SK hynix's Q2 sales surpass W10tr

SK hynix, the world’s second-largest memory provider, surpassed the 10 trillion-won ($8.69 billion) mark in quarterly sales for the first time in three years amid a continuing chip boom. According to the chipmaker’s earnings announcement Tuesday, the company recorded 10.3 trillion won in sales in the April-June period, up 20 percent from the same period last year, owing to the improved conditions in the memory market since early this year. The chipmaker last breached the 10 trill

July 27, 2021

Samsung's mobile chief vows to widen foldable phone market

Samsung Electronics will take the lead in widening the foldable smartphone market by offering more refined and durable products this year, the company‘s executive in charge of the mobile phone business said Tuesday. Roh Tae-moon, president of Samsung Mobile, pledged to provide improved foldable devices at the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event slated for Aug. 11 through a message posted on the company’s newsroom homepage. “The upcoming Galaxy Z Fold combines the very be

July 27, 2021

Samsung to launch industry's first Mini LED curved gaming monitor

Samsung Electronics Co. said Tuesday its new curved gaming monitor with Mini LED display will be launched this week. The Odyssey Neo G9 will hit the shelves in South Korea on Thursday with a price of 2.4 million won ($2,085). It will be globally available by Aug. 9, according to the tech giant. The latest product is the industry's first curved gaming monitor with Mini LED display, Samsung said. It uses the Quantum Mini LED light source that is 1/40 the height of a conventional LED, which is al

July 27, 2021

Korean companies jump onto NFT bandwagon

A growing number of South Korean companies are rushing to join the fledgling digital blockchain market based on nonfungible tokens, as artists, museums and diverse digital asset holders are exploring the potential of the new segment. 　 An NFT, a unit of data stored on a digital ledger, is gaining popularity as a way for people and companies to use the blockchain technology to buy and sell the ownership of digital assets, ranging from works of art to games and videos. Korean companies with a

July 26, 2021

Celltrion pushes for COVID-19 treatment against delta variant

South Korean pharmaceutical giant Celltrion has submitted for global review the results of an animal study which it said suggested the efficacy of its COVID-19 treatment Regkirona against the delta variant, the firm said Monday. It also added that its US partner tasked with developing an inhaled version of the monoclonal antibody treatment also known as CT-P59 or regdanvimab has secured a $7 million funding from the US Army Medical Research & Development Command. According to the compan

July 26, 2021

Government spending less on research equipment

South Korean government spending on research equipment and facilities declined during the five years ending in 2019, but the country spent more on research and development during the same time frame, a report said Sunday. According to the paper by the Korea Institute of S&T Evaluation and Planning based on 2019 data, the government spent 678.5 billion won ($588.97 million) on research hardware in 2019, down from 930.2 billion won in 2017 and 971.1 billion won in 2015. Over the 2015-201

July 25, 2021

[Weekender] Electric personalities: New breed of influencers

Not content with stopping at fast-food tills, toll booths and bank tellers, tech is coming for influencers’ jobs, too. A new wave of artificial intelligence-created digital characters has leapt across the uncanny valley -- the chasm in appeal for renderings that are unsettlingly, but not convincingly lifelike -- and risen to the fore of the marketing world, in some cases clinching deals worth millions of dollars. Korean companies have developed their own virtual influencers, but they a

July 24, 2021

Merck launches cost-effective, eco-friendly solvent for chip production

German material technology company Merck said Friday it has developed a new lineup of green solvents for use in photolithographic processes in semiconductor manufacturing. The new solvent lineup is called AZ 910 Remover, which according to the firm is N-methylpyrrolidone-free solvent designed for faster dissolution of photoresist patterns in a cost-effective and greener way with its outstanding resist-dissolution performance. Semiconductor production facilities traditionally use negative

July 23, 2021

Samsung sees sales of air conditioners double amid heatwave

Samsung Electronics said Friday its sales of air conditioners have more than doubled so far this month, compared to a year ago, due to the sweltering heat. From July 1 to 22, the company saw its sales of air conditioners spike more than twice from the same period in 2020, the company said. Sales of Bespoke Wind-free Gallery, the company’s highest-end air conditioner, have jumped more than 95 percent in July compared to a year earlier. To further drive sales, Samsung is offering up to

July 23, 2021

[Newsmaker] August critical month for Samsung and its leader

Expectations are high that Samsung Electronics, which for months deliberated on a new, $17 billion US investment plan, may finally be ready to make an official announcement in August. According to industry sources on Friday, Samsung is accelerating the internal process for concluding its plan to construct a new chip fabrication line for foundry in the US. Some news reports said Thursday that the City of Austin in Texas, where the South Korean firm already has a chip plant up and running, is

