SACHEON, South Gyeongsang Province ― On the country’s southern coastal tip lies a facility as big as three soccer fields in which Korea Aerospace Industries’ engineers are busily producing its flagship aircraft and helicopters to meet their delivery deadlines.KAI makes FA-50 fighter jets, supersonic trainer T-50s, which the light attacker was based on, and the Surion utility helicopter. Now it seeks to expand its portfolio to accommodate the defense needs of Korea’s armed forces, as well as thos

Technology June 29, 2014

Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics have locked horns over wearables, this time after the U.S. release of the two tech giants’ new smartwatches, powered by Google’s new operating system.LG Electronics, which offered a glimpse of its first smartwatch earlier this year, introduced the G Watch at Google’s annual conference on Wednesday.The G Watch, running on Google’s Android Wear, features an “Always-On” 1.65 inch display, which keeps the screen on for 24 hours, and a built-in 400mAh battery.Al

Technology June 26, 2014

LG Innotek said Thursday that it has built its first overseas automotive electronic parts plant in San Juan del Rio, Mexico.The 34,000-square-meter plant ― equivalent in size to five soccer fields ― will commence production of its automotive motors for dual clutch transmission systems beginning in August this year.Its 600 local employees will then expand manufacturing of other motors for antilock brake and electric power steering systems, with the aim of securing an annual production capacity of

Technology June 26, 2014

LG Electronics’ latest smartphone, the G3, has been gaining sales momentum and consumer attention from what industry watchers describe as its display quality and user-friendly interfaces, outshining its rival, the Samsung GalaxyS5.The phone’s simple and high-resolution imaging features are mainly attributable to LG Innotek’s camera module, along with LG Display’s Quad HD LCD panel.LG Innotek, the world’s leading camera module developer, deployed its 13-megapixel module, a complementary metal-oxi

Technology June 24, 2014

CrucialTec, a listed South Korean tech company, said Wednesday that the company and its software affiliate CrucialSoft have developed an algorithm for small area-type fingerprint sensing modules.The algorithm, named “Fermion,” is expected to pave the way for mobile device makers to embed “ultra-small” biometric trackpad touch modules for fingerprint data processing and authentication, the company said.CrucialTec’s latest development would enable the production of thinner and smaller BTP sensors

Technology June 19, 2014

Cisco Systems, the U.S. network equipment giant, said that Samsung Electronics would be its “natural partner” to develop and deploy a network enabling connections to multiple cloud computing systems such as public and private enterprise clouds.The two companies, which have a patent cross-licensing agreement, have not yet gotten into the details of Cisco’s so-called Intercloud for its customers and partners.But Robert Lloyd, president of Cisco’s development and sales, said Korea’s global tech man

Technology June 18, 2014

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister-nominee Choi Kyung-hwan stands at a crossroads as he will soon have to make tough decisions and policy recommendations for President Park Geun-hye to revitalize the economy, which has become sluggish following the ferry disaster in April.A slew of economic tasks await the incoming deputy prime minister after his parliamentary confirmation hearing, and among sensitive issues he will have to address are taxes and loan-related regulations for the housing m

June 16, 2014

LG CNS, one of South Korea’s leading IT solutions companies, said Wednesday that it has started to provide a comprehensive analytic service using social network data in China with its partner SAS China.This marks the first time for the Korean IT firm to make inroads into China’s big data sector, which is still nascent but holds potential as the world’s second largest economy saw an annual 50 percent growth in social network services. LG CNS employees pose as the company introduces its “Smart SMA

Technology June 11, 2014

Samsung Group said Tuesday that chairman Lee Kun-hee’s health is improving, but he remains unconscious.He was able to move his hands and feet a little, and open his eyes for seven to eight hours, a group spokeswoman said, citing Samsung Medical Center’s official announcement regarding the chairman’s progress.“The chairman is recovering, but it is difficult to say that he has gained consciousness,” she said.Lee Kun-heeThe 72-year-old Samsung boss has been in the hospital for a month since he had

Technology June 10, 2014

Microsoft Asia Pacific president Cesar Cernuda is set to visit South Korea next week to examine the county’s market and seek expansionary opportunities in the mobile market, said industry sources claiming knowledge of the matter.A Microsoft Korea official confirmed that Cernuda will be coming to Korea as part of his annual tour to meet the company’s enterprise customers, and attend in-house meetings and marketing events. Cernuda, who was appointed the new Asia chief last year, will be coming to

Technology June 4, 2014

An increase in global trade has created a borderless world and spurred competition, calling on businesses to develop and introduce technologies for a wide range of consumers with different tastes.A new market called for companies to adopt innovative strategies that include safeguarding their inventions by filing their intellectual properties as efficiently and globally as possible amid growing patent disputes.And this is where the so-called Intellectual Property Five comes in to accommodate the

Technology June 3, 2014

The Internet, one of the world’s greatest inventions of the 20th century, faces a possible makeover as it is being threatened by a new U.S. rule that can overthrow its openness and indiscriminate accessibility.Concerns over the possible breakdown in net neutrality, in which all Internet data should be treated equally, have been rising especially since the U.S. Federal Communications Commission lost a court battle against Verizon early this year.The two sides have been duking it out over net neut

Technology June 1, 2014

With Samsung Electronics expected to unveil its first smartphone embedded with the Tizen operating system next month, a new competitor is set to join Android and Apple in the mobile OS market.Industry watchers said small OS players such as Tizen, Firefox and Windows will increase their presence as demand for low-end smartphones increases, especially in developing countries.Samsung’s Tizen smartphones will reportedly roll out first in emerging countries including Russia and India, in an apparent

Technology May 28, 2014