Samsung, SK hynix slip in chip sales in H1

South Korea’s two biggest memory chip makers Samsung Electronics and SK hynix slipped to second and fourth place, respectively, in a global ranking of chip sales due to price falls, a report showed Wednesday. The 2019 McClean Report released by market researcher IC Insights showed that the world’s leading semiconductor businesses reported over 30 percent declines in their sales for the first half of 2019. The combined sales of the top 15 chipmakers stood at $148.7 billion as of June,

Aug. 21, 2019

Samsung SDI holds environment-themed summer camp

Samsung SDI, a battery affiliate of Samsung Electronics, hosted a summer camp for about 500 children this month, providing opportunities to learn about the environment, the company said Wednesday. The camp, called the “Green Planet Environment School,” ran from Aug. 6 through 14, inviting kids from community children’s centers near the company’s headquarters. The camp’s curriculum included topics related to the environment, such as solar energy, climate change and e

Aug. 21, 2019

Moon administration’s battle against fake news intensifies

With tech companies and governments around the world stepping up efforts to curb false content online, the South Korean government is also waging a battle against “fake news” amid recent economic and security challenges. 　The Moon Jae-in administration has pledged to eradicate what it perceives as misleading news content that could undermine economic and security prospects. The country’s media regulator and internet companies have voiced similar concerns, pledging to enhance ov

Aug. 21, 2019

Singapore Airlines launches new mobile application

Singapore Airlines said Wednesday it will launch an updated mobile application to enhance customer experience. The app, set to be released in September for Apple iOS users, will have three new features that provide convenience for passengers. It is being released between July and September for Android users.  English-only feature Capture & Discover matches users’ travel plans with destinations to provide relevant information. Translation Assistance provides real-time voice transla

Aug. 21, 2019

Antitrust watchdog approves plan to establish ‘Netflix of Asia’

Korea’s antitrust watchdog on Tuesday approved the integration of two popular video streaming businesses, giving the nod to the local companies’ ambition to establish a massive home-grown streaming platform to compete with Netflix. The Fair Trade Commission said it greenlighted the merger of SK Telecom and territorial broadcasters’ over-the-top video services. Combining SK Telecom’s Pooq and the broadcasters’ Oksusu, new OTT service Wavve will be launched next month

Aug. 20, 2019

Samsung heir meets software trainees in Gwangju

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong on Tuesday headed to Gwangju to check on the tech giant’s software educational program that supports youth employment. “It is essential to raise software talent in expanding the fundamental base for the IT industry,” Lee said. “Despite the current difficulties, we need to plant seeds for the future.” Last year, Samsung established four software academy centers across the country, including in Gwangju, with the

Aug. 20, 2019

LG Electronics to set Signature booth in collaboration with Italian architect

LG Electronics will set a separate booth for its premium home appliance lineup LG Signature in collaboration with Italian architect Massimiliano Fuksas during the 2019 IFA show next month, the company said Tuesday. Under the company’s slogan for the premium brand, “Art inspires technology. Technology completes art,” Fuksas will design the exhibition booth for Signature products on the theme of “Infinity” -- a nod to the “infinite possibilities of the Signature

Aug. 20, 2019

Galaxy Note 10 preorders surpass 1.3 million units

Preorders for Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Note 10 series have surpassed 1.3 million units in Korea, the company confirmed Tuesday.  Samsung received preorders for the latest flagship models for 11 days from Aug. 9 through Monday. The total order volume is estimated to be over 1.3 million units, double that of the predecessor Note 9, according to the tech titan. The most popular model during the preorder period was the 256-gigabyte Galaxy Note 10+ model in aura glow, the company said.&

Aug. 20, 2019

Apple makes job creation claims as ‘Google tax’ pressure mounts

For the first time, Apple Korea revealed on Monday figures for its local employment in South Korea, amid increasing calls for multinational tech giants to disclose their profits and taxes for operations here.According to the homepage of Apple Korea, the smartphone and mobile software developer claims to have directly and indirectly created over 325,000 jobs in Korea, including around 200,000 new positions in connection with the mobile-based App Store in 2008. “Apple has been operating its

Aug. 19, 2019

Will Facebook win court battle over network usage fee?

