Jon Rubinstein, senior vice president and general manager of Hewlett-Packard Co.’s Palm business unit, holds HP’s TouchPad tablet device during the Uplinq conference in San Diego, California. (Bloomberg) NEW YORK (AFP) ― U.S. technology giant Hewlett-Packard rolled out its new TouchPad tablet computer on Friday, seeking to dethrone the dominant Apple iPad and revive its slumping fortunes. The T...

Samsung on Friday merged Samsung’s Electronics’ embattled liquid crystal display unit into a newly created Digital Solutions division to be headed by Kwon Oh-hyun, chief executive of the company’s semiconductor business. Chang Won-kie, chief executive of the LCD unit, was removed from his post to become adviser to Kwon in a move that industry watchers saw to be a demotion criticizing Chang’s rol...

Kwon Oh-chul, chief executive of Hynix Semiconductor, on Friday was inaugurated as the chairman of the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association. Kwon became the first executive not come from Samsung Electronics to become chairman. Kwon’s term will be until March of 2013. Kwon Oh-chul “Semiconductor demand has been sluggish on the back of a slower than expected recovery in the global economy, ...

Unionized workers at SC First Bank are expected to drag out their strike for an extended period of time in opposition to the management’s push for a performance-based pay system. The dispute between the management and workers continued as about 3,000 workers went on strike for a fifth day on Friday, leading to customer concerns of a prolonged walkout. The local unit of Standard Chartered Plc is...

Hyundai Motor Group chairman Chung Mong-koo has called for employees in the United States to prioritize producing vehicles with “advanced” quality. His remarks are in line with Hyundai Motor and its affiliate Kia Motors’ road map to catch up with European and Japanese carmakers from its earlier business strategy focused on product stabilization. Chung visited a sales corporation of Hyundai-Kia ...

SK Telecom Co. and LG Uplus Corp. plans to start commercial services of the “Long Term Evolution” mobile technology to usher in the long-awaited era of fourth-generation wireless networks, the companies said on Thursday. LTE is cited as the next-generation mobile technology following the current 3G, and promises to offer an Internet data transmitting speed of up to five to seven times existing n...

(LG Group) LG Group chairman Koo Bon-moo (left) hands the symbol for the LG Global Challenger program to the representative of students taking part at the company’s office in Seoul on Wednesday. The program is in its 17th year, and allows participants to take part in research projects and visit other countries.

SK Innovation’s oil platform in operation at an offshore mining area in Vietnam. (SK Group) Local firms look for opportunities for old and new businesses abroad Faced with a fast saturating domestic market, local firms have increasingly been seeking growth in overseas markets. For some, such as Hyundai Motor Group, overseas expansion has been an extension of their main businesses. Others, suc...

Korea Express union opposes takeover, worries about job losses from potential merger with GLS Hefty acquisition costs and bad blood with Samsung have left CJ Group pondering how to overcome the multiple hurdles it faces as the preferred bidder for logistics giant Korea Express, industry watchers said. At the top of the agenda is addressing industry concerns that CJ would have a tough time comin...

Companies quietly pulling out all stops to keep unions to minimum Following is the second in a two part series featuring multiple labor unions that will be introduced in Korea on Friday. ― Ed. The top brass at Korean companies are on high alert over challenges they could face when multiple unions become legal as of July 1. Conglomerates, some of which have enjoyed years without the nagging pre...