Coupang senior job openings in Singapore spark speculation of foray into Southeast Asia

South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang is hiring a small number of employees for senior positions in Singapore, a move that has been seen as part of steps to branch out into the Southeast Asian market. The company recently posted several job openings on global recruiting site Linkedin for its office in Singapore including head of retail, head of logistics and head of operations. It is also hiring a senior front-end engineer for its video streaming platform Coupang Play. A Coupang representati

April 13, 2021

Korea's crypto investors appear to be shifting toward minor virtual coins

An ample amount of investors appears to be shifting toward other minor coins, market watchers here said on Tuesday, citing a sudden decline of trading volume of Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency. According to Upbit and Bithumb, South Korea’s two leading crypto exchanges, trading volume of Bitcoins fell 40 percent last month from January apparently due to an abrupt surge in the virtual coin. The price of Bitcoin more than doubled from 31.66 million won ($28,000), the lowest point in

April 13, 2021

Return of short-selling won’t trigger correction: Morgan Stanley

Ahead of the South Korean government implementing a partial reactivation of short selling from May 3, local retail investors have voiced concerns over possible losses in battles with sophisticated hedge funds. The resumption, however, is likely to have a limited impact on the local indexes, global investment bank Morgan Stanley said Tuesday. “We view a sharp market correction as unlikely and expect the Kospi to remain range bound (2,950-3,250),” the report read, adding that the i

April 13, 2021

South Korean lottery spending up 7.2%

South Korean households spent a monthly average of 7.2 percent more on lottery tickets last year, compared with the previous year, data from the Korean Statistical Information Service showed Tuesday. Korean households each spent a monthly average of 590 won ($0.52) on lottery tickets last year, according to Kosis. The data also took households that didn’t purchase lottery tickets into account, in calculating the average figure. The increase in lottery ticket spending came amid a recor

April 13, 2021

First CU store in Malaysia hits jackpot with Korean products

The first Malaysian outlet of CU, the South Korean convenience store chain, has seen more than 11,000 customers in just 10 days since opening, the company said Tuesday. According to BGF Retail, the firm behind the CU chain, an average of 1,000 people have visited the store in Kuala Lumpur daily since it opened on April 1. That is about three times the average number of visitors of CU stores in South Korea, the company added. A typical CU store here is open for 24 hours. But the Malaysian st

April 13, 2021

Samsung expands dominance in smartphone memory market in 2020: report

Samsung Electronics Co. expanded its dominance in the global smartphone memory market in 2020, a report showed Tuesday, as it represented nearly half of the industry. Samsung, the world's largest supplier of DRAM and NAND chips, accounted for 49 percent of the global smartphone memory market last year, up 2 percentage points from a year earlier, according to a report from industry tracker Strategy Analytics. Samsung was followed by its smaller South Korean rival SK hynix Inc. with a 21 perce

April 13, 2021

Consumer financing firms' profit jumps in 2020 on interest income

Consumer financing firms in South Korea saw their combined net profit jump 24.7 percent on-year in 2020, supported by a modest gain in interest income, data showed Tuesday. The combined net profit of 112 credit-specialized financial firms stood at 2.56 trillion won ($2.27 billion) last year compared with a profit of 2.05 trillion won a year earlier, according to the data by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Their interest income rose 2.9 percent on-year to 5.8 trillion won last year,

April 13, 2021

S. Korea's money supply grows in February

South Korea's money supply continued to grow in February, as loans to households and firms increased amid the COVID-19 pandemic, central bank data showed Tuesday. The country's M2 stood at 3,274.4 trillion won ($2.9 trillion) as of end-February, up 1.3 percent from a month earlier, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). From a year earlier, M2 jumped 10.7 percent, the BOK said. A key economic indicator closely monitored by authorities, M2 is a measure of the money supply

April 13, 2021

Samsung, LG among top 5 players in Europe's smart home market in Q4: report

South Korea's two major electronics firms -- Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. -- were among the top five players in the European smart home market in the fourth quarter of last year, a report showed Tuesday, as they push to increase connected devices amid the pandemic-induced stay-at-home trend. Samsung was the third-largest vendor of smart home devices, including smart TVs, smart speakers, thermostats and home security products, in Europe after shipping 4.91 million units in th

April 13, 2021

Q1 auto exports up 17% on increased demand for SUVs, eco-friendly cars

South Korea's exports of automobiles shot up nearly 17 percent in the January-March period from a year earlier, data showed Tuesday, on the back of rising demand for premium automobiles, including SUVs and eco-friendly cars. Outbound shipments of automobiles reached 555,430 units in the first quarter, compared with 475,165 units posted a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. In terms of value, exports also jumped 31.5 percent to US$11.9 billion. Exports in Mar

