Samsung Food to debut at IFA

Samsung Electronics said Thursday it would be launching a new food platform application offering personalized recipes and diet plan services using artificial intelligence at this year’s IFA, set to be held in Berlin early next month. The new platform, Samsung Food, would integrate all the food-related functions and services Samsung has launched previously, such as Family Hub’s Smart Recipe, the company said. Using the app, the users can search for recipes of dishes around the world

Aug. 24, 2023

[Photo News] LG Chief in business trip

LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo is briefed on quantum technology from Xanadu CEO Christian Weedbrook at the Canadian quantum computing company’s headquarters in Toronto, Tuesday. On his four-day trip to the US and Canada, the LG chief inspected the group’s business operations, including LG Chemical’s Innovation center in Boston and LG Electronics’ AI research center in Toronto, and visited a number of local institutes to discuss possible cooperation. (LG Corp.)

Aug. 24, 2023

This year's Merck Award winners announced

Merck Korea, the Korean unit of the German chemicals giant Merck, said Thursday that two Korean display specialists were named as the winners of its Merck Award this year during the International Meeting of Information Displays held at Bexco in Busan this week. Marking its 20th anniversary this year, the Merck Award recognizes scientists for their outstanding scientific contributions to display technology. This year, Jeong Jae-kyeong, a professor at Hanyang University, won the top honor, the Mer

Aug. 24, 2023

Finance expert Bang Moon-kyu tapped as new industry minister

President Yoon Suk Yeol tapped Bang Moon-kyu, the existing government policy coordination minister, as the new minister for trade, industry and energy, his office said Tuesday. Born in 1962, Bang, a finance expert, passed the civil service exam in 1984, before spending most of his career as a public servant in the finance ministry and in the field of budget planning. Before being appointed as the policy coordination minister last year, he served as the head of the state-run Export-Import Bank

Aug. 22, 2023

[KH Explains] Did social upheaval fuel the superconductor hype?

The outsized reaction to the LK-99 superconductor in South Korea could very much be due to people’s desperate need to escape reality. In the past few weeks, young Koreans online fantasized about a unified nation with dominant global power, all thanks to the homegrown invention of a room-temperature superconductor. These whimsical scenarios, spreading like wildfire on online communities and social media, portrayed a world where South Korea gets a seat at the UN Security Council, the won b

Aug. 22, 2023

Researchers find hope in fight against age-related muscle loss

Researchers in South Korea have developed the world’s first technology with the potential for treating sarcopenia, an age-related disorder with progressive and generalized loss of muscle mass and strength, Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology said Tuesday. The research team led by Kim Min-seok, a biology professor at DGIST, turned to electrical stimulation as a solution to cope with sarcopenia. The scientists first developed an electrical stimulation screening platform that

Aug. 22, 2023

LG Electronics-made cosmetics products to debut next year

LG Electronics is considering launching cosmetics products in line with the release of a new model of its skin care device under the in-house home beauty brand Pra.L in the first half of next year, according to its recent semi-annual report on DART, the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure board. An LG Electronics official said Tuesday the company is in talks to collaborate with a local cosmetic manufacturer rather than producing the products itself. “We may go throug

Aug. 22, 2023

Big 4 chaebol groups seek to rebuild FKI

South Korea’s top four chaebol groups -- Samsung, SK, Hyundai Motor and LG -- are likely to rejoin the Federation of Korean Industries, the disgraced business lobby group that has remained practically defunct for years following the revelation of its role in a massive influence-peddling scandal in 2016. According to industry sources on Monday, key affiliates of the nation’s top conglomerates recently held board meetings to approve them rejoining the FKI. The latest decision comes a

Aug. 21, 2023

SK hynix unveils HBM3E, supplies sample to Nvidia

South Korean chipmaker SK hynix announced Monday it has successfully developed HBM3E, the next generation top performing DRAM chip for artificial intelligence applications. The chipmaker also said its customer is evaluating the sample of the new product. High Bandwidth Memory is a high-value, high-performance memory that vertically interconnects multiple DRAM chips, enabling a dramatic increase in data processing speed in comparison to earlier DRAM products. HBM3E is the extended version of the

Aug. 21, 2023

SKT buys stake in AI developer Persona.AI

South Korea's largest telecommunications carrier SK Telecom said Monday that it has become the third-largest shareholder of Persona.AI, a Seoul-based artificial intelligence contact center, or AICC. The company did not disclose other details, including the deal size and the amount of the stakes it secured. An AICC offers 24-hour customer consultations via AI chatbots and callbots. Persona.AI, using its own natural language processing engine, offers related solutions and subscription-based s

