Samsung, SK chiefs may accompany president during visit to Netherlands

The heads of South Korea’s top two conglomerates Samsung Group and SK Group are expected to travel to the Netherlands, a semiconductor powerhouse, next month to accompany President Yoon Suk Yeol on his state visit there, according to industry sources on Wednesday. Yoon is scheduled for a state visit to the Netherlands upon the invitation of Dutch King Willem-Alexander on Dec. 12 and 13. It is the first time a South Korean president will make a state visit to the small European country sinc

Nov. 15, 2023

[Herald Interview] Korean team wins James Dyson Award with ‘hands-free’ IV drip

A group of Korean university students has won the top honors at The James Dyson Award, an international engineering competition for young innovators, with their unique invention -- a “hands-free” intravenous drip device. The award was launched by The James Dyson Foundation, an international charity of Sir James Dyson, the founder and chief engineer of the UK appliance giant, in 2005. The billionaire inventor handpicks the award winners every year. This is the first time that a Korean

Nov. 15, 2023

LG companies hint at grand promotions to celebrate Twins' big win

LG Group affiliates, including the country's leading home appliance maker, LG Electronics, are preparing grand promotional events to celebrate the first championship win of its baseball team, the LG Twins, in 29 years. The Twins defeated the KT Wiz 6-2 in Game 5 of the Korean Series at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul, claiming the best-of-seven series 4-1 on Monday, for their first championship since 1994. "I am really grateful to the fans who have shown unchanging love and support fo

Nov. 14, 2023

Nara Space successfully launches cube satellite

Nara Space has successfully launched the Observer-1A, a self-developed commercial cube satellite, becoming the first Korean company to achieve the feat, opening a new chapter for the country’s private space industry. Nara Space said Monday that the Observer-1A's beacon transmission and bidirectional communication had been completed within about an hour and 20 minutes after its ejection from SpaceX’s Falcon 9. The satellite was loaded on the US company’s launch vehicle, whi

Nov. 13, 2023

SK hynix starts supply of world’s fastest mobile DRAM for China's Vivo

SK hynix has started supplying 16-gigabyte packages of Low Power Double Data Rate 5 Turbo, the fastest mobile DRAM available today, to its customers, the company announced Monday. The world’s second-largest memory chipmaker said it has started shipping its up-to-date product to Chinese smartphone manufacturer Vivo, which will be using the memory chips in its latest smartphones, the X100 and X100 Pro. LPDDR is a low-power DRAM for mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets, which aim

Nov. 13, 2023

[Photo News] Inspection before Suneung

Engineers of Hi-MSolutek, LG Electronics’ service and maintenance affiliate, inspect an air conditioner in a classroom designated as a venue for the Suneung, Korea’s College Scholastic Ability Test, slated for Thursday this week. LG Electronics said it is running inspections of its air conditioners installed at 250 examination sites across the country until Wednesday. (LG Electronics)

Nov. 13, 2023

LG Display set for turnaround next year, buoyed by Apple’s first OLED iPad

LG Display is expected to get out of the red next year earlier than expected, by supplying organic light-emitting displays for Apple's upcoming iPad Pro, of which the panels are to be three times more expensive than that of the iPhone. According to industry sources on Sunday, the Korean panel maker will start OLED production for the upcoming iPad Pro in February next year at its plant in Paju, Gyeonggi Province. This is about three months earlier than predicted, with Apple forecast to launc

Nov. 12, 2023

[Photo News] Samsung chief at pacific islands forum

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong (far right) poses with Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown (center) and South Korean Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Cho Seung-hwan at the Pacific Islands Forum held on the Cook Islands in the South Pacific Ocean, Wednesday. The Samsung chief also met with Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka during the event. Lee promoted the tech giant’s corporate social responsibility program and Busan’s bid to host the 2030 World Expo, according

Nov. 9, 2023

Kakao CEO apologizes for SM stock manipulation allegations

Kakao CEO Hong Eun-taek apologized Thursday over a recent controversy surrounding alleged stock manipulation in connection with the tech giant’s acquisition of K-pop agency SM Entertainment. “We apologize for causing concern to Kakao shareholders with the negative news that occurred during the process of taking over SM Entertainment's management rights," the CEO said at the company’s third-quarter earnings conference. “We are faithfully (talking) to the investig

Nov. 9, 2023

AI in your pocket: Samsung Galaxy S to feature real-time phone call translator

Samsung Electronics’ flagship Galaxy S smartphones will offer a real-time translation function for phone calls, the tech giant said Thursday. The surprise announcement comes a day after it unveiled Samsung Gauss, its own generative AI model, which will make its commercial debut on the upcoming Galaxy S phones in 2024, possibly the Galaxy S24 series. With a vision to open a “new era of AI” for mobile devices, Samsung said it will be introducing Galaxy AI for its smartphones to

