Galaxy S21 smartphone sales top 1m units in S. Korea

Samsung Electronics Co. said Monday that domestic sales of its new flagship smartphone series, the Galaxy S21, surpassed 1 million units last week. The South Korean tech giant said the S21, which was released here on Jan. 29, achieved the milestone 57 days after its launch, about one-month faster than its predecessor the S20. But the pace of S21 sales was slower than the S10, which topped the 1 million mark in 47 days in 2019. Samsung has been introducing new Galaxy S devices in mid-February

March 29, 2021

Samsung maintains top spot in Gulf smartphone market in Q4: report

Samsung Electronics Co. maintained its leading position in the smartphone market of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region in the fourth quarter of 2020, a report showed Monday, although its gap with Apple Inc. has narrowed. The smartphone shipments in the Gulf region grew 2.3 percent on-quarter to 4.26 million units in the last three months of 2020, and Samsung accounted for 42 percent of them, according to market tracker International Data Corp. (IDC). Samsung's market share was down from

March 29, 2021

Samsung reclaims No. 1 spot in Feb. smartphone sales: report

Samsung Electronics Co. reclaimed the top spot in global smartphone sales in February, a report showed Monday, after it narrowly beat Apple Inc. on the back of the early release of the Galaxy S21 series. Samsung shipped 24 million units of smartphones for a 23.1 percent market share last month, according to market researcher Strategy Analytics, outpacing Apple which sold 23 million units for a 22.2 percent share. China's Xioami came in third with an 11.5 percent share, followed by Vivo with 10

March 29, 2021

LIG Nex1 CEO calls for need of Korea’s own GPS

Korea will need its own global positioning system, dubbed KPS, for the sake of the country’s national security as well as space industry development, said Kim Ji-chan, chief executive officer of LIG Nex1. “Without the country’s own satellite navigation system, Korea relies heavily on the GPS developed by the United States,” Kim told a meeting on Korea’s space development plan attended by President Moon Jae-in Thursday. LIG Nex1 is a leading defense technology

March 28, 2021

SK Innovation considers all options including withdrawal from US

Calling the punishment by the United States’ trade watchdog “catastrophic and a harm to public interest,” South Korean battery maker SK Innovation said it was considering all options, including abandonment of its $2.7 billion manufacturing facilities in the US state of Georgia. In its latest appeal to the US International Trade Commission, SK Innovation alluded to halting the ongoing construction of its second battery manufacturing plant in Commerce City, Georgia, as well as

March 28, 2021

Celltrion founder’s two sons appointed as executive directors

Celltrion Group saw a generation shift in its leadership as the founder and honorary chairman stepped down from his official posts and his two sons obtained seats in key affiliates’ boardrooms, following a decision made at shareholders meetings Friday. The founder’s first son Seo jin-seok has been appointed as an executive director at Celltrion, filling an empty seat left behind after the founder stepped down from the chairman post in December. Second son Seo Joon-serk was also sepa

March 26, 2021

Samsung, Marvell develops new System-on-a-Chip for 5G networks

Samsung Electronics Co. said Friday it has developed a new System-on-a-Chip (SoC) that can improve the performance of 5G networks in collaboration with US chip designer Marvell Technology Ltd. The South Korean tech giant said the new SoC will be used in the company's network equipment, such as massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) and other radios, and plans to introduce the product in the second quarter of the year. An SoC refers to an integrated circuit that integrates entire or most

March 26, 2021

Samsung Display dominates 2020 smartphone panel market with 50% share

Samsung Display Co. dominated the global smartphone display panel market last year, a report showed Friday, as it posted record revenue amid the pandemic. The affiliate of Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest smartphone producer, represented half of the worldwide smartphone panel market last year in terms of revenue, according to market researcher Strategy Analytics. The global smartphone display panel market grew 7 percent on-year to $43 billion in 2020. Samsung Display was follow

March 26, 2021

Implications of Intel's foundry bid on Asia: 'US is getting back its chips'

Intel’s plan to reenter the foundry business could be an indication of reshoring chip manufacturing back to the US, a key strategic move that would have ramifications on the local economy, which depends largely on chip sales. After announcing the plan to spend $20 billion on building two new fabrication plants in Arizona, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger told BBC, “Having 80 percent of all supply in Asia simply isn’t a palatable manner for the world to have its view of the most crit

March 25, 2021

LG Chem chief vows to get due compensation from SK

Shin Hak-cheol, chief executive and vice chairman of LG Chem, on Thursday vowed to get proper compensation from SK Innovation for stealing its battery technologies. “We can’t easily let go of this case for the general good of global companies that are developing technologies on the belief of fair competition and clients who make purchases on the belief they were lawfully made,” Shin said at the company’s general shareholders meeting held at the headquarters building in

