Samsung C&T shareholders vote down activists' dividend hike proposal

Samsung C&T has made it through a challenging proxy season with its shareholders backing its 10 percent increase plan for dividend payouts, averting resistance from activist funds that called for significantly higher returns. Its shares sank nearly 10 percent after the general shareholders meeting took place Friday. The company's proposal to pay a dividend of 2,550 won ($1.90) per common share and 2,600 won for each preferred share was approved. Among valid stocks with voting rights, 77

March 15, 2024

Naver CEO marks 2nd year with stable growth, corporate reform

Thursday marked the second anniversary of Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon taking office. Under the executive's leadership, the internet giant has enjoyed stable growth, setting annual earnings records two consecutive years. Naver logged an all-time high operating profit of 1.49 trillion won ($1.13 billion) and sales of 9.67 trillion won last year. It recorded 8.22 trillion won in annual sales in 2022, surpassing the 8 trillion won mark for the first time. Choi has undertaken management innovation e

March 14, 2024

Trade chief says US chip subsidies coming

The US Commerce Department is expected soon to announce the amount of federal funding it will spend to support Korean chipmakers building facilities on its land, the Korean trade minister said on Tuesday, US time. “The US government is expected to announce the subsidy plan for Korean firms as soon as around the end of March,” Minister for Trade Jeong In-kyo told reporters at Dallas International Airport in Texas, as he was traveling to the country for the first time after having been

March 13, 2024

[Photo News] AI TV era

Samsung Electronics President Yong Seok-woo, who leads the company's visual display business, poses with the company’s new Neo QLED 8K TV, the tech giant's first TV featuring on-device artificial intelligence, in Seoul on Wednesday. Its feature called "AI upscaling" automatically enhances the resolution of content viewers watch and identifies crucial or moving elements to add special effects for an enhanced viewer experience. (Samsung Electronics)

March 13, 2024

LG invests $60m in Silicon Valley robot startup

LG Electronics is making a strategic investment in Bear Robotics in the US in a move to expedite the advancement of its commercial service robotics, the company said Tuesday. The tech giant said it has executed a stock purchase agreement to acquire a stake in Bear Robotics, a prominent Silicon Valley-based startup specializing in artificial intelligence-driven autonomous service robots, through an investment of $60 million. LG’s strategic investment comes as the company is preparing for a

March 12, 2024

Samsung to debut washer-dryer combo globally in Q2

Samsung Electronics said Monday it would launch its latest Bespoke AI Combo, a combined washer and dryer powered by artificial intelligence, in global markets in the next few months. "Shipments to the US have already started for their launch later this month," Lee Moo-hyung, executive vice president and head of the customer experience team of the digital appliances business at the company, said during a press briefing. “Their global launch, including in Southeast Asia, is slated

March 11, 2024

HD Hyundai partners with Naver to speed up digital transformation

HD Hyundai has teamed up with Naver to accelerate its digital transformation, the South Korean shipbuilding giant said Monday. According to the announcement, representatives from the South Korean shipbuilding conglomerate and the country’s information technology giant signed a memorandum of understanding to bolster the former’s cloud transformation and artificial intelligence business at the latter’s second data center, known as Gak Sejong, in the the city of Sejong. Under the

March 11, 2024

Samsung Display CEO named display industry association chief

South Korea will take back its sales lead in the global display market by 2027 with its technological edge, Samsung Display CEO Choi Joo-sun said Thursday upon his appointment as the new head of the Korea Display Industry Association. Choi vowed to boost the Korean industry's standing on the global stage through close collaboration with the government during his three-year term. "The Chinese government is spending a huge sum of money to foster its domestic display panel industry. So I

March 8, 2024

Seoul court bans former SK hynix chip researcher from working for US rival

In the wake of heated competition for chip supremacy, a Seoul court has stepped in to block a former chip researcher involved in chip design at SK hynix from working for US-based rival Micron Technology, alleging possible technology leaks. According to industry sources on Thursday, Seoul Central District Court granted permission to an injunction request filed by SK hynix late last month to prevent the former researcher from working for another company, and ordered the executive to pay 10 milli

March 7, 2024

Samsung may build Google’s next Tensor chip: sources

Samsung Electronics' foundry division is expected to get a boost as Google reportedly plans to build its new Tensor G4 chipset based on Samsung’s latest Exynos 2400 blueprint, according to industry sources on Wednesday. Google's new Pixel 9 smartphone is set to launch in the latter half of this year, and it is highly anticipated to incorporate the upcoming Tensor G4 chipset. SamMobile and other industry sources predict Samsung Foundry to produce Google's new chipset leveragi

