SK chief stresses ties with Japan to tackle geopolitical challenges

South Korea, the United States and Japan should work closely together to address geopolitical challenges pressing Northeast Asia and beyond, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won said at a forum. Chey made the remarks at the 2022 Trans-Pacific Dialogue in the US, an annual gathering hosted by the Chey Institute for Advanced Studies, an SK-affiliated think tank named after the chairman's father, SK Group founder Chey Jong-hyun. The three-day forum, which kicked off Monday, was attended by former an

Dec. 7, 2022

LG Innotek becomes first to adopt plastic to ADAS lenses

LG Innotek said Wednesday it has successfully developed new types of high-performance hybrid lenses for autonomous driving that have reduced size and thickness while increasing price competitiveness compared to existing products in the market. Camera lenses are a key component of autonomous driving solutions as they help detect the driver’s movements, according to the company. LG Innotek has showcased two new hybrid lenses — one to be used in the Driver Monitoring System (DMS), and a

Dec. 7, 2022

Smilegate supports literacy education in Bhutan

Smilegate Foundation, the charity arm of South Korean gaming giant Smilegate, said Wednesday it has opened two new community learning centers on Nov. 28, to support literacy education for women and children in Bhutan. According to the foundation, the centers, which were built together with UNESCO and Bhutan’s Education Ministry, seek to provide women and children in remote areas with access to education, with the hopes of increasing their overall quality of life. The charity foundation ran

Dec. 7, 2022

Samsung, Naver team up to develop AI chips

Samsung Electronics said Tuesday that the company will collaborate with local internet giant Naver to develop next-generation semiconductor solutions for advanced artificial intelligence systems. The two companies will develop chip solutions that have greater capacity to process large-sized data, which existing computing systems have difficulties in dealing with, the firm said. The duo seeks to find new solutions that better address the bottlenecks in advancing AI systems and maximize efficiency

Dec. 6, 2022

All stakeholders blamed for Kakao server shutdown

The Ministry of Science and ICT on Tuesday released the results of its investigation into the nation's worst-ever server shutdown in October, calling for all stakeholders -- SK C&C, Kakao and Naver -- to come up with emergency response system. On Oct. 15, a fire broke out in the battery room on the third basement floor of the SK C&C Pangyo Data Center at Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province. The fire at the data center -- which hosts South Korean online platform giants' data servers -- ca

Dec. 6, 2022

Samsung promotes execs in 30s, 40s in push for change

Samsung Electronics on Tuesday promoted a total of 187 executives in a year-end reshuffle, including young leaders in their 30s and 40s, in an apparent attempt to push for change amid business uncertainties next year. The total number slightly decreased from last year’s 198, but more research and development specialists were promoted. “We carried out an executive reshuffle based on their performance and growth potential with an aim to strengthen the company’s readiness for the

Dec. 6, 2022

[Newsmaker] Marketing specialist named Samsung’s first female president outside founding family

Samsung Electronics on Monday appointed a female president, its first who is not a member of the founding family, in a year-end reshuffle that put emphasis on elevating young leaders based on their performances. Lee Young-hee, now president and head of global marketing, is a veteran marketer who joined Samsung in 2007 after serving in various roles at global companies, including Unilever and L’Oreal. The 58-year-old is known for playing a leading role in elevating the awareness of Samsung&

Dec. 5, 2022

Intel CEO likely to meet Lee Jae-yong in Seoul

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger’s planned visit to South Korea later in the week has raised expectations he will meet with the heads of major conglomerates, including Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, to discuss cooperation and further partnerships. According to industry sources Monday, Gelsinger is expected to begin his Korea trip on Friday. The Intel CEO’s detailed schedule regarding the length of his stay and the list of people he will meet has not been confirmed. In May, Lee and

Dec. 5, 2022

[Herald Interview] Korea needs to secure ‘irreplaceable technology’

South Korea must work toward securing irreplaceable technologies in critical industries as the country looks to become a tech powerhouse, a top government official at the Ministry of Science and ICT says. “Our country wants to become a strong country, but we are not a big country in terms of the (physical) size. So it’s impossible to have all technologies inside the house,” said Joo Young-chang, vice minister and the ministry's top innovation strategist, in an interview wi

Dec. 4, 2022

Hanwha Aerospace to lead homegrown space rocket project

Hanwha Aerospace, the space business arm of South Korean conglomerate Hanwha, has been tapped as the company to lead the project of upgrading the homegrown Nuri rocket and launching it four more times through 2027, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute said Friday. According to Hanwha Aerospace’s regulatory filing, the company on Thursday signed a contract worth approximately 286 billion won ($220 million) with the state-run institute. The official selection came about two months after th

