South Korean tech titan Samsung Electronics has nearly completed its development of neural processing units, or “AI chips,” to help boost capabilities of artificial intelligence software for servers and mobile devices, according to sources Wednesday.“Samsung is almost done with the development of AI chips for servers, which is expected to be commercialized for server firms, according to Samsung insiders,” a source with expertise in AI told The Korea Herald. “For mobile devices, Samsung has alrea

Technology Jan. 17, 2018

South Korea’s leading mobile carrier SK Telecom is on track to acquire the factory automation technology firm Toptec to seek synergy with its telecom and semiconductor businesses, according to the industry Tuesday. Despite a denial by Toptec in its regulatory filing early Tuesday, an official at SK Holdings -- the de facto control tower of new investment and business projects of all SK affiliates -- told The Korea Herald that the telecom firm is close to making a final decision on the acquisitio

Technology Jan. 16, 2018

Jo Seong-jin, vice chairman and CEO of LG Electronics, has ordered a revision of the company’s upcoming premium phone, temporarily called the “G7,” further delaying its launch to April. According to a company official who asked for anonymity, the G7 smartphone team of the company’s mobile communications business was told to halt recent work related to development of the newest phone, and to review the new product from scratch. “Right after the vice chairman made the announcement at the Consumer

Technology Jan. 15, 2018

Samsung Electronics announced Sunday it has kicked off commercial production of its first US-based home appliance manufacturing facility in Newberry County, South Carolina, a move that hopes to reduce the burden of possible punitive tariffs by the US trade authority. The company held a ceremony in Newberry to celebrate the official launch of the first US factory Friday. The event was attended by Samsung’s consumer electronics division President Kim Hyun-suk, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster an

Industry Jan. 14, 2018

Bread was first introduced to Koreans in the 19th century, when Catholic missionaries from Europe brought bread with them. But it was during Japan’s 35-year colonization that bread started to find its way onto the tables of ordinary citizens in Korea, eaten as a refreshment between meals. It is for this reason that Koreans call bread “ppang,” a word originating from the Japanese pronunciation of “Pao-de-lo,” which means bread in Portuguese. After gaining more popularity in the 1990s, as Korea op

Industry Jan. 12, 2018

South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics is on path to become a company worth 50 trillion won ($46.9 billion), as its annual operating profit for 2017 is forecast to hit 53.6 trillion won, according to an earnings guidance released by the company Tuesday. It is the first time for Samsung to obtain over 50 trillion won in operating profit for the whole year since its foundation in 1969, pushed up by an unprecedented global boom in the chips industry. The company’s preliminary earnings showed t

Industry Jan. 9, 2018

The latest revelation by Google’s security team Project Zero about flaws in Intel’s central processor units exposes the upcoming PyeongChang 2018 Winter Games to new hacking threats, according to a South Korean expert on Monday. Kim Seung-joo, an information security professor at Korea University, told The Korea Herald that it was urgent for the organizing committee of the PyeongChang Games to examine possible threats to the sports event that is being prepared as the world’s first cloud-based Ol

Technology Jan. 8, 2018

Kim Ki-nam, chief executive officer of Samsung Electronics’ semiconductor business, is bracing for fiercer competition in the global market for chips this year -- a critical time for the industry’s growth. Cautiously forecasting the chip industry for the next 12 months, Kim has said in a short New Year’s message to local media that the industry is in a grave situation, hinting at difficulty in innovating the technologies and concerns about a looming oversupply.  Kim Ki-nam, chief executive offic

Technology Jan. 2, 2018

South Korea’s biggest display panel manufacturer LG Display announced Monday that it would unveil the industry’s first 8K 88-inch organic light-emitting diode display panel at the Consumer Electronics Show next week, vowing to lead the 8K resolution market. Models show LG Display's 8K 88-inch OLED display panel. (LG Display)LG dismissed the industry’s concerns about limits of OLED panels’ ability to display at the 8K level of 33 megapixels per inch -- four times the resolution of 4K panels. The

Technology Jan. 1, 2018

In a move to make South Korea a more convenient and safe country, the government will increase the supply of frequency bands for emerging industries and households next year by easing related regulations, the Ministry of Science and ICT announced Thursday. As part of the government’s plans for a 3 percent growth next year, the ICT Ministry unveiled its plan to provide frequency bands and set standards for new industries such as autonomous driving, wireless charging, Internet of Things and drone

Technology Dec. 28, 2017

Artificial intelligence will operate more like humans, while human drivers will be less needed for the level 4 autonomous driving next year, a report by LG Economic Research Institute forecast Wednesday. The institute cited AI and level 4 autonomous driving technologies among the top 10 major technologies that will prevail the information communications technology industry next year under the four biggest trends: hyper-intelligence, hyper-automation, hyper-connection, and hyper-convergence.  LG

Technology Dec. 27, 2017

CrucialTec, a Korean biometrics business, said Wednesday it will expand into the biomedical market next year with a plan to provide products like smartphone thermometer and diabetes diagnosis kit.The company said it plans to add biomedicine as a new business area at its shareholders’ meeting in January. The announcement comes after years of research and development projects with domestic and foreign institutes including Texas A&M University in the US based on a judgment that 2018 will be an oppo

Technology Dec. 27, 2017

SK Telecom is considering legal action against KT claiming defamation, amid continuing accusations by the rival company that SKT illegally damaged KT’s Olympic network cables, according to the company’s officials Tuesday. With less than 45 days left until the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics kick off in Gangwon Province, the spat between the country’s two biggest mobile carriers appears to be escalating.“The company is mulling a defamation suit against KT as the accusations are getting nowhere,”

Technology Dec. 27, 2017