Hyundai Motor Company on Wednesday signed a deal to acquire General Motors’ auto manufacturing plant in Talegaon, in the western state of Maharashtra, India, further strengthening the South Korean automaker’s will to expand its market share in the world’s third-largest car market. Hyundai said the two sides decided to not reveal the amount of the acquisition. According to Hyundai, it will be able to fully acquire the rights to the GM site once it obtains the Indian government&r

Mobility Aug. 16, 2023

SK On announced Wednesday a 1.5 trillion won ($1.1 billion) investment in expanding the battery production capacity by adding a third plant in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province. Marking the South Korean battery maker’s largest investment in the country, the expansion will bring up the Seosan site’s total annual production capacity to about 20 gigawatt-hours by 2028, enough to be supplied to 280,000 electric vehicles. The company will break ground for the third plant this year, aimin

Industry Aug. 16, 2023

Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics will attend IAA Mobility 2023, a major global automotive fair, for the first time next month, signifying the South Korean electronics giants’ emphasis on the automotive electronic components market. IAA Mobility, which is set to take place in Munich, Germany, from Sept. 5 to 10, will draw not only some of the top global automakers such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz but also IT and chip giants like Amazon, Meta and Qualcomm. Hyundai Motor Group said it is n

Industry Aug. 15, 2023

South Korean researchers have developed a new type of fabric that can generate electricity from sweat and body movements, opening a new chapter of next-generation smart clothes. According to the Korea Institute of Science and Technology on Tuesday, two teams of researchers at the institute’s electronic materials research center came up with the stretchable, washable energy-harvesting fabric that enables biomechanical and biochemical power generation. The researchers weaved two different fa

Technology Aug. 15, 2023

Hyundai Motor Group on Monday joined hands with NaaS, a Chinese electric vehicle charging service provider, to innovate in the EV charging market. Officials of the South Korean auto giant and NaaS signed a memorandum of understanding at the Chinese firm in Beijing to develop EV charging services tailored to fit Chinese customers and push for EV-lifestyle services. NaaS, established in 2019, is considered the first Chinese company professionalized in EV charging information services. According to

Mobility Aug. 14, 2023

Hanwha Group, South Korea’s seventh-largest conglomerate, is looking to bolster its robotics business as it plans to establish a new robotics corporation. Hanwha announced Friday that its robot and automated guided vehicle businesses under the factory automation department at Hanwha Corporation/Momentum would be split off into a new robotics firm named Hanwha Robotics. The company said the split-off is taking place to sharpen each business’ expertise. “Through the establishment

Industry Aug. 14, 2023

Halley’s Comet, arguably the most well-known comet in the world, is a short-period comet that comes close enough to the Earth about every 76 years that it can be seen with the naked eye. It was last observed in 1986 and is forecast to return in 2061. The comet is named after English astronomer Edmond Halley, who worked out the pattern by which the comet comes back to the Earth over and over. Although he did not live to see his prediction of the comet’s return in 1758 or 1759 prove tr

Technology Aug. 13, 2023

The Korea Herald still serves as the window into Korea even after 70 years of its establishment, says Porsche Korea CEO Holger Gerrmann. “If you look back, the foundation (of the Herald) was on the 15th of August, 1953, which was a very important time to show the world what was going on in Korea and how things were developing in Korea,” said Gerrmann in an interview with the Herald, referring to the aftermath of the Korean War. “I think from a diplomatic and international point

70th anniversary Aug. 13, 2023

Nexon has come out on top in second quarter earnings among major Korean game developers, becoming the only company to post on-year growth in both sales and operating profits during the period. Nexon on Wednesday reported 902.8 billion won ($685.3 million) in sales and 264 billion won in operating profit in the April-to-June period, up 12 percent and 22 percent on year, respectively. The game maker thrived in the second quarter thanks to the success of strong intellectual properties and new title

Industry Aug. 10, 2023

Hyundai Mobis, an automotive parts maker under South Korean conglomerate Hyundai Motor Group, said Wednesday that it secured a large-scale order for battery system assembly from Volkswagen Group. Although the exact terms of the contract were not disclosed, the Korean car parts maker said the order signifies Hyundai Mobis’ global competitive edge in technology and mass production of electric vehicle parts. The announcement marks Hyundai Mobis’ first overseas contract disclosed to the

Mobility Aug. 9, 2023

Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun has emphasized the importance of India as a foothold for future mobility as the South Korean automaker looks to lead the country’s fast-growing electric vehicle market. According to the Korean automaker Tuesday, the Hyundai Motor chief visited Hyundai Motor Company’s technical center and manufacturing site in India from Monday to Tuesday to discuss mid to long-term growth strategies with local employees. Hyundai Motor said Chung closel

Mobility Aug. 8, 2023

LG Energy Solution will build two battery recycling plants in eastern China under a joint venture with top Chinese cobalt producer Huayou Cobalt, marking the first collaboration of its kind in the industry between Korean and Chinese companies. The pretreatment factory, which will be set up in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, will extract battery scrap generated from battery production and process used batteries, LG Energy Solution said in an announcement Tuesday. The post-processing factory, which wi

Industry Aug. 8, 2023

Kia will debut a new robot next year in collaboration with Boston Dynamics, a US-based robotics company that was acquired by Kia’s parent Hyundai Motor Group in 2021, according to the South Korean automaker’s latest sustainability report published Tuesday. Although the report did not specify what type of robot it will be, the report noted that Kia will continue to search for new business opportunities such as robotics logistics and unstaffed delivery services by collaborating with th

Mobility Aug. 1, 2023

South Korean conglomerate Hanwha Group is looking to add more talent to ramp up its space personnel resources and lead the opening of the country’s space era. Hanwha Aerospace and Hanwha Systems on Monday opened a recruitment process to hire newcomers and experienced job seekers as crew members of the Space Hub -- Hanwha’s conglomeratewide council dedicated to developing space businesses. According to the recruitment notice, Hanwha plans to hire over 100 people in 10 space sectors, s

Industry July 31, 2023

Over 50 space companies from across the globe gathered on Jeju Island on June 28 to attend the opening ceremony of the International Space Summit. They came together to discuss trends in the space industry, in launch vehicles, ground station networks, satellite image analysis and other areas. The two-day ISS was organized by Contec, a local startup specializing in satellite-to-ground station services. “There has never been any space conference of such a size in our country,” Lee Sung

Technology July 30, 2023