Pardon clears way for Lee to fill Samsung’s leadership void, spur investment

President Yoon Suk-yeol’s decision to grant a special pardon on Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong on Friday is expected to speed up his return to leadership of Korea’s largest family-controlled chaebol and the world’s largest memory chipmaker. Set to be granted on Aug. 15 Liberation Day, the clemency will lift the employment restriction placed on him that was effective until 2027. This would open the door for the 54-year-old third-generation chaebol chief to be promoted to the chairma

Aug. 12, 2022

[Newsmaker] [From the Scene] Korea's 1st domestic COVID-19 vaccine ready

ANDONG, North Gyeongsang Province -- Hundreds of vials were lined up on the belt of a packaging machine at L House, SK Bioscience’s vaccine manufacturing facility in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, on Wednesday afternoon, as the developer of South Korea’s first homegrown COVID-19 vaccine SKYCovione is poised to roll out the vaccine’s first batch by the end of August. A few technicians, who were covered from head to toe with sterilized gear -- protective shoes, clothing and

Aug. 11, 2022

By 2025, half of Samsung’s premium phone shipment will be foldables

Samsung Electronics mobile head, Roh Tae-moon, said the South Korean tech giant looks to target wider audiences with its Galaxy foldable phones in a bid to address the sluggish growth of its premium smartphones and macroeconomic headwinds, in a press conference held Wednesday, in New York. As the clamshell-type Galaxy Z Flip and book-type Galaxy Z Fold evolve, the combined shipments of two models by the world’s largest foldable phone maker will outsize that of other Galaxy premium smartp

Aug. 11, 2022

[Newsmaker] Samsung foldables to get chipset upgrade

Samsung Electronics, a chips-to-smartphones company, said Wednesday it plans to roll out its clamshell Galaxy Z Flip 4 and foldable Galaxy Z Fold 4 on Aug. 26 in South Korea, the United States and Europe. Both the Z Flip 4, a more affordable version of the Samsung premium phone that would deploy foldable form factors, and the Z Fold 4, a workspace-dedicated tabletlike device, will boast enhanced camera features and chipsets that power them. The Z Flip 4 and Z Fold 4 will deploy a new mobile ch

Aug. 10, 2022

Korean researchers develop homegrown fluorine-based polyimide film

Researchers at the Korea Institute of Production Technology said Wednesday that they have succeeded in developing a fluorine-based polyimide film, opening a leeway to produce the material without having to rely on imports from Japan. The film is a crucial part of foldable displays, as it gets rid of wrinkles when folded. It has been under the Japanese government’s export control since 2019, which had Korean manufacturers in a panic due to their heavy dependence on items produced in the nei

Aug. 10, 2022

Samsung suffers heavier taxes, cost per hire than TSMC: think tank

The heavier burden of corporate taxes and cost per hire are weighing on South Korean chipmaking giants like Samsung Electronics, indicating the unfavorable conditions leave them behind competitors like Taiwan-based TSMC amid intensifying semiconductor competition worldwide, according to a local think tank Wednesday. Korea sets the maximum rate of the corporate tax at 25 percent -- imposed on taxable income of large business entities like Samsung -- as a result of a tax hike by 3 percentage poi

Aug. 10, 2022

KCC to probe Apple, Google over in-app payment rules

The Korea Communications Commission will look into whether app market operators -- Apple, Google and One Store -- are in violation of a Korean law that bans forcing certain in-app payment methods among app developers, the regulatory agency said Tuesday. The fact-checking investigation will begin from Aug. 16, according to the KCC. App market operators that only allow certain payment options or refuse app registrations or updates of app developers that use external links for in-app purchases co

Aug. 9, 2022

Korean battery makers keep close tabs on US Inflation Reduction Act

South Korean lithium-ion battery cell makers are expected to be beneficiaries once the Inflation Reduction Act comes into force in the United States, as the bill is likely to induce US electric vehicle makers to cut their reliance on Chinese battery components. But at the same time, Korean battery makers are now pressured to preemptively diversify their import sources of key materials out of China, as the new US bill is apparently aimed at countering China’s influence on the EV supply cha

Aug. 9, 2022

Korea to draft frequency plan to support EVs, UAM

The South Korean government will draw up a frequency spectrum plan by the end of this year in efforts to support the growth of new industries such as electric vehicles, robots and urban air mobility, the Ministry of Science and ICT said Tuesday. “We hope that the government’s preemptive supply of frequency and policy improvements will serve as a foundation for Korea to lead the global market in various new industries, including wireless charging of EVs in times of digital transform

Aug. 9, 2022

[Herald Interview] Due diligence on partners crucial for Korean biotech out-license deals

Korean biotechnology firms hoping to ink successful deals with foreign pharmaceutical companies must fully comprehend their potential partners’ A to Z’s, a legal expert in out-license deals said. “(Global big pharmas) want something that’s going to be successful and hopefully innovative, and both help patients and provide care, but also be valuable and create profit for the company,” Joshua Hofheimer, a partner and co-head of Global Life Sciences industry group at