Aug. 21, 2023

[From the scene] AI-powered memorial keeps legacy of independence fighters alive

CHEONAN, South Chungcheong Province -- Commemorating the 78th anniversary of the Aug. 15 Liberation Day this year, the state-run Independence Hall of Korea and the country’s largest telecommunications carrier SK Telecom have joined forces to restore faded photos of independence fighters and animate them using artificial intelligence. Under a partnership signed in 2020, the Independence Hall and SK Telecom kicked off a five-year project to turn the memorial into a high-tech “Eco-Mus

Aug. 20, 2023

Innospace secures launch point in Australia

Innospace, a South Korean startup specializing in hybrid space rockets and small satellites, announced Thursday that it secured a five-year agreement with Equatorial Launch Australia, a space launch services provider, to conduct orbital launches from the provider’s Arnhem Space Centre for its HANBIT family of launch vehicles. The contract, lasting until December 2028, guarantees ELA's assistance in securing an Australian launch permit for the company, increasing optimal launch sites f

Aug. 18, 2023

[Photo News] LG’s big push in Europe

LG Electronics said Thursday it will introduce its new built-in kitchen package at this year’s IFA trade show held in Berlin, Germany, Sept. 1-5. With the new built-in kitchens, which boast better energy efficiency and premium style, the tech giant aims to expand its presence in built-in home appliance markets in Europe and North America, which make up more than 70 percent of global sales. (LG Electronics)

Aug. 17, 2023

Samsung’s Taylor fab secures first order from AI startup Groq

Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest memory chip maker, has forged a partnership with Groq, a US-based artificial intelligence inference systems provider, securing the first chip order for its semiconductor fab currently in construction in Texas. Groq revealed in a press release on Monday (US time) that it has established ties with Samsung Foundry to be its “next-gen silicon partner,” saying the collaboration will support the company’s growth to consistently “ou

Aug. 16, 2023

Samsung sells ASML stakes to secure W3tr

Samsung Electronics sold a portion of its stakes in Dutch chip equipment maker ASML and secured 3 trillion won ($2.24 billion) in cash, the company reported in its semi-annual report Monday. In the report, the world’s No. 1 memory chipmaker reported that it held 2.75 million shares in ASML stocks, equivalent to 0.7 percent, at the end of June, down from the 1.6 percent or 6.29 million shares from the end of March this year. In selling its shares, Samsung appears to have secured significant

Aug. 16, 2023

[Photo News] Diary-keeping air purifier

The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology said Wednesday that a research paper about an air purifier that generates a diary, developed by a team led by industrial design professor Nam Taek-jin, has become Korea's first to win an honorable mention at this year's ACM Designing Interactive Systems conference. The air purifier, named Areca, shows how future objects could potentially have feelings and consciousness with the development of artificial intelligence. (KAIST)

Aug. 16, 2023

SK Telecom, OpenAI to host hackathon

SK Telecom, South Korea's leading telecommunications carrier, said Wednesday that it will host a hackathon event with California-based startup OpenAI next month in Seoul to discover talent who are likely to lead the future artificial intelligence industry. Prompter Day Seoul 2023 will run under the theme of developing services that can help humanity through AI. Planners, developers and designers who are interested in generative AIs can participate in the competition to develop services and

Aug. 16, 2023

[Photo News] Batik-themed Ioniq 5

Indonesian Ambassador to Korea Gandi Sulistiyanto (second from left) poses with Hyundai Motor’s Ioniq 5 Batik edition during the Gaikindo Indonesia International Auto Show held in Jakarta on Thursday. The car is a special edition of Hyundai’s flagship electric compact inspired by Indonesia’s traditional dyeing technique, commemorating the 50th anniversary of bilateral ties between South Korea and Indonesia. The South Korean carmaker is the largest EV producer in Indonesia. (Cou

Aug. 16, 2023

[KH Explains] Chinese server robots gobbling up Korean market

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, local restaurants and hotels have been increasingly adopting server robots, and almost seven out of 10 are believed to be from China. According to industry estimates, there were about 5,000 server robots last year, a surge from some 3,000 units in 2021. This year, the figure is expected nearly to double to 10,000 units. In a recent report, the Korean Association of Robot Industry said China-made robots made up about 70 percent of the total number of server robots

Aug. 15, 2023

Chip inventory of Samsung, SK hits W50tr

Samsung Electronics’ chip division and SK hynix have seen their inventories surge in the first half of this year, surpassing a combined 50 trillion won ($37.3 billion), according to the semi-annual reports released by the two firms on DART, the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure board Tuesday. Samsung's device solutions division in charge of the tech giant's chip business saw total assets on its inventory jump 15.9 percent on-year to 33.7 trillion at the e

Aug. 15, 2023