LG's smartphone sales up 25 pct on-year in 2014

South Korea's No. 2 tech giant, LG Electronics Inc., is estimated to have posted a 25 percent gain in its smartphone sales last year from a year earlier, industry sources said Thursday, taking a step closer to claiming the third spot in the global market.The combined smartphone shipment of LG Electronics is estimated at 59.6 million units for 2014, up from the 47.6 million units posted a year earlier, the sources said. Industry watchers earlier expected its sales would hover around 60 million un

Jan. 22, 2015

Hyundai Motor labor union to appeal against controversial wage ruling

Hyundai Motor Co.'s labor union said Wednesday it will appeal against a recent court ruling unfavorable to the automaker's employees that said the company should include bonuses as ordinary wages for some workers.Last week, the Seoul Central District Court ordered Hyundai Motor, the country's top automaker, to count regular bonuses as part of ordinary salaries only for some employees and to pay three years of outstanding bonuses retroactively.The ruling was mostly in favor of the automaker as th

Jan. 21, 2015

Microsoft debuts machine-learning platform in S. Korea

Microsoft Korea rolled out its first machine-learning tool in South Korea on Wednesday as the firm moves to expand clout in advanced technology based on fast-growing cloud computing systems.  Azure machine-learning, which runs on Microsoft's namesake cloud system, is an analysis platform developed by the U.S. software giant that offers predictions for a specific case set by the user. When a user inputs enough data to create a model for a certain case, Azure machine-learning produces a pattern us

Jan. 21, 2015

Samsung Electronics says considering stock split

Samsung Electronics Co., South Korea's largest firm by market value, has been considering splitting its stock to lower the high price tag of its shares but will look more into the long-term effect before making any decision, a senior executive said Tuesday."(Samsung Electronics) has been looking into whether stock splits actually have a positive impact on the company's value," Lee Myung-jin, a senior investor relations official at Samsung Electronics, said in a meeting hosted by the Korea Exchan

Jan. 20, 2015

Hyundai's Sonata PHEV cited as top 8 noteworthy eco cars

Hyundai Motor Co.'s Sonata plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) ranked fifth among the top eight "noteworthy" eco-friendly vehicles unveiled during this year's Detroit motor show, a U.S. eco car review website said Tuesday.The website (www.hybridcars.com) selected eight noteworthy eco-friendly cars unveiled during the motor show. The C350 PHEV of Mercedes-Benz, Acura NSX of Honda and Chevrolet Volt were among the vehicles."Hyundai can now take its place alongside Ford, Toyota, GM and others in

Jan. 20, 2015

Korean Air sees int'l flight passengers decline in 2014

The number of passengers using international flights of South Korea's largest flag carrier, Korean Air Lines Co., dropped for the second straight year in 2014 in the face of intensifying competition from low-cost carriers, industry data showed Tuesday.According to the data provided by Incheon International Airport Corp. and Korea Airports Corp., about 16.6 million people used Korean Air's international flights last year, down 0.3 percent from a year earlier.This marked the second straight year t

Jan. 20, 2015

Court ruling on ordinary wages 'credit positive' for Hyundai

Moody's Investors Service, a global credit rating agency, said Monday the recent court ruling on ordinary wages for Hyundai Motor Co. employees is "credit positive" for the automaking giant since the resulting extra cost will be "manageable."On Friday, a Seoul court ordered Hyundai Motor to include regular bonuses as part of ordinary salaries for only a small number of employees, reducing the potential extra cost for the country's largest automaker from trillions of won to roughly 11 billion won

Jan. 19, 2015

Samsung Techwin to supply airplane parts to GE

Samsung Techwin Co., the defense and precision machinery unit of South Korea's largest conglomerate Samsung, said Monday that it has signed a deal with General Electric to provide airplane engine parts for the next 10 years. The deal calls for Samsung Techwin to provide 18 types of airplane engines parts from 2016 to 2025 to the U.S. company, which is one of the world's major airplane engine producers. Samsung Techwin expects the supply deal would translate into around US$430 million in sales. I

Jan. 19, 2015

Shinsegae to invest record 3.4 tln won this year

South Korean retail conglomerate Shinsegae on Monday said it plans to spend a record 3.4 trillion won (US$3.1 billion) this year as it readies to launch mega malls and gear up against the local arrival of e-commerce giants Amazon and Alibaba.The planned amount is roughly 50 percent higher compared with its 2.24 trillion won spending last year. It is also bigger than its previous record investment of 2.3 trillion won in 2013.The retail conglomerate, which operates its namesake department store ch

Jan. 19, 2015

Samsung set to sell 30 mln Tizen TVs in 2015

South Korea's tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. plans to sell 30 million units of Tizen-powered quantum-dot TVs in 2015, an industry source said Monday, as it fights to keep its top spot in global TV sales that it has maintained since 2006.The outlook came as the source with knowledge of inside matters said the company has planned to have Tizen models take up 50 percent of its combined TV sales for 2015, which are estimated at 60 million units.Tizen is an open-source operating system for smart

