Samsung has no plan to cut chip production

Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest memory chip maker, has denied any plans to reduce production of memory chips, amid widespread fear of an economic slowdown and falling chip prices. “We have no plan to do so for now,” Han Jin-man, senior vice president of Samsung’s memory chip business division, told reporters at a tech forum on Wednesday in San Jose, California, in response to a question about potential production reduction plans. Han’s remarks come as Sam

Oct. 6, 2022

Heads of Samsung, SoftBank meet in Seoul

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong and SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son held talks on Tuesday over ways for a strategic alliance between the chips-to-mobile giant and SoftBank-backed chip intellectual property giant Arm, according to industry sources on Wednesday. The meeting at Samsung Electronics’ Seoul office was also accompanied by Samsung’s co-CEO Kyung Kye-hyun, who oversees semiconductor business, and mobile business chief Roh Tae-moon, as well as Arm CEO R

Oct. 5, 2022

LG Energy Solution launches two in-house ventures

LG Energy Solution said Wednesday it has launched two in-house ventures, called KooRoo and AVEL, allowing its employees more independence and flexibility to spur innovation in its battery business ecosystem. KooRoo is a battery as a service (BaaS) company that offers services based on data generated throughout the whole life cycle of batteries. Their first project is a battery pack replacement service for two-wheeled vehicles like an electric bicycle. AVEL is an energy as a service (EaaS) compan

Oct. 5, 2022

SK hynix seeks full autonomy on neon supply chain by 2024

South Korean memory chip manufacturer SK hynix on Wednesday pledged to achieve a 100 percent procurement of domestically produced neon gas, a critical material for chip production, by 2024. SK hynix added that 40 percent of neon gas used for chip production is already locally produced in Korean chipmakers' bid to stabilize chip supply chain and reduce their reliance on imports of the specialty gas. Neon gas makes up about 95 percent of excimer laser, a ultraviolet light source for photolith

Oct. 5, 2022

Naver to buy US social commerce platform Poshmark for $1.6b

South Korean IT giant Naver will buy Poshmark, the largest social commerce marketplace in North America, for a total of $1.6 billion (2.3 trillion won), the companies said Tuesday. Naver will acquire all of Poshmark stocks at $17.9 per share in a buyout worth approximately $1.2 billion. The rest of the $1.6 billion deal includes consideration for Poshmark’s cash holdings of some $580 million. As the biggest acquisition ever for a Korean IT company, Wednesday’s announcement marked t

Oct. 4, 2022

Samsung aims to produce 1.4nm chips from 2027

Samsung Electronics unveiled a five-year road map for its contract chipmaking business Monday, saying it would start producing chips using the 2-nanometer technology in 2025 and the 1.4-nanometer technology in 2027. The new plan came after the South Korean tech giant became the first chipmaker to produce chips on the 3nm production process, the most sophisticated chipmaking technology in the market, in June. Chips with smaller nanometer ratings are more powerful, as they can fit in more transist

Oct. 4, 2022

[From the Scene] SK expands manufacturing capacity to meet growing global demand

SEJONG -- SK Group, South Korea’s second-largest conglomerate by market capitalization, is looking to expand its contract development and manufacturing organization businesses with the completion of SK Biotek Sejong plant’s third pharmaceutical manufacturing facility. With SK Biotek’s Module 3 launch in September, the Sejong Plant’s total manufacturing capacity increased by over 50 percent to 290 cubic meters. Combined with Modules 1 and 2, the plant can now produce up t

Oct. 4, 2022

[Contribution] New R&D pre-feasibility study system 'dons the cape of innovation'

Since I took office as vice minister for science, technology and innovation, many of the opinions suggested by the research community called for improvement of the "preliminary feasibility study system for national research and development projects,” hereafter referred to as the “R&D pre-feasibility study.” Suppose a huge R&D project had been planned to develop high-performance technologies and state-of-the-art infrastructure in line with global trends. But when th

Oct. 4, 2022

Korea's 1st homegrown COVID-19 vaccine maker underlines global partnership

As SK Bioscience is poised to contribute to the world’s prolonged battle against the COVID-19 pandemic with its SKYCovione vaccine, the South Korean vaccine maker has underlined the importance of global partnerships in developing the country’s first homemade COVID-19 vaccine. SK Bioscience joined hands with the Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington School of Medicine to develop SKYCovione, a self-assembled nanoparticle vaccine. The development process was also

Oct. 3, 2022

All eyes on SoftBank chief’s Seoul visit on Arm deal

SoftBank Group Corp. CEO Masayoshi Son arrived in Seoul on Saturday to meet business leaders, including Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, on a possible deal involving UK chip designer Arm. His visit comes after the Samsung chief hinted at their planned meeting late last month upon arrival from a business trip to the UK, where Arm is based. In the next day, Son also confirmed the meeting, saying he planned to discuss a strategic alliance with Samsung on Arm. Their possible meet-up r