March 25, 2021

GC Wellbeing drug material for cancer cachexia shows efficacy

GC Wellbeing announced Thursday that GCWB204, its new drug material for treating cancer cachexia, has shown efficacy in preventing muscle reduction. GC Wellbeing, jointly with the convergence medical team led by professor Woo Dong-cheol of Asan Medical Center, published the results of the research in global academic journal Metabolomics, according to the company. The joint research team focused on analyzing the effects of GCWB204 on main biomarkers from animal samples that underwent muscle

March 25, 2021

SK Telecom eyes governance improvement to boost shareholder value

SK Telecom Co., South Korea's largest wireless carrier, said Thursday it will revamp its governance structure this year in a way that boosts shareholder value. CEO Park Jung-ho told shareholders that the company will announce changes to its governance structure "soon," admitting its share price has remained largely lackluster despite its strong earnings last year. "Our market cap does not properly reflect the value of our subsidiaries and businesses," Park said in an annual

March 25, 2021

Samsung rolls out Micro LED TV in Southeast Asia

Samsung Electronics Co. said Thursday it began to sell the company's first Micro LED TV in Southeast Asian countries as the world's largest TV maker plans to boost premium TV sales amid the pandemic-induced stay-at-home trend. Samsung said its 2021 TV lineup, including the Neo QLED TV, which uses Quantum Mini LEDs that are just 1/40th the size of conventional LEDs, was launched in Singapore on Wednesday and will be available in other Southeast Asian countries next month. Before Singapore, Sa

March 25, 2021

LG Electronics expanding investment in auto parts biz for future

LG Electronics Inc. has invested more than 4 trillion won ($3.5 billion) in its automotive business in the recent five years, its report showed Thursday, as the South Korean tech giant eyes beefing up its future growth engine. The investment from LG's vehicle component solutions (VS) division was 587.8 billion won in 2017, 1.7 trillion won in 2018, 629.3 billion won in 2019 and 472.1 billion won in 2020, according to the company's business report. It plans to spend 613.8 billion won in 2021.

March 25, 2021

Chipmakers show mixed reactions to Intel foundry plan

South Korea’s semiconductor industry on Wednesday showed mixed reactions to Intel’s bid for the foundry business, agreeing with the US chip giant’s decision on the need for manufacturing not only its own chips but also chips for others at a critical time of global chip shortage. During its Engineering the Future event on Tuesday, US time, Intel’s new CEO Pat Gelsinger said the company will set a new branch named Intel Foundry Services and invest $20 billion to build t

March 24, 2021

S. Korea to spend W1.1tr for Level 4 self-driving technology

South Korea said Wednesday it plans to spend 1.1 trillion won ($974 million) by 2027 to speed up the development of Level 4 self-driving vehicles and boost related technologies. At Level 4, one stage before full autonomy, the vehicle can drive itself under limited conditions and does not require human intervention. Under the plan, South Korea will support 84 projects to develop vehicle convergence, information and communication and road traffic technologies, as well as self-driving services an

March 24, 2021

KT aims to produce 100 blockbuster dramas by 2023

KT, South Korea’s second-biggest mobile carrier by subscribers, will invest big in content to seek growth beyond the platform business, its chief executive said Tuesday. In a press conference held virtually, CEO Ku Hyun-mo said the telecom firm had taken its first major step in January already, setting up KT Studio Genie, which will serve as the control tower of all media and content related businesses within KT. “Media platform is an important business for KT, which can bring ta

March 23, 2021

Samsung clinches 5G supply deal with Japan’s No.1 NTT Docomo

Samsung Electronics has been chosen as a 5G network solution provider for Japan’s No.1 mobile operator NTT Docomo, the Korean tech giant said Tuesday. Samsung will support Docomo with its 5G technology, including O-RAN-compliant solutions, to bring enriched 5G services to Japanese users and enable digital transformation for businesses, it said. Docomo is Japan’s leading mobile carrier that has nearly 82 million users across the country. It launched 5G services in March last yea

March 23, 2021

Xiaomi seeks to expand presence in S. Korea with new midrange smartphones

Xiaomi Corp. on Tuesday said it will launch new midrange smartphones in South Korea as the Chinese tech giant tries to beef up its presence amid rumors that the country's homegrown brand LG Electronics Inc. may exit from the mobile business. Xiaomi said the Redmi Note 10 will be released in South Korea on March 30 at 218,000 won ($190), while the Redmi Note 10 Pro will hit shelves on April 9 at 319,000 won. The Redmi Note 10 Pro comes with a quad rear camera setup that includes a 108-megapixe

March 23, 2021

LG Display seeks to turn to black this year: CEO

LG Display Co. is struggling to make profits this year with its focus on expanding its OLED business, its chief said Tuesday. The panel maker posted an operating loss of 29.1 billion won ($25 million) in 2020, sharply narrowing from a loss of 714.5 billion won a year earlier, while sales increased 3.2 percent on-year to 24.23 trillion won, apparently benefiting from increased demand for displays amid the pandemic-induced trends of remote working and distance learning. "This year, we will

March 23, 2021