March 6, 2024

[Photo News] Empowering women

From left: American Chamber of Commerce in Korea Chairman and CEO James Kim, US Embassy in Korea deputy chief of mission Joy M. Sakurai, Citibank Korea CEO Yoo Myung-soon, P&G Korea General Manager Lee Chee-young and Christina Ahn, client partner of Korn Ferry, attend a panel discussion during an International Women’s Day luncheon hosted by AmCham Korea in Seoul on Wednesday. During the event, business leaders shared their unique personal career journeys and delved into strategies fo

March 6, 2024

Naver, Aramco team up for digital innovation in Middle East

Korean internet giant Naver on Wednesday said it has signed a partnership with Aramco Digital, a technology subsidiary of Saudi Aramco, for digital innovation in the Middle East and North Africa. Under the deal, the two sides agreed to build a sovereign cloud and super app optimized for the Middle East region. They will also join forces to develop sovereign artificial intelligence based on the Arabic language model. “Aramco Digital is the best partner to implement Naver's cutting-edge

March 6, 2024

Naver to debut new OS for robots at Saudi tech show

Korean internet giant Naver said Tuesday that it is debuting the world’s first web platform-enabled operating system for robots, called “Arc mind,” at this week’s LEAP 2024, a tech trade show held in Saudi Arabia. The company said the new platform combines the web platform technology of Naver Cloud’s Whale and the robotics software technology of Naver Labs. "Team Naver has continuously expanded its tech portfolio from web platform to robotics software by develo

March 5, 2024

Yanolja makes big cloud push for US listing

South Korean travel platform operator Yanolja is making a big push in cloud services, as it seeks to transform itself into a global tech solutions provider. As the company accelerates the expansion of its overseas solutions business, market watchers and investors are paying keen attention to whether the company will go public on the US stock market this year. According to industry sources on Tuesday, Yanolja is preparing for an initial public offering on either the New York Stock Exchange or Nas

March 5, 2024

Abu Dhabi welcomes Korean touch in boosting creative economy

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates – A fleet of chartered busses lined up to drop off Chinese tourists at the entrance of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the Arab franchise of the famous French museum – a rare scene in the capital of the United Arab Emirates where most of the visitors come from India, Saudi Arabia, the US, and the UK. Located on a 24,000 square-meter site within the city’s Saadiyat Cultural District, the museum, known for its enormous metallic silver canopy, is a testament

March 5, 2024

SK hynix denies being pressured to support merger of smaller rivals

SK hynix, the world’s second-largest memory chipmaker, on Monday denied Japanese reports that the Korean government pressured the company to support the merger of its rival chipmakers, Western Digital and Kioxia Holdings. Japanese news outlets, including Asahi Shimbun, citing unidentified sources, reported that Western Digital of the US and Kioxia of Japan, the world’s No. 3 and 4 memory chipmakers, are resuming their merger talks in April. In the deal process, they added, SK hynix,

March 5, 2024

LG Display to issue W1.29tr of shares in renewed OLED push

LG Display confirmed Monday that it is issuing new shares to raise 1.29 trillion won ($970 million) to bolster investments in OLED displays for smartphones and other mobile gadgets while improving its financial stability. The move comes as the display maker has recently recovered from operating losses. In a regulatory filing earlier in the day, the company said it is issuing new shares at 9,090 won apiece, which is lower than the 10,070 won fixed in the previous capital increase in January. The

March 4, 2024

S. Koreans spend 40 hours a month watching YouTube on phones

An average South Korean spends about 40 hours a month using YouTube on smartphones, a local report showed Monday, as the video-sharing platform's popularity on its mobile platform proved to be higher than in any other country across the globe. Market analysis firm Wiseapp/Retail/Goods analyzed the apps used by South Koreans via Android and iOS mobile operating systems, which, combined account for roughly 98 percent of smartphones in the country. They found that the combined number of hours

March 4, 2024

Global tech titans rush to visit Seoul to win AI leadership

With the competition in artificial intelligence-based services intensifying globally, heads of Big Tech firms have visited Korea one after another to enhance cooperation with Korean tech companies and take the lead in burgeoning markets. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Toronto-based AI chip startup Tenstorrent CEO Jim Keller visited Korea last week. Just a month after the visit of Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, the two tech titans seemed to hurry to visit here for consultations on their cooperation

March 3, 2024

Korean stocks benefit from Zuckerberg's Seoul visit

Following the high-profile visit of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg this week, stocks related to advanced technologies including artificial intelligence, augmented reality and display panels are gaining attention. In a report on Friday, Korea Investment and Securities suggested eight stocks, including Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, that would benefit from Zuckerberg's visit to Seoul. Traveling to Korea for the first time in about a decade, Zuckerberg met with President Yoon Suk Yeol and b

March 1, 2024