July 23, 2021

Naver posts all-time high quarterly earnings in Q2

South Korea‘s top internet portal operator Naver reached all-time highs in the second quarter this year, backed by improved performances of the company’s new businesses. According to Naver, the company’s sales in the April-June period reached 1.66 trillion won ($1.44 billion), increasing 30.4 percent from 1.2 trillion won from a year earlier. In the second quarter last year, Naver’s sales totaled around 1.9 trillion won, but 680 billion won of the total sales was from

July 22, 2021

Merck starts mass production of OLED material for smartphones

Merck, the cutting-edge material developer from Germany, said Thursday the company has started mass production of hole transport materials for organic light-emitting diode displays used in smartphones. Better known as HTM, the material is applied to common layers of OLED panels, and helps improve the efficiency and lifespan of panels, the company said. Merck, which has been supplying the material for Korea’s largest OLED panel maker LG Display for large-size displays, will expand its

July 22, 2021

Telcon RF obtains approval for safety test of Humanigen's COVID-19 treatment

Telcon RF Pharmaceutical has received approval to carry out a phase 1 clinical study of Humanigen‘s COVID-19 treatment lenzilumab in South Korea, the company said Thursday. Lenzilumab is a monoclonal antibody drug developed by Humanigen for treating hospitalized patients with COVID-19. Telcon RF and its parent company KPM Tech are responsible for gaining regulatory approval and commercialization authorization of lenzilumab in South Korea and the Philippines, under the licensing transact

July 22, 2021

[Herald Interview] Group14 CEO eyes batteries of tomorrow

What battery manufacturers want is simple: to make their batteries more powerful. To this end, battery makers are taking various efforts to innovate their recipes, including putting more nickel inside cathodes or silicon in graphite anodes. They also form technological partnerships, and the latest example is the joint venture created by SK Materials and Group14 Technologies. On Monday, SK Materials, SK Group’s industrial gas manufacturing arm, announced its $52 million investment i

July 22, 2021

SK Telecom eyes sharing 3G network with rival carrier

SK Telecom Co., South Korea's top wireless carrier, is reviewing measures to share its 3G network with a rival carrier amid declining users on the aging service, a company report showed Thursday. The carrier said in its annual sustainability report that it is considering measures to share its 3G network with a "competitor" as a way to offset operating costs amid a declining user base. "Demand for 3G is declining while network operating costs for 3G remain still," its Englis

July 22, 2021

SK hynix's acquisition of Intel's NAND biz gets approval from Singapore

Singapore's antitrust watchdog has approved SK hynix Inc.'s deal to acquire Intel's NAND business, the company said Wednesday. Last October, South Korea's No. 2 chipmaker signed a deal to buy Intel's non-volatile business for $9 billion, which includes the U.S. firm's solid state drive business and a NAND flash chip plant in Dalian, China. Following the deal, SK hynix had to obtain approval from antitrust regulators in major countries. The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore clea

July 21, 2021

Korea’s ‘3N’ game heavyweights face gloomy Q2 earnings

South Korea’s “3N” game developers -- NCSoft, Nexon and Netmarble -- are estimated to have suffered disappointing earnings in the second quarter, hurt by a slew of negative developments amid the deepening distrust of players, brokerages and industry sources said. The gloomy earnings outlook came as NCSoft and Nexon did not produce notable hits in the April-June period, and with Netmarble’s much-anticipated mobile title Cross Worlds yet to contribute to the company&rsquo

July 21, 2021

Samsung to hold ‘Unpacked’ event on Aug. 11

Samsung Electronics announced Wednesday that the company will hold the annual “Unpacked” on Aug. 11. The event, titled “Get ready to unfold,” will stream live on the company’s official channel on YouTube, at 11 p.m. local time, according to Samsung Electronics. The company has also uploaded a trailer that provides a glimpse into the company’s latest foldable devices, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 and Galaxy Z Fold3, which the company is expected to further

July 21, 2021

GC Pharma partners with Speragen to develop first in class drug for a rare disease

South Korean biopharmaceutical firm GC Pharma has partnered with US-based biotech firm Speragen to develop a cure for a rare disease, according to the company, Tuesday. According to GC Pharma, the two companies will develop an enzyme replacement therapy for a rare disease called succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase deficiency, which currently has no treatment. The two companies aim to start preclinical studies this year and phase 1 and 2 clinical trials during the second half of 2023. Under

July 20, 2021

Samsung Bioepis begins late stage clinical trial of ustekinumab biosimilar

Samsung Bioepis said Tuesday that the company has started a Phase 3 clinical trial for its ustekinumab biosimilar candidate, SB17. SB17 is the the South Korean biopharmaceutical company’s 10th biosimilar pipeline. The reference ustekinumab product is Stelara, a prescription medicine developed by Johnson & Johnson’s pharmaceutical unit Janssen, used to treat patients with plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. First approved in 20

July 20, 2021