Samsung inks deal for $380m factory in South Carolina

Samsung Electronics officially announced Wednesday that the company will build a home appliance factory with $380 million worth of investment in South Carolina, marking the company’s first major investment in the US since it relocated production facilities for US exports to Mexico in the early 1990s. The announcement was made during South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s visit to Washington for his first summit with US President Donald Trump. Yoon Boo-keun, president of the consumer electronics di

June 28, 2017

SK moves closer to building chip powerhouse

South Korea’s third-largest conglomerate SK is on the path to becoming the second-biggest memory chip provider in the world, taking one step closer to acquiring a slice of Toshiba’s chipmaking unit. SK’s semiconductor business SK hynix and its three strategic partners -- US private equity firm Bain Capital, Development Bank of Japan and Innovation Network of Japan -- were picked by Toshiba as the preferred bidder in the sale of its lucrative memory chip business on June 21. SK hynix is set to pr

June 28, 2017

Tamiflu generic versions to be available in Korea in August: sources

About 100 South Korean drug companies will begin producing generic versions of Tamiflu in August to ease the shortage in supply of the world's only anti-viral drug as its 20-year patient protection has expired, industry sources said Wednesday.Among the companies are Yuhan Corp., Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co. and Green Cross Corp., an official of the Korea Food and Drug Administration said.Tamiflu dominates South Korea's market for the anti-viral medication against flu, with sales hitting 59 billio

June 28, 2017

Samsung boosts investment in Austin chip plant for 4th industrial revolution

South Korea’s tech giant Samsung Electronics is preparing for the “fourth industrial revolution” by mass producing faster and more efficient chips for smart and connected devices with always-on displays, cementing its leadership in the global memory market. 　As part of its latest move, the Korean chipmaker made around $1 billion worth of investments in its production facilities in Austin, Texas, as of this month. The facilities are operated for advanced system-on-chip products, which are supplie

June 27, 2017

Galaxy S8 Plus tops Consumer Reports ranking in battery life

Samsung Electronics’ new flagship smartphone Galaxy S8 Plus topped Consumer Reports’ latest ranking on smartphone battery life. It is welcome news for the Korean tech giant, which suffered a setback due to its fire-prone smartphone Note 7, which was discontinued last year. The US magazine Consumer Reports said in a June 17 report that it had reviewed the batteries of smartphones available in the market in terms of talk time, Wi-Fi, long-term evolution data, wireless charging and battery capacity

June 27, 2017

Samsung, LG bet on premium, large TV

Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are betting on lucrative premium and large televisions to maximize profits in the second half of this year. Last month, Samsung launched 75-inch QLED TVs in Korea, a larger version of existing 55-inch and 65-inch QLED models. The tech firm also plans to roll out larger lineups, 82-inch and 88-inch models, this month and in August respectively. LG, Samsung’s archrival in home appliances, also unveiled 86-inch and 75-inch super ultra-high definition televisio

June 27, 2017

Samsung holds first strategic meeting without heir

Samsung Electronics on Monday embarked on two-day biannual meetings to set global strategies for the first time in the absence of its heir apparent arrested in a presidential bribery scandal. Since it is also the first time for the electronic titan to hold the strategic meetings after Samsung Group was disbanded in March, attention was focused on how each division of the tech giant came up with strategies in a competition to become a major business division representing South Korea’s largest bra

June 26, 2017

Google, Facebook pressured for transparency in Korea

Global tech giants Google and Facebook are under increasing pressure from South Korean authorities and lawmakers to be “transparent and fairer” in running their businesses here.  Kim Sang-jo, head of the nation’s antitrust watchdog, said Sunday he is “reviewing” how to regulate Google and Facebook’s alleged abuses of market dominance. “(Google and Facebook are) sweeping information without paying a dime here on the network set up by taxpayers’ money,” said Kim, who is known as a “chaebol sniper,

June 25, 2017

Mobile carriers protest mobile bill cuts

South Korea’s mobile carriers on Thursday expressed concerns over an expected fall in revenue due to the Moon Jae-in government’s plan to reduce the burden of mobile costs on low-income households and the elderly. “Telecom companies are already suffering revenue falls,” said an official at one of the three mobile carriers here, who declined to be named. “The government’s plan poses a serious threat to not just a single company, but the whole industry.” The official said the government’s plan was

June 22, 2017

Online game developer chief embroiled in legal dispute

The chief of a South Korean online game developer is facing a legal battle against his partner over a joint venture they set up in China, according to legal and industry sources on Thursday. Kwon Hyuk-bin, chief executive and founder of Smilegate Holdings Inc., was called in for questioning by the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office earlier in the day.  This file photo, taken on Oct. 8, 2013, shows Kwon Hyuk-bin, chief executive and founder of online game developer Smilegate Holdings Inc.