April 13, 2021

Samsung SDI to supply battery cells to US EV startup Rivian

South Korean battery maker Samsung SDI Co. will supply battery cells for US electric vehicle startup Rivian's upcoming vehicles, the companies said Tuesday. RJ Scaringe of Rivian, backed by Amazon.com Inc. and Ford Motor Co., said in a statement Samsung SDI has been developing the battery cells for its vehicles as it plans to launch an electric pickup and SUV later this year. Samsung SDI has been partnering with Rivian for its EV lineup, a company spokesperson said, without elaborating on th

April 13, 2021

Samsung tipped to ramp up US investment as Biden vows more spending: analysts

Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest memory chip producer, is likely to accelerate its investment in the United States as US President Joe Biden urged more spending in the chipmaking sector to resolve the chip shortage and build up a stable supply chain, analysts here said Tuesday. Samsung was one of the 19 global firms and the only South Korean company that attended the White House's virtual meeting on Monday (local time) where Biden stressed a need to invest in the semiconductor indu

April 13, 2021

SKIET opens 2nd EV battery separator factory in China

SK IE Technology Co. (SKIET), a battery material subsidiary under SK Innovation Co., said Tuesday its second battery separator factory in China started operations to step up its production capacity. SKIET said it opened its first overseas production line in the southeastern Chinese city of Changzhou in November and began rolling out lithium-ion battery separators at its second factory in the complex. The Changzhou factory's operation increases SKIET's annual production capacity to 510 millio

April 13, 2021

Hyundai unveils all-new minivan Staria

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's biggest carmaker, on Tuesday unveiled the all-new minivan Staria, two days ahead of its domestic sale. The Staria multipurpose vehicle comes with a 2.2-liter diesel engine or a 3.5-liter liquefied petroleum gas engine, Hyundai said in a statement. The Staria is available either as a passenger vehicle or a cargo vehicle. As a passenger vehicle, it comes in three versions with seven seats, nine seats or 11 seats, while as a cargo carrier, it comes with three se

April 13, 2021

Netflix's 2020 revenue more than doubles in S. Korea

Netflix saw its revenue more than double in South Korea last year as the video streaming giant enjoyed rapid user growth amid the pandemic, its filing showed Tuesday.  Netflix Services Korea Ltd.'s sales last year stood at 415.45 billion won ($356 million), up 123.5 percent from the previous year, while operating profit reached 8.82 billion won, up 295 percent over the cited period, according to the filing. Most of the company's sales last year came from user streaming fees, which stood

April 13, 2021

Samsung maintains 2nd spot in chip revenue behind Intel in 2020: data

Samsung Electronics Co. maintained the status as the world's second-largest semiconductor vendor by revenue last year, industry data showed Tuesday, amid rising demand of memory products on the back of the pandemic-induced stay-at-home economy. Samsung's chip business logged $57.7 billion in revenue last year, up 10.2 percent from a year earlier, to capture 12.4 percent of the global semiconductor market, according to data from US-based research firm Gartner. Intel Corp. defended its top pos

April 13, 2021

[Graphic News] S. Korea 3rd-largest chip materials market in 2020: report

　South Korea, home to chipmaking giants such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, was the world's third-largest market for semiconductor materials in 2020, a report showed, moving down one spot from a year earlier after posting an under-par industry average growth. 　The country's chip materials market grew 3.9 percent on-year to $9.23 billion in 2020, according to the report from SEMI, a global industry association representing companies in the electronics design and manufacturing supply c

April 13, 2021

ABS issuance dips 39.7% in Q1

The issuance of asset-backed securities (ABS) in South Korea plunged 39.7 percent in the first quarter due to a sharp decline in sales of government-led mortgage funds, data showed Tuesday. The value of ABS issues stood at 13.7 trillion won ($12.1 billion) in the quarter, down 9 trillion won from a year ago, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). ABS are structured with mortgages, auto loans, credit-card receivables and student loans as underlying assets. The plun

April 13, 2021

Seoul stocks open higher on hopes of earnings hike

South Korean stocks opened higher Tuesday as investors pin their hopes on a fast global economic rebound ahead of the earnings season. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 17.6 point, or 0.56 percent, to 3,153.19 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks got off to a strong start despite increased valuation pressure as brokerages projected strong quarterly performances by local big-name companies. Investors are also relieved by the US Federal Reserve chairman'

April 13, 2021

Ginseng improves flu vaccine effectiveness in mice: research

Ginseng can help boost the effectiveness of flu vaccines used on mice, and is also helpful in protecting respiratory organs, Korea Ginseng Corp.’s research institute said Monday. According to a study by KGC’s Korea Ginseng Research Institute, ginseng intake increases the protective effect of vaccines compared to when the vaccine is used alone. The Korean ginseng company also cited research dubbed, “Protective Effect of Korean Red Ginseng Extract on the Infections by H1N1 a

April 12, 2021