South Korea's business lobby groups asked Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to support their budding efforts to boost cooperation with Japan, especially in the fields of advanced technology and resource development in third countries, in a closed-door meeting in Seoul on Monday. Meeting with the chiefs of Korea's six major business lobby groups on the second day of his two-day trip, Kishida expressed hopes for businesses to lead the effort to achieve the shared goal of bolstering i

Industry May 8, 2023

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida confirmed Japan is in the process of reinstating South Korea to its “white list” of trusted trading partners amid joint efforts to improve bilateral economic ties, the leaders said Sunday. In a joint press conference following their summit in Seoul, the two leaders also said they agreed to bolster cooperation in industries including semiconductors, materials, parts and equipment. “Government talks

Industry May 7, 2023

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, the de facto leader of Samsung Group, vowed to boost the nation’s largest conglomerate’s burgeoning biopharma business to "repeat the success story of semiconductors," as he met with heads of major biopharmaceutical companies in the United States, the company said Sunday. Traveling to the US' East Coast, home to the world’s leading biopharma clusters, Lee met with the heads of global biopharmaceutical and venture incubat

Industry May 7, 2023

Samsung Electronics joined other tech companies in banning the use of ChatGPT and other AI-powered chatbots by its employees, after discovering leaks of sensitive internal codes by its engineers. Taking measures to ban access of generative AI tools on company-owned computers, tablets and phones, Samsung is also reportedly creating its own service tools to support translation and the summarizing of documents, as well as software development. The tech giant confirmed Wednesday it issued a memo las

Industry May 3, 2023

The South Korean government on Tuesday vowed to support the advanced chip industry, highlighting the rise of new technologies, including artificial intelligence. At a gathering of fabless companies hosted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Vice Trade Minister Chang Young-jin highlighted the importance of advanced semiconductors and its growth potential. “The semiconductor industry has been No. 1 in exports for 10 consecutive years, and is the pillar of our economy and industrie

Industry May 2, 2023

South Korea’s top chaebol chiefs who accompanied President Yoon Suk Yeol on his state visit to Washington last week have returned with their hands full of hot-button issues, including the increasingly protectionist policies in the all-important US market. With no immediate breakthrough in related talks between the two countries, industry watchers say the business leaders seem to be in a rush to study the industrial implications of the summit talks and come up with follow-up measures. After

Industry May 1, 2023

Samsung Electronics, which recently recorded its worst operating profit in the first quarter, is expected to increase its spending to raise wafer input for research and development, according to industry sources on Monday. Kyung Kye-hyun, the CEO in charge of the tech giant’s Device Solutions Division overseeing global memory operations, System LSI, said the company will increase its wafer input to “gain the upper hand in technology for future products,” speaking at a staff bus

Industry May 1, 2023

South Korea’s exports declined for the seventh consecutive month in April, as the chip industry experienced the worst slump of sagging demand and prices, the Trade Ministry said Monday. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy reported that the country witnessed its outbound shipments decline 14.2 percent on-year to stand at $49.6 billion in April. While inbound shipments also decreased by 13.3 percent to log $52.23 billion, the country's trade landed in the red for the 14th month, loggi

Industry May 1, 2023

South Korean Industry Minister Lee Chang-yang called on the United States to make joint efforts to resolve a legal dispute over Seoul’s potential export of nuclear reactors to the Czech Republic, the Industry Ministry said Friday. Lee raised the issue during a meeting with US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm in Washington on Thursday, on the sidelines of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s state visit. During the talks, the two sides also agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation on clea

Industry April 28, 2023

South Korean Industry Minister Lee Chang-yang and US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo agreed to minimize uncertainties and business burdens chipmakers face over the US’ semiconductor subsidy program, Seoul’s Industry Ministry said Friday. The two sides held their first Supply Chain and Commercial Dialogue, or SCCD, in Washington on Thursday and released a joint declaration statement, vowing to work closely together to minimize the impacts of the US’ CHIPS Act and Inflation R

Industry April 28, 2023

Fairfax County of Virginia, one of the major business destinations in the US, is home to 8,800 tech companies, including nine listed on the Fortune 500. South Korea also has a sizeable business community consisting of some 80 companies -- the largest number among Asian countries -- including Dongwon Group, SK Signet, Golfzon and Korea Aerospace Industries. Behind the successful attraction of the big names and multinational businesses stands Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, which se

Industry April 27, 2023

South Korean chip suppliers and automakers have been left unimpressed by the summit between Presidents Yoon Suk Yeol and Joe Biden, after it failed to bring out any tangible measures to ease their concerns over Washington's increasingly protectionist policies. Holding a joint press conference after their summit on Wednesday, the two presidents announced their agreement on strengthening cooperation in advanced technology sectors, including chips, electric vehicles and batteries. But they did

Industry April 27, 2023

In the wake of escalating competition between the US and China, SK hynix said it is reviewing plans for future operation of its manufacturing facilities in China, as it announced its worst operating profit losses on Wednesday. “We are looking at various factors of long-term geopolitical risks, market demand and operation efficiency to comprehensively review the future operation of our manufacturing plant in China,” Kim Woo-hyun, chief financial officer for SK hynix, said on the ear

Industry April 26, 2023

South Korean chipmakers are facing increasing pressure amid an intensifying US-China rivalry, as Washington has reportedly requested the Korean government to hold back from filling China's shortfalls in chips. Seoul’s presidential office refused to comment Monday over a report from the Financial Times that the White House had asked the Korean government to urge its chipmakers to "not fill any market gap" in China, if Beijing bans US-based Micron Technology from selling chips

Industry April 24, 2023

South Korea’s top conglomerate chiefs are heading to the US this week to accompany President Yoon Suk Yeol on his state visit, hoping to find a breakthrough in business uncertainties surrounding increasingly protectionist policies in the all-important market. Taking his biggest economic delegation to date in his weeklong state visit to the US from Monday, Yoon is expected to relay the difficulties Korean companies face with the US' introduction of the CHIPS and Science Act and Inflati

Industry April 23, 2023