KT to pick 5G equipment supplier as early as this week

KT Corp. said Sunday it will announce its pick for its fifth-generation (5G) network equipment supplier as early as this week."We will make the announcement soon. It is possible to be delivered within a week," said KT Chairman Hwang Chang-gyu during his meeting with reporters in Boston. Hwang added South Korea's No. (Yonhap)2 mobile carrier also reviewed equipment from China's Huawei Technologies Co. amid a controversy over their security.LG Uplus Corp. earlier announced that South Korea's No. 3

Oct. 28, 2018

[Photo News] Samsung lights up Atlanta Hawks' home arena

LIGHTING UP ARENA -- The State Farm Arena, home to the US NBA team Atlanta Hawks, is now equipped with new videoboards, featuring 12,000 square feet of Samsung Smart LED signage. The main, center-hung video board is not only the NBA’s first 360-degree, continuous video screen, but also the first arena bowl to feature HD-quality, 6 mm LED video display technology, Samsung said Sunday. (Samsung Electronics)

Oct. 28, 2018

SK Telecom absorbs SK Group’s information security subsidiary

SK Telecom said Friday the mobile carrier will acquire SK infosec, an information security subsidiary of SK Group, through a comprehensive stock exchange. SK infosec is the country’s biggest data security solution provider with around 200 billion won ($175 million) in annual sales. The company is the first Asian business to join the Cyber Threat Alliance of global security firms. (Yonhap)SK Telecom will exchange some 1.6 percent treasury stocks with a 100 percent stake in SK infosec, and will in

Oct. 26, 2018

SK hynix, with record profit, to scale back investments next year

SK hynix recorded another record-breaking operating profit in the third quarter of this year, but the chipmaker might scale back its investments next year, the company’s chief financial officer said during a conference call Thursday. “The investment plan for next year hasn’t been confirmed yet,” said CFO Lee Myoung-young. “But considering the global economic uncertainties and inventories, the amount of capital spending is expected to decrease.” The company had expanded investments for this year

Oct. 25, 2018

Google partners with LG Electronics in smart city initiative

Google and LG Electronics are working together to develop and provide hardware and software technologies to upcoming smart city development projects that utilize information and communication technologies to increase the efficiency of urban services.The US tech giant announced the partnership and its details at the first Google Cloud Summit in Seoul, Thursday. The two firms plan to work with real estate developers and investors to build smart towns powered by artificial intelligence, the interne

Oct. 25, 2018

Naver’s Q3 operating profit falls 29% on losses from Line messenger, tech investment

South Korean internet giant Naver said Thursday its operating profit fell 29 percent on-year in the third quarter due to losses from its Japan-based mobile messaging unit Line and increased tech investment costs.　The firm posted an operating profit of 221.7 billion won ($195 million) in the July-September period, down 29 percent from the same three months of last year.　Third-quarter revenue came to 1.39 trillion won, up 16.4 percent on-year, while net profit fell 68.3 percent on-year to 68.4 bil

Oct. 25, 2018

LG Display achieves first surplus in OLED biz since 2013

LG Display, the world’s No. 1 organic light-emitting diode panel maker, said Wednesday it achieved the first surplus from selling OLED panels since 2013 for the August-October period this year. According to its third-quarter earnings report, the panel maker recorded 6.1 trillion won ($5.39 billion) in sales and 140.1 billion won in operating profit. An 8K OLED panel is displayed at Korea Electronics Show 2018 at Coex in southern Seoul on Wednesday. (LG Display)Owing to increases in prices of liq

Oct. 24, 2018

Korea’s biggest electronics show highlights interindustry collaboration

A total of 729 tech companies from 15 countries participated in the 2018 Korea Electronics Show that kicked off Wednesday, showcasing how technological collaboration among different industries can bring about changes to consumers’ everyday life with innovative products. The KES is the biggest information technology show taking place every October in Seoul, inviting thousands of tech industry officials, analysts and media outlets to introduce the latest trends in the tech world and showcase new t

Oct. 24, 2018

Kakao to improve position-tracking in mobile navigation via LTE signal tech

If you are a driver, you have likely experienced a navigation app that cannot locate your position due to a loss of GPS or network signal when traveling through isolated sites like tunnels, underground parking lots or narrow roads between high-rise buildings.But this annoyance may soon disappear, as South Korean mobile giant Kakao has set out to develop a next-generation location-tracking technology that will ensure that location-tracking remains stable at all times, even in confined locations.K

Oct. 24, 2018

Samsung expands campaign to cut plastic use

Samsung Electronics and its affiliates will engage in a groupwide campaign to reduce use of plastics and disposables at the workplace to join global moves of cutting plastic consumption and protect the environment, the company said Tuesday. The electronics unit said the current campaign at the company, Samsung SDS and Samsung Electro-Mechanics will be expanded to Samsung Display, Samsung SDI, Samsung C&T and Hotel Shilla. At the affiliates’ cafeterias, plastic and vinyl materials for takeout foo

