. “And if you visit Britain or America now, our brand image, in comparison with the technological prowess we have, is not so highly valued. Now we have the right products, we want it to be correctly communicated to consumers.”

More of those products will be unveiled at this week’s IFA show in Berlin, a biannual event that is one of Europe’s biggest consumer-electronics trade fairs.

Samsung Electronics is desperate to reinforce its reputation for producing hip, cutting-edge mobile phones, and get some of that to rub off on other consumer-product areas where it faces fierce competition — CD, DVD and MP3 players, to name just three, or its expanding range of home appliances.