KT Corp. said Thursday that its incumbent CEO Ku Hyeon-mo has decided not to seek a second term, publicizing his official withdrawal from the ongoing review process to pick a leader of the nation’s second-largest telecom company in terms of subscribers. The company said its board of directors accepted Ku’s decision and the recruiting for a new CEO will continue as planned. Ku’s withdrawal comes as he faced an intensifying conflict with the company’s largest shareholder Na

Industry Feb. 23, 2023

Samsung Electronics said Thursday it has launched a virtual open radio access network site running on the ultra-fast 5G network along with Dish Network, the fourth-largest telecommunications carrier in the US. Earlier, Samsung had supplied an initial shipment of 24,000 Open RAN-compliant radios and 5G virtualized RAN software solutions to accelerate Dish’s network deployment across the US, which will allow to provide reliable and fast nationwide coverage to its network users. “Samsun

Technology Feb. 23, 2023

The average annual compensation for Samsung Electronics’ employees and executives last year was over 130 million won ($99,700), data showed Wednesday. According to market tracker Korea CXO Institute, the estimated annual salary that Samsung’s 113,604 employees and executives received in 2022 was between 133 million won and 138 million on average. This was about 8 million won lower than the 144.6 million won posted in 2021, but about 10 million won higher than the 127 million won in 2

Industry Feb. 22, 2023

As IT behemoth Apple will likely launch its mobile payments service Apple Pay in Korea next month, Samsung Electronics appears to be reacting to the rival’s move by strengthening its digital payment service Samsung Pay through a strategic partnership with internet giant Naver. Samsung announced Monday that it signed a partnership agreement with Naver Financial to promote its mobile payment system, making digital payments more convenient for its users. Samsung has gained a stronger online p

Technology Feb. 21, 2023

Almost a decade after Samsung Electronics ditched the organic light-emitting diode TV business, the tech giant has returned to the market where crosstown rival LG Electronics dominates almost 60 percent of sales. Following its global launch last year, Samsung said Monday it would take preorders for its brand-new OLED TV at home, ahead of its official release on March 9. Samsung debuted 55-inch and 56-inch OLED TVs in Latin America, Oceania and Southeast Asia in March last year, but their Korean

Technology Feb. 20, 2023

With the opening of the world’s largest mobile tech show just a week away, South Korea’s major telecommunications firms including SK Telecom and KT Corp. are poised to showcase their future technologies. Korea's No. 1 mobile carrier, SK Telecom, said Sunday it will operate an exhibition space at the annual Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, under the theme of "AI, the Wave of Innovation." The company will showcase its innovative future technologies like artific

Technology Feb. 19, 2023

LG Uplus Chief Executive Officer Hwang Hyeon-sik apologized Thursday over the recent controversy surrounding the company’s data breaches and the internet connection failure caused by cyberattacks, pledging to beef up information security capabilities. “We sincerely apologize to our customers for the inconvenience caused by the data leakage incident and internet connection failure,” Hwang said in a press conference at the company’s headquarters in Yongsan, central Seoul. &

Industry Feb. 16, 2023

Samsung Electronics said Thursday it has developed a new technology for a single air purification filter that simultaneously removes fine dust and harmful gases, and can be used for up to 20 years through simple water washing. Researchers at the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology implemented a filter technology that applies photocatalysts such as copper oxide and titanium dioxide -- the first development to be introduced anywhere in the world, according to Samsung officials. Before the lat

Technology Feb. 16, 2023

South Korean telecommunications giant KT Corp. said Wednesday it has signed a partnership deal with the Mongolian government and the central Asian country’s business delegation to strengthen strategic cooperation in exploiting mineral resources and realizing digital transformation in the finance sector. Key officials of the Mongolian government and the country’s business delegation visited KT's headquarters in Jongno, central Seoul, a day earlier to sign the memorandum of unders

Industry Feb. 15, 2023

LG Innotek said Wednesday that it launched the world’s thinnest and widest film-type semiconductor substrate, 2-metal chip on film, a key component for extended reality devices. Chip on film (COF) is a semiconductor packaging substrate that connects the display and main printed circuit board. It helps minimize display bezels and miniaturize modules for electronic devices such as TVs, laptops, monitors and smartphones. The 2-metal COF is an upgraded version of the single-sided COF, which is

Technology Feb. 15, 2023

Samsung Electronics President and mobile business chief Roh Tae-moon has hinted at the tech giant’s potential partnerships with global IT firms to develop new artificial intelligence technologies for its smartphones. Roh noted the possible partnerships at a press conference held in Malaysia on Thursday, for the launch of Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S23 smartphone lineup, according to Vietnam’s Soha News and other local media outlets. The media outlets reported the mobile chief

Technology Feb. 14, 2023

Energy-to-semiconductor conglomerate, SK Group, has the largest number of affiliated companies among 76 local business groups with 5 trillion won ($3.9 billion) or more in assets, data showed Monday. According to South Korea's Fair Trade Commission, SK Group, the country's second-largest business group in terms of assets, had 201 affiliates as of Jan. 31. The figure went up by six from just three months ago. It is the first time for the number of affiliates among large business group

Industry Feb. 13, 2023

Kakao, the operator of South Korea’s No. 1 messenger app KakaoTalk, said Friday that it plans to expand its vertical Korean language-based artificial intelligence services based on an AI language model called KoGPT this year. Kakao CEO Hong Eun-taek said in its earnings conference that his group would seek to compete against global AI services with a specialized Korean language service. “The rise of hyperscale AI models like ChatGPT is both an opportunity and a crisis for Kakao,&rd

Technology Feb. 10, 2023

South Korea’s telecom giant KT Corp. said Thursday it will restart the appointment process for its new CEO, accepting applications from potential candidates until Feb. 20. Earlier in December, the company’s CEO candidate review committee appointed the incumbent CEO, Ku Hyeon-mo, as the final candidate to take the helm. But the decision faced opposition from the state-run pension fund and the company’s largest shareholder National Pension Service. Even though Ku seeking his seco

Industry Feb. 9, 2023

South Korean tech giants are shifting their production operations away from China to India to lessen the damage from the lingering uncertainties surrounding the US-China rivalry and to tap further into the world's fifth-largest economy. Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest smartphone maker in terms of shipments, has recently decided to produce the latest Galaxy S23 flagship smartphones in India for local sales – an unprecedented decision considering India had long remained i

Industry Feb. 9, 2023