Oct. 23, 2018

LG Chem breaks ground for second EV battery plant in Nanjing

LG Chem broke ground for an electric vehicle battery plant in Nanjing, China, its second EV battery production facility, to aggressively expand into the Chinese market, the company announced Tuesday. The new three-story factory will be built on a 200,000 square meter plot in the Binjiang Economic Development Zone, with a plan to start operations late next year. The company will inject a total of 2.1 trillion won ($1.9 billion) into the new facility by 2023 with an aim to secure an annual capacit

Oct. 23, 2018

China continues to block Naver blogs, cafes in internet censorship boost

China-based access to South Korean internet giant Naver’s online blogs and cafes has been cut off for a week now, raising speculation that China’s censorship of foreign websites has effectively extended to Korea’s top portal website.　Internet users in China have been unable to access Naver blogs (blog.naver.com) and cafes (cafe.naver.com) since Oct. 16. The block still appeared to be in place as of Tuesday. 　Users in China can still access Naver’s search engine and email services without issue.

Oct. 23, 2018

Samsung working on foldable display laptop

Models showcase Samsung Electronics’ new laptop “Flash” with a fast internet speed and a retro-style keyboard at an event held at Pier59 Studios in Seoul on Monday. (Samsung Electronics)Samsung Electronics is working on development of new form factors of laptops, including one with foldable display, as part of its efforts to innovate personal computer products in line with the changing market for mobile devices, a company official said during a showcase event for the latest laptop Flash on Monda

Oct. 22, 2018

Samsung Medison showcases next-generation ultrasound system

Samsung Medison, a medical equipment manufacturer under South Korea’s Samsung Electronics, on Monday unveiled a next-generation ultrasound system expected to better facilitate examinations during high-risk pregnancies and the early diagnosis of fetal abnormalities.　The company is showcasing HERA W10 -- short for Hyper-aperture Enhanced Reconstruction Architecture -- at the 28th World Congress of the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology in Singapore, whuch continues un

Oct. 22, 2018

Samsung busy expanding AI, 5G and automotive biz

Samsung Electronics is making deals and announcing new activities in target business areas wherever its de facto leader goes, though the company refuses to confirm any connection between the two.The itinerary of Lee Jae-yong’s latest trip seems to be closely connected to the South Korean conglomerate’s new business interests -- mainly artificial intelligence. Lee is the vice chairman of Samsung Electronics and the only son of Chairman Lee Kun-hee who has been in hospital since suffering from a s

Oct. 21, 2018

KT to offer Olleh TV in 8 languages

KT will start providing real-time subtitles in eight languages for its internet protocol TV service Olleh TV, starting Monday, to better serve foreign-born customers in South Korea, the mobile carrier said Sunday. Multilingual subtitling will be offered for four news channels and will feature subtitles in English, Japanese, Chinese, French, Spanish, Vietnamese and Uzbek.  Foreign models pose ahead of the introduction of a real-time multilingual subtitling service for KT’s Olleh TV. (KT)KT unveil

Oct. 21, 2018

Immunotherapy scores a first win against some breast cancers

For the first time, one of the new immunotherapy drugs has shown promise against breast cancer in a large study that combined it with chemotherapy to treat an aggressive form of the disease. But the benefit for most women was small, raising questions about whether the treatment is worth its high cost and side effects.Results were discussed Saturday at a cancer conference in Munich and published by the New England Journal of Medicine.Drugs called checkpoint inhibitors have transformed treatment o

Oct. 21, 2018

Kakao Games to launch slew of new games by end-2018

Kakao Games, which recently pushed back its initial public offering plans to next year to prioritize internal growth, is stepping up efforts to successfully launch and service a variety of new games on its home turf of South Korea by year’s end. 　The game publishing unit of Kakao is set to launch within this month “Friends Racing,” a casual game featuring Kakao Friends, the flagship characters from the country’s top-used mobile messenger KakaoTalk. Players can choose among eight Kakao Friends ch

Oct. 19, 2018

Korea’s Naver, Celltrion, Samsung BioLogics on Fortune’s ‘Future 50’ list

South Korean internet giant Naver and the country’s top biopharma companies Celltrion and Samsung BioLogics have been listed on Fortune’s Future 50, which ranks global companies with the best prospects for long-term growth.　The global business magazine on Friday announced the Future 50 list, compiled annually in partnership with the Boston Consulting Group. Naver, which operates Korea’s dominant portal website, ranked sixth. Celltrion, a developer of biosimilar drugs, ranked 17th, while contract

Oct. 19, 2018

Samsung announces commercialization of newest EUV process

Samsung Electronics announced Thursday it will start wafer production of the 7-nanometer Low Power Plus with extreme ultraviolet lithography technology at a tech day event held in Silicon Valley. Samsung Tech Day is an annual event to announce the chipmaker’s technology road map and introduce the newest semiconductor solutions for its enterprise clients. The foundry technology using extreme ultraviolet, or EUV, known as the most advanced process technology, enables the use of a single mask to cr

Oct. 18, 2018