Oct. 3, 2022

Korean airports to expand operation of biometric check-in system

South Korean nationals traveling through South Korea’s airports are expected to enjoy wider access to a new check-in system that works with biometric information obtained through palm vein recognition technology. The Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearings Institute (KFTC) said Friday it had signed a business agreement with the Korea Airports Corporation and nine major financial corporations to operate the new biometric check-in system at 14 gateways across the country. Incheon Ai

Sept. 30, 2022

Chip wafer maker SK Siltron to invest W2.3tr by 2026

South Korean semiconductor chip wafer supplier SK Siltron announced Thursday that it plans to invest a combined 2.3 trillion won ($1.6 billion) over the course of five years until 2026. The capital will be used to increase the production capacity for its wafer plants in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province. SK Siltron will also create 1,000 new jobs for its wafer plants. As part of the plan, SK Siltron's board on Thursday approved a 855 billion won spending plan to expand the production capacity fo

Sept. 29, 2022

Lose your shoes on red dirt trails

On Baebongsan, a low-lying hill in Seoul’s eastern district of Dongdaemun, there’s a section of a trail that draws a particular type of visitors -- the barefoot walkers. Around lunchtime on a recent Thursday, people were traversing on the 350-meter-long path covered with a soft and fine reddish-yellow soil called loess, commonly referred to as "hwangto" here. Surrounded by leafy trees on both sides, the trail looked as if somebody had rolled out an orange-yellow carpet. Fam

Sept. 29, 2022

SK On, Global Lithium join forces for battery material supply

South Korean lithium-ion battery cell maker SK On and Australian mining company Global Lithium Resources have signed a two-year nonbinding agreement over the supply of critical materials for batteries used in electric cars. The two companies agreed to explore future business opportunities including the potential development of downstream battery-grade lithium assets for at least two years in western Australia. Under the agreement, SK On also pledged to support Global Lithium's capital rai

Sept. 29, 2022

Samsung’s SmartThings devices exceed 10 million units

Samsung Electronics’ smart home platform SmartThings has hit the 10 million mark in connecting devices and home appliances around the world as of Sept. 12, the South Korean tech giant said Wednesday. Launched in 2018, the app aims to connect small and larger appliances from refrigerators and washing machines to air purifier and dishwashers via smartphones. More recently, Samsung is increasingly teaming up with other brands to bolster connectivity. The number of connected devices has double

Sept. 28, 2022

Korea eyes world No. 3 spot in digital competitiveness by 2027

The South Korean government on Wednesday unveiled a blueprint to become a global leader in digital innovation with the goal of becoming the world's third most digitally competitive by 2027. "We will bring up our global (artificial intelligence) competitiveness to No. 3 in the world and double the data market size to 50 trillion won ($34.7 billion) or bigger," said President Yoon Suk-yeol as he chaired the eighth pangovernmental meeting on economy and people's livelihood at the Kimdaej

Sept. 28, 2022

LG publishes 1st groupwide ESG report

South Korea's consumer electronics-to-battery conglomerate LG Group has published its first annual report that revolves around its groupwide efforts to tackle environmental, social and governance issues, a holding company LG Corp. announced Wednesday. This is in line with the group's push to disclose nonfinancial performance such as actions to fight climate change, reduce and recycle waste, offer financial supports to vendors and local communities, as well as ensure boardroom diversity

Sept. 28, 2022

Samsung Biologics earns gold status in EcoVadis' CSR rating

Samsung Biologics has scored a “Gold Sustainability Rating” from global business evaluator EcoVadis for its sustainability efforts, the South Korean contract development and manufacturing organization company said Wednesday. According to Samsung Biologics, the CDMO giant received a score of 71 out of 100, up 14 points from the silver rating it earned last year. The company was among the top 5 percent of more than 100,000 firms in 200 industries across 175 countries assessed by EcoVad

Sept. 28, 2022

[Herald Interview] Why Korean chip engineers should watch next-gen standard

More servers require faster semiconductor speeds in high performance computing technologies, to meet the growing demand for big data analytics and autonomous mobility. But a disparity in transfer speed between processors and memory chips have long been an obstacle for further computing system performance improvement, often creating a network bottleneck within a chipset. This is why memory chip engineers should get a load of the next-generation interconnect standard blueprints, although they are

Sept. 28, 2022

'Memory downcycle could last until 2025'

  SUWON, Gyeonggi Province -- The memory chip upcycle has already peaked this year, while the downcycle is projected to continue until 2025 in a worst-case scenario, an executive from the US-based market intelligence IDC said Tuesday. Kim Soo-kyoum, associate vice president of semiconductor at IDC, cited a sharp decline in consumer demand and the projected price drop over the course of three years with the introduction of new chip factories and the growing competition in NAND flash industry

Sept. 27, 2022