Dec. 2, 2022

Samsung foldable phone sales for corporate use double

Samsung Electronics said Wednesday sales of its foldable phones for corporate use more than doubled on-year, partly because more companies have adopted remote working policies in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. From January to October, sales of Galaxy Z Fold and Galaxy Z Flip phones jumped by 105 percent compared to the same period in the previous year, the world's largest smartphone maker said. The Galaxy Z Fold4 and Galaxy Z Flip4 -- the latest versions rolled out this year -- led to t

Nov. 30, 2022

Samsung to expand 5G network solution supply to Japan's NTT Docomo

Samsung Electronics said Wednesday it will boost the supply of 5G network solutions to Japan’s No. 1 mobile operator NTT Docomo. After being chosen as a 5G network solution provider for Docomo in March, Samsung will provide additional 5G network radio units, which can send out major frequency bands operated by the Japanese mobile operator. Docomo has nearly 84 million users across the neighboring country as of March. The Japanese telecom company launched 5G services in March 2020. With str

Nov. 30, 2022

SK Telecom, Singapore's Singtel join hands for metaverse push

South Korean telecom giant SK Telecom said Tuesday it forged a partnership with Singapore’s largest mobile carrier Singtel to expand its metaverse service into the Asia-Pacific region. Singtel operates in 21 countries to provide mobile communication and high-speed internet services to about 770 million users around the world. Under their partnership, the two sides agreed to work together on initiating a metaverse project in Singapore and extend the project in the Asia-Pacific region overal

Nov. 29, 2022

[Photo News] In support of Busan's Expo bid

A Samsung Electronics banner promotes Busan’s bid to host the 2030 World Expo as well as its latest foldable smartphones, on the wall of the Palais Garnier opera house in Paris on Monday. The banner is being displayed this week at the general gathering of the Bureau International des Expositions, the intergovernmental body that oversees the World Expo.

Nov. 28, 2022

Korean users spend less time on Twitter taken over by Musk

South Korean users spent less time on Twitter compared to the month before billionaire Elon Musk took over the social media platform in a drama-plagued $44 billion deal, industry data showed Monday. According to local data tracker Mobile Index, the average time a local user spent on Twitter was 43.94 minutes for the four weeks of Oct. 28 to Nov. 24, down from 45.9 minutes marked a month prior to the highly publicized purchase. The number of daily active users on the platform in that period, howe

Nov. 28, 2022

LG taps two female CEOs in unprecedented move

South Korea's fourth-largest conglomerate LG has tapped two female CEOs in its groupwide year-end reshuffle that ended Thursday. Consumer goods arm LG H&H named Executive Vice President Lee Jung-ae as the new chief executive officer, replacing Cha Suk-yong after nearly 18 years of service. Lee is one of two female CEOs to have been nominated for the first time in LG's history. Since joining LG H&H in 1986, the 59-year-old Lee has been dedicated to consumer goods marketing, and

Nov. 24, 2022

[Newsmaker] Long-awaited insurance bill reignites debate on Samsung’s ownership structure

The long-awaited bill to revise the Insurance Business Act is reigniting debate over Samsung’s ownership structure, under which its insurance arm is the largest shareholder of Samsung Electronics. The National Assembly on Tuesday for the first time put forward the revision bills in the parliament's National Policy Committee. The bills, proposed in June 2020 respectively by main opposition Democratic Party lawmakers such as Rep. Park Yong-jin and Rep. Lee Yong-woo, were the first bills to b

Nov. 24, 2022

Will Korea host Tesla 'gigafactory'?

Business tycoon Elon Musk's confirmation that South Korea is among the top candidates for Tesla's second electric vehicle production plant in Asia highlights the robust automotive parts ecosystem in Korea for cutting-edge autonomous driving technology, as well as the brand's popularity here. All eyes are on whether the fourth-largest economy in Asia could outdo other regional candidates such as Japan and Indonesia, which have richer EV consumer bases than Korea. On Wednesday, President Yoon Suk-

Nov. 23, 2022

[Photo News] Robots at hospital

An LG CLOi Servebot, a delivery robot developed by LG Electronics, delivers medicine at a hospital in Yongin, Gyeonggi province. The company said Tuesday it supplied seven CLOi robots to aid medical staff by carrying out tasks such as delivering medications and medical equipment, guiding visitors and making late-night security rounds.

Nov. 22, 2022

LG Chem to build $3.2b battery material plant in US

South Korean battery material supplier LG Chem announced Tuesday plans to build a $3.2 billion facility to manufacture 120,000 metric tons of cathode materials used for electric vehicle batteries annually in Tennessee, the United States. Once construction of the facility on the 1.7-square-kilometer land is completed by 2027, the plant will be able to power batteries mounted on 1.2 million pure electric vehicles that can run 500 kilometers on a single charge. Construction is set to start in the

Nov. 22, 2022