Nov. 9, 2023

[From the Scene] Naver opens massive data center to boost AI, cloud push

SEJONG -- South Korean internet giant Naver opened its second data center in the city of Sejong on Monday, speeding up its big push to secure supremacy in the burgeoning artificial intelligence and cloud markets. Naver invited a group of reporters to its new data center, which it calls Gak Sejong, for the opening ceremony. The first of its kind, Gak Chuncheon, was set up in Gangwon Province in 2013. Located on a 294,000-square-meter site, Gak Sejong is one of the five biggest data centers in A

Nov. 8, 2023

Samsung Electronics unveils own generative AI, Samsung Gauss

Samsung Electronics on Wednesday debuted its own generative artificial intelligence model, dubbed Samsung Gauss, renewing competition with its archrival Apple and other tech giants in the burgeoning AI market. The world’s largest smartphone maker by shipments also hinted that the new AI chatbot will power its upcoming Galaxy smartphone, possibly the Galaxy S24 in 2024. "We will continue to support and collaborate with the industry and academia on generative AI research," said Kim

Nov. 8, 2023

Samsung CEO highlights AI safety research

Samsung Electronics co-CEO Kyung Kye-hyun, who oversees the tech giant's chips business, called on experts to conduct more in-depth research on the safety, trustworthiness and sustainability of artificial intelligence in line with rapid advancements in technology. “The spotlight has recently shifted toward generative AI technology, as it provides us the potential to unlock new solutions and address long-standing challenges. But the need for in-depth research on the safety, trustworthi

Nov. 7, 2023

LX Holdings CEO promoted to president

LX Holdings Chief Executive Officer and Vice President Roh Jin-seo has been promoted to president in a regular personnel reshuffle, the business group announced Tuesday. A close confidante of the group’s chairman Koo Bon-joon, Roh served as the chief strategy officer in the holdings company before he took on the CEO position last March. “Roh led the growth of the group by coming up with strategies to strengthen business competitiveness and reorganizing the business portfolio. He also

Nov. 7, 2023

[Photo News] Expo bus in Paris

LG Group is launching 2,030 buses, dubbed Busan Expo Bus, in Paris to promote the South Korean port city’s bid to host the 2030 World Expo. The conglomerate will ramp up the promotional activities in the French capital until Nov. 28, when the host city of the upcoming expo is to be decided in a vote during the 173rd General Assembly of the Bureau International des Expositions. (LG Group)

Nov. 7, 2023

Samsung family to sell stakes worth W2.6tr to pay tax

Family members of Samsung Group, South Korea’s biggest conglomerate, are selling stakes worth some 2.57 trillion won ($1.97 billion) to pay their inheritance tax bill, according to a regulatory filing on Monday. Hong Ra-hee, the widow of the late former Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee, and her two daughters, Lee Boo-jin and Lee Seo-hyun, signed a trust contract with Hana Bank to dispose of stakes worth about 2.57 trillion won combined, on Oct. 31. The Samsung heirs began their five-year

Nov. 6, 2023

[From the Scene] Samsung bets big on package substrates for future chips

SEJONG -- With the increasing demand for next-generation semiconductors globally, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, an electronic parts manufacturing affiliate of Samsung Electronics, has been seeking to take the lead in the chip package substrate market. On Thursday, Samsung invited a group of reporters to its manufacturing site in Sejong, where a new plant for chip package substrates, the fifth of its kind there, is being built to be completed by May next year. "For next-generation chip packages

Nov. 5, 2023

Naver touts AI progress as earnings hit record high

Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon on Friday expressed her satisfaction with the company’s business results regarding its upgraded, hyperscale generative artificial intelligence model, HyperClova X, unveiled in August. “Based on what we’ve observed and experienced so far, we seem to be having better results than we expected," Choi said when asked about the level of the IT giant’s hyperscale AI-based business when compared to her prior expectations, during the company’s ea

Nov. 3, 2023

Samsung files complaint in US against BOE for allegedly leaking trade secrets

Samsung Display has filed a complaint against BOE Technology and seven of its affiliates to the United States’ International Trade Commission, claiming the Chinese display makers violated trade secret regulations, an ITC document revealed on Friday. According to the document from the ITC, Samsung Display filed the complaint on Oct. 31, accusing the Chinese rival of violating a US Tariff Act in the US' importation and sales of organic light-emitting diode display modules and compon

Nov. 3, 2023

Yoon hosts private banquet with chaebol chiefs

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol invited the chiefs of the country's top conglomerates -- Samsung Electronics, SK Group and LG Group -- to a private banquet Tuesday to discuss pending issues, according to industry sources on Thursday. Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo were reportedly invited to the meeting at the presidential office in Yongsan, central Seoul, with Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair, leader of

Nov. 2, 2023