Jan. 19, 2015

Samsung likely to invest 50 tln won in 2015

Samsung Group, South Korea's top family-run conglomerate, is expected to spend 50 trillion won ($46.3 billion) for facility and R&D investment this year, a company official said, a similar amount from last year, following a reshuffle with its chairman, Lee Kun-hee, still sick in bed.Samsung is estimated to have invested between 49 trillion and 50 trillion won in 2014, according to market analysts, moderately increasing the expenditure every year from 42 trillion won in 2011."It seems to be an am

Jan. 14, 2015

Corporate facility investment expected to increase this year

South Korean manufacturers are likely to increase their facility investment in 2015 with makers of appliances, machineries and autos taking the lead, a business poll showed Tuesday.According to the survey of 500 manufacturers by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the manufacturers' facility investment is predicted to rise an average 3.4 percent this year from a year ago.Of the respondents, 31.4 percent said they will increase their capital expenditures this year to expand existing facil

Jan. 13, 2015

LG Uplus shortlisted for Ticket Monster takeover

LG Uplus Inc., South Korea's smallest mobile carrier, has been shortlisted for the stake sale of Ticket Monster Inc., the first deal-of-the-day website in the country currently owned by U.S. Groupon Inc., company and industry sources said Friday.LG Uplus said in a regulatory filing that it has submitted a letter of intent for the bid. The company spokesman declined to comment further, citing that it's an ongoing deal.The Seoul-based arm of Deutche Bank AG that manages the deal has picked LG Uplu

Jan. 9, 2015

LG rolls out smart platforms at CES, taps IoT industry

South Korea's No. 2 tech giant LG Electronics Inc. on Tuesday showcased its new smart platforms at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) taking place in Las Vegas, adding the platforms will help it expand its footprint in Internet-of-Things (IoT) businesses.At this year's CES, LG showcased the Web OS 2.0, an updated version of the Web OS smart TV platform released last year. The company said the new system will deliver a more convenient user experience by boasting a faster speed.The company said i

Jan. 6, 2015

Samsung Electronics ranks No. 2 in R&D spending in 2013

South Korea's top tech giant, Samsung Electronics Co., ranked No. 2 in research and development (R&D) spending for the second consecutive year in 2013, data showed Tuesday.According to the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Evaluation and Planning (KISTEP), which cited the data compiled by the European Commission, Samsung spent 10.16 billion euros (US$12.12 billion) on R&D projects in 2013, lower than the 11.7 billion euros by German carmaker Volkswagen AG.U.S.-based Microsoft Corp. with

Jan. 6, 2015

Combined sales of Hyundai, Kia in U.S. hit record high in 2014

Hyundai Motor Group, the world's fifth-largest automaker, said Monday that its U.S. sales reached an all-time high in 2014 despite lingering worries over slowing global economic recovery and intensifying competition from Japanese rivals supported by the weak yen.Hyundai Motor America (HMA) and Kia Motors America (KMA), the distribution and marketing arms of the group's flagship companies, said that they sold 725,718 cars and 580,234 vehicles last year, up 0.7 percent and 8.4 percent from a year

Jan. 6, 2015

Samsung to fund US$100 mln to IoT developers

South Korea's top tech giant, Samsung Electronics Co., said Tuesday it plans to inject US$100 million into funding start-ups and developers of the Internet-of-Things (IoT) technologies, adding all Samsung products will be connected to the IoT network by 2020."The IoT is the source of infinite potential that can enrich livelihoods and protect people depending on their needs and situations, further changing society and the economy," said Yoon Boo-keun, who heads Samsung Electronics' consumer produ

Jan. 6, 2015

Hyundai Motor to invest 81 tln won by 2018

Hyundai Motor Group, the world's fifth-largest automaker, said Tuesday it will invest about 81 trillion won (US$73 billion) over the next four years as it seeks to become a global leader by improving facilities and securing core technologies. Hyundai Motor Group said it will spend 49.1 trillion won in building new plants and expanding facilities by 2018, and invest 31.6 trillion won on research and development. The large-scale investment is aimed at obtaining key technologies needed to produce e

Jan. 6, 2015

Taeyoung Engineering wins 55.28 bln won order in Bangladesh

South Korean builder Taeyoung Engineering & Construction Co. said Monday it has clinched a 55.28 billion won (US$49.76 million) order to build a water treatment plant in Bangladesh. Under the deal with Chittagong Water Supply and Sewerage Authority, a semi-autonomous municipal utility that provides water supply and sanitation services in Bangladesh, Taeyoung will construct a water treatment facility in the southeastern port region of Modunaghat in the South Asian country, the company said in a r

Jan. 5, 2015

Daum Kakao takes over childcare solution provider

South Korea's top mobile messenger operator Daum Kakao Corp. said Monday it has purchased a whole stake in Kids Note Inc., a local childcare solutions provider, in line with its efforts to expand its "online to offline (O2O)" business portfolio.Under the move, Daum Kakao plans to offer childcare application services to 14,000 local kindergarten, private institutions, and other childcare-related institutions in South Korea. The companies did not reveal the size of the deal.Kids Note allows instit

Jan. 5, 2015