After a yearlong legal battle over the government’s decision to impose a financial penalty on Facebook Korea for a massive network cutoff in 2017, South Korea’s court will deliver a verdict this week to determine whether the punitive measure is excessive or not. The Seoul Administrative Court is scheduled to deliver its ruling on Thursday on the lawsuit filed by Facebook Korea in March last year, after the Korea Communication Commission imposed a 396 million won ($367,000) fine on Fa

Aug. 19, 2019

5G adds connectivity to baseball

The new 5G telecom network, which is 20 times faster than 4G, is expected to change many aspects of our lives -- how we communicate, drive, work, shop and more.Although the technology is still a long way from taking off, it is already changing how fans enjoy games at the baseball stadium in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province.  The stadium is home to KT Wiz, run by KT Sports, a subsidiary of South Korean telecom firm KT. The team currently ranks sixth in the Korean Baseball Organization league.“

Aug. 19, 2019

Celltrion Healthcare expands overseas operations to Europe, Central America

The sales unit of South Korean biopharma giant Celltrion Group is accelerating efforts to expand its overseas operations by launching 10 additional offices in Europe and Central America in the first half, the company said in a regulatory filing Monday.Celltrion Healthcare, the overseas sales and marketing unit of the biosimilar drug manufacturer, has launched offices in Italy, Germany, Belgium, Norway, France and Finland. The list also includes Canada, Chile and Peru.  Celltrion has been ex

Aug. 19, 2019

Naver’s Papago enhances image translation

Papago’s image translation function will be updated to automatically detect text and improve accuracy for three languages.South Korean tech giant Naver said Monday its service Papago will upgrade its image translation for English, Chinese and Korean. The function translates text captured in images.The improved image translation uses deep learning technology to enhance text extraction and recognition from an image.With the “Translate all” feature, users will no longer need to ma

Aug. 19, 2019

Samsung Display CEO affirms QD-OLED efforts

While Samsung Display, an affiliate of Samsung Electronics, is moving to cut its production of liquid crystal display panels, the company is making significant efforts to produce quantum dot organic light-emitting diode panels, according to the industry on Sunday. Samsung Display CEO Lee Dong-hoon told The Korea Herald, “The company is making good efforts” to launch QD-OLED panels in the near future.There have not been any investment plans on QD-OLED production confirmed by the compa

Aug. 18, 2019

Can LG smart fridge actually tweet?

A tweet by a teenager living in Kentucky, the US, made LG Electronics’ smart refrigerator go viral globally this week, raising the question of whether the fridge could be used to tweet. A fan of singer Ariana Grande, named Dorothy, tweeted Aug. 8 that she was posting via LG’s smart fridge as her mother had taken away her smartphone. “I do not know if this is going to tweet. I am talking to my fridge, What the (explicit) my mom confiscated all of my electronics again,” rea

Aug. 18, 2019

[Weekender] How far off is the ‘cashless society’?

For 35-year-old office worker Kim Seong-soo, carrying a wallet loaded with cash or plastic is a thing of the past.  In Pangyo Techno Valley, where he works, he can easily buy a cup of coffee and get a haircut without any cash or cards -- as long as he brings his phone.The tech cluster, located south of Seoul in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, is often called the South Korean equivalent of California’s Silicon Valley. To access any service in the area, all Kim needs to do is place his pho

Aug. 16, 2019

ICT Ministry initiates discussion on taxing YouTube

The South Korean government has started its review of measures to levy a tax on global online video platform YouTube, according to related authorities Thursday. The Ministry of Science and ICT recently requested Korea Legislation Research Institute to recommend the so-called “You Tube taxation” that will impose new levies on over-the-top media services. The institution will look into global trends of taxing such digital content providers, including a similar case in France. The minis

Aug. 15, 2019

[Anniversary Special] From Sony to Samsung, how tech leadership migrated from Japan to Korea

In the 1980s and 1990s, commuters on subways or buses in South Korea proudly held a Sony Walkman, the world’s first portable cassette player, in their hands. But today, it has been replaced by large-screen smartphones -- mostly a Samsung Galaxy or iPhone model.It’s a stark change from the years between 1979 -- when the first Sony Walkman was officially launched -- and 2007 when the first iPhone was released, and 2009 when Samsung announced its first Galaxy smartphone. It is no exagge

Aug. 14, 2019

Amid gloomy outlook, system chips a bright spot in global semiconductor market: report

While the majority of memory chip products have a negative growth outlook, a few high-end system-on chips are forecast to lead the global semiconductor market this year, according to a report Tuesday. Market researcher IC Insights released a report that offers estimated 2019 growth rates for 33 types of semiconductor chips. Among them, the 25 that are memory chips, including flagship storage chips DRAM and NAND, are predicted to post a double digit decline this year, the report said. DRAM c

Aug. 13, 2019

AI-powered recruitment becomes popular in Korea

　With artificial intelligence transforming industries and businesses, South Korean companies are embracing the technology in their recruiting processes. 　Ranging from tech companies to financial firms, the country’s popular employers have increased the use of AI-powered recruitment robots in determining employees’ job qualifications and personal characteristics. 　One of the latest companies to join the fray was major mobile carrier KT. For its recruitment slated for later this year,

Aug. 13, 2019