June 22, 2017

Data-driven personalized medicine takes center stage at US biotech conference

SAN DIEGO — The recent explosion in data generation combined with fast-improving analytic technologies are beginning to revolutionize the field of medicine and health care, bringing closer the era of precision medicine.　Precision medicine, also referred to as personalized or individualized medicine, is “an emerging approach for disease treatment and prevention that takes into account individual variability in genes, environment and lifestyle for each person,” according to the US National Institu

June 22, 2017

LG Display develops world’s largest flexible, transparent display

LG Display has developed the world’s largest flexible and transparent display, the company said on Thursday. The company said it developed a 77-inch flexible and transparent display with a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160 pixels, a penetration ratio of 40 percent and a radius of curvature of 80 millimeters. LG said the display can be used for various areas, including digital signage, smart desk, infotainment system for automobiles, augmented reality and aquarium but did not unveil when to commerciali

June 22, 2017

Google puts art in AI, expanding limits of computer creativity

Google Inc. is teaching an artificial intelligence algorithm to generate music and art as part of its efforts to expand the limits of computer creativity to the level of human beings going forward, the company's senior engineer said Thursday.The ambitious yet experimental "Magenta" project is one of many projects from Google Brain, which is responsible for many AI products like Google Translate and Google Photos. The team is dedicated to experimenting with new and different forms of machine lear

June 22, 2017

Samsung to mass-produce IoT processor

Samsung Electronics Co. said Thursday it will start mass-producing a processor designed exclusively for the Internet of Things platforms.The South Korean tech giant said the Exynos i T200 supports mobile communications with thorough security, which will help Samsung expand its presence in the global IoT industry. Samsung Electronics Co.`s Exynos i T200 (Yonhap)IoT is a concept in which objects are connected to the Internet and can identify themselves to other devices in order to exchange necessa

June 22, 2017

Samsung to release new flip smartphone

Samsung Electronics Co. said Thursday it will release a new flip-style smartphone this week, seeking to grab consumers still yearning for handsets with traditional design.The South Korean tech giant said although the Galaxy Folder 2 looks like earlier models of handsets, it runs on the Android 6.0 platform and comes with 8-megapixel and 5-megapixel cameras. The 96.6-millimeter-wide display will also help users enjoy photos and videos, with a keypad allowing them to activate various features, suc

June 22, 2017

Red ginseng helps reduce fatigue in cancer patients: report

Red ginseng helps reduce fatigue in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, a local report showed Thursday.The report based on a survey on 438 colorectal cancer patients by professor Kim Yeol-hong of Korea University Medical Center in Seoul revealed the group of 219 patients who took 1 gram of red ginseng every day for 16 weeks registered 81.07 on the overall Brief Fatigue Inventory index. An image of red ginseng (Yonhap)The comparable figure for another group of 219 patients who took a placebo

June 22, 2017

Netmarble to release hit mobile game in Japan in Q3

Netmarble Games, South Korea's top mobile game developer, said Wednesday it plans to release its mega-hit title, "Lineage 2: Revolution," in Japan later this year, in a bid to further expand its presence in overseas markets.The mobile role-playing game -- which has gained huge popularity after its release in 11 Asian countries earlier this month -- will be available to Japanese users during the third quarter of this year, the company said. The exact date has yet to be decided. (Photo courtesy of

June 21, 2017

One-third of Koreans are obese, causing massive social costs

A third of South Korean people are obese, causing Asia's fourth-largest economy to shoulder nearly 7 trillion won ($6.12 billion) in social costs every year, the government said Wednesday.Also, some 25 percent of boys aged between 5 and 14 in South Korea suffer from obesity, compared with an average 23 percent for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development member countries, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. (123RF)The percentage marked the highest n

June 21, 2017