Aug. 9, 2022

Seoul weighs ‘Chip 4’ alliance as ties with China hang in balance

South Korea is poised to join a working-level meeting of government officials involving major chipmaking nations along with the United States, Taiwan and Japan, amid mounting concerns over China’s retaliation. Seoul has had to tread carefully around Beijing, as memory chip giants such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix fear that its chipmaking base in China might be affected by Seoul‘s decision to join the so-called “Chip 4” alliance. President Yook Suk-yeol told repo

Aug. 8, 2022

Coupang launches loan service

South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang is starting a service offering loans to small businesses on its online platform while enabling its customers to pay for purchases in installments, a filing with the Financial Supervisory Service showed Monday. Coupang Financial, a subsidiary created in January of this year, will lead the new business the top financial watchdog approved Friday. Some analysts consider the expansion part of Coupang’s efforts to offset losses, which have grown over t

Aug. 8, 2022

[Market Eye] SK hynix’s W122tr chip cluster project hits snag over water dispute

SK hynix’s 121.7 trillion won ($93.8 billion) plan to set up a semiconductor manufacturing cluster is facing an unexpected hurdle as the South Korean chipmaking giant is being denied a request for water usage from a city adjacent to the cluster’s location in Greater Seoul. The city of Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, is demanding greater compensation in exchange for letting SK hynix build underground pipes needed to transport massive amounts of water crucial for producing next-generation

Aug. 7, 2022

KT, Turk Telekom sign deal on K-content, 5G

South Korean telecommunications firm KT and its Turkish counterpart Turk Telekom have signed a strategic partnership to foster collaboration in the field of media content to private fifth-generation network setup and joint investment in startups, KT announced Sunday. This is a follow-up to the nonbinding memorandum of understanding for cooperation between the two companies at the Mobile World Congress in March. According to KT, the new deal will give users of Turk Telekom‘s internet pro

Aug. 7, 2022

S. Korea’s first lunar orbiter successfully reaches ballistic lunar transfer trajectory

South Korea’s first lunar orbiter Danuri launched into space on Friday morning, and successfully reached the ballistic lunar transfer trajectory, a path that will take it toward the moon, the Ministry of Science and ICT said. The Korea Aerospace Research Institute confirmed from its ground control station that Danuri successfully separated from the projectile and reached the target ballistic lunar transfer orbit, the ministry said. Danuri separated from the SpaceX Falcon rocket at aroun

Aug. 5, 2022

Samsung to supply 5G equipment to India’s Airtel

Samsung Electronics said Thursday it has inked a deal to supply 5G network equipment to India’s telecom giant Bharti Airtel, its first 5G equipment deal made in the world’s second-largest telecom market. According to the South Korean tech giant, Airtel, India’s No. 2 telecom carrier and the No. 4 globally with 490 million subscribers, on Wednesday selected Samsung as one of its equipment partners ahead of its planned launch of 5G network services this month. Under the deal,

Aug. 4, 2022

[Newsmaker] Korea to shoot for the moon Friday

South Korea’s first lunar mission Danuri is all set to be launched into space on a SpaceX Falcon rocket on Friday morning, the Ministry of Science and ICT said Thursday. According to the ministry, the SpaceX Falcon rocket has been erected at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida as of 11:15 a.m., Korea time. Danuri, formally known as the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, will blast off at 8:08 a.m. on Friday, Korea time, or 7:08 p.m. on Thursday, local Eastern Standard time.

Aug. 4, 2022

Samsung rolls out futuristic memory, storage tech tailored to big data

Memory chip giant Samsung Electronics said Wednesday it unveiled a set of next-generation memory and storage technologies to better address various client demands for handling big data. Choi Jin-hyeok, executive vice president of memory solution and product development at Samsung Electronics, told an audience at the Flash Memory Summit 2022 that the array of technologies, including “perabyte storage,” “memory-semantic solid state drive” and “telemetry” is cru

Aug. 3, 2022

SK hynix unveils 238-layer 4D NAND flash memory

SK hynix said Tuesday that it had unveiled plans to mass-produce the industry‘s first 238-layer four-dimensional NAND flash memory in the first half of 2023. At the Flash Memory Summit of 2022 held in Santa Clara, California, Choi Jung-dal, head of NAND development at SK hynix, said the newest NAND flash, which boasts the highest layer count and highest triple-level cell density in the industry, has been sampled by clients after the development was complete in July. The technological br

Aug. 3, 2022

Researchers develop mass production technology for biodegradable microrobots

Scientists have developed a new technology to allow mass production of biodegradable microrobots that are likely to contribute to improving the efficacy of regenerative medicine such as stem cell therapy, Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology said Tuesday. A joint research team composed of scientists at DGIST, Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital of The Catholic University of Korea and Swiss public university ETH Zurich came up with a method to produce over 100 biodegradable microrobo

Aug. 2, 2022