[KH Explains] Naver’s Line dilemma: Lose global footing for cash?

Regardless of the ongoing diplomatic brouhaha, many industry watchers expect Naver to divest its stake in the 50:50 joint venture with SoftBank that controls the Line messenger app and Yahoo Japan. The issue is how much cash it could secure from the stake sale and its business impact in the future. Naver and SoftBank own 50 percent each in A Holdings, which controls almost 65 percent shares in LY Corp., the merged entity of Line and Yahoo Japan in 2019. The market cap of LY Corp. is estimated at

May 14, 2024

Dyson debuts first wet floor cleaner WashG1

UK home appliance giant Dyson on Tuesday released WashG1, its first wet floor cleaner designed to pick up wet and dry debris in one go without a vacuum motor. The wet floor cleaner, equipped with a 1-liter clean-water tank, uses a combination of hydration, absorption and extraction technologies to remove wet and dry debris -- automatically separating them -- according to Dyson. "Cleaning floors can be very unhygienic, leaving smears and dirty marks and you usually have to vacuum first, so i

May 14, 2024

Samsung doubles down on Vietnam

Samsung Electronics has pledged to increase its annual spending in Vietnam to $1 billion as the Southeast Asian country emerges as a strategic base for manufacturing in the region. According to industry sources on Monday, Samsung Electronics Chief Financial Officer Park Hark-kyu on Thursday met with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in Hanoi to discuss business collaborations. During the meeting, the Samsung CFO noted how the company has invested $22.4 billion in Vietnam so far and share

May 13, 2024

LG Innotek to spur growth in automotive lighting

LG Innotek on Monday renewed its commitment to nurturing the automotive lighting business as its key growth driver. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the commercialization of Nexlide, the parts maker’s flexible three-dimensional lighting brand for vehicles. The module-based lighting products boast brighter, clearer and more uniform light emission. Starting with the Nexlide-A in 2014, the Nexlide-M began mass production in the first quarter of this year. A total of nine types of Nexli

May 13, 2024

SK Telecom to lead AI data center standardization

SK Telecom said Monday that their proposal for standardizing industry-wide technologies for AI data centers has recently been approved as a new research project by a UN telecom agency. The ITU-T, a division of the UN-affiliated International Telecommunication Union, is responsible for studying and establishing electrical and telecom standards, with over 900 entities from around 190 member countries joining. "The ITU-T's endorsement of our new standardization project not only underscore

May 13, 2024

LG Electronics CEO offers to pay $1m salary to top AI talents

LG Electronics Chief Executive Officer Cho Joo-wan traveled to the US to meet with big tech counterparts and discuss collaboration in artificial intelligence, as well as to secure AI talents, the company said Sunday. Hosting a tech conference in Cupertino, California on Saturday, Cho underscored the importance of talents in AI development and said the company is willing to offer large salaries to secure top talents. "Changes such as electrification, servitization and digitalization are occu

May 12, 2024

Battery makers ramp up efforts to diversify graphite supply chain

Korean battery makers are speeding up efforts to diversify their supply chains to source key materials, including graphite, as the US pushes back the deadline for the ban on the use of Chinese minerals by two years. Earlier this month, the US Treasury Department announced an extension to its $7,500 tax credit scheme for electric vehicles containing components from Foreign Entities of Concern, which includes China, until the end of 2026. "There have been concerns that if Korean batteries fai

May 12, 2024

Samsung Electronics microwave tops European market

Samsung Electronics said Sunday that it has retained its top market share position in the microwave market in Europe for the ninth consecutive year. According to market research firm Euromonitor, Samsung Electronics ranked No. 1 with a market share of 15.3 percent in the microwave segment across 19 European countries surveyed last year. The company targeted the market by offering premium materials and distinctive designs, reflecting the high level of interest in kitchen interior design among Eur

May 12, 2024

Roborock’s rare success on home turf of Samsung, LG

China’s Roborock, the popular robot vacuum cleaner brand, has become a rare success story on the home turf of Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics. Despite the dominance of the two Korean firms in the nation’s home appliance market, when it comes to the burgeoning robot cleaner market, the Chinese runner-up has maintained its top position over the past four years. Last month, Roborock released its latest flagship model, the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra, which is capable of both vacuuming

May 12, 2024

Science Ministry expresses regret over Japan’s pressure on Naver

The Science Ministry on Friday expressed regret over the Japanese government’s pressure on Naver to shed its ownership stakes in the popular messaging app Line, hinting at "strong and stern" measures if necessary. “The Seoul government's firm position is that we’ll ensure Korean companies, including Naver, are not subject to any unreasonable measures related to overseas business and overseas investment,” Second Vice Science Minister Kang Do-hyun told report

May 10, 2024

Naver Cloud, Philippines' Converge team up for DX innovation

Naver Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Korea's IT giant Naver, said Friday it has teamed up with Philippine fiber optic internet provider Converge ICT Solutions to speed up digital transformation in the Southeast Asian country. Under the deal, the two sides agreed to collaborate to discuss ways to leverage Naver’s expertise to deliver innovative cloud solutions for the specific needs of Filipino customers. Converge is the fastest-growing broadband provider in the Philippines with a f

May 10, 2024

LG CNS launches Gen AI Studio for corporate clients

LG CNS on Thursday opened its Gen AI Studio, a new venue for its corporate clients to experience business solutions using generative AI. The latest opening aims to offer systematic assistance to companies that seek to explore generative AI but find themselves uncertain about where to begin. Its programs, consisting of Gen AI Tour, Gen AI Discovery Workshop and Gen AI Prototyping, showcase potential applications of generative AI across industries and value chains. Companies can experience the pro

May 9, 2024

LG Display starts sell-off talks for China plant

LG Display has started talks to sell off its last liquid crystal display manufacturing plant in China in an apparent move to focus on consolidating its leadership in the more advanced organic light-emitting diode display market. According to industry sources on Thursday, LG Display is discussing the issue with Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy as a pricey display plant is considered the nation’s strategic asset whose sales should be approved by the government. In a regul

May 9, 2024

Korea forecast to overtake Taiwan in chip production by 2032: report

South Korea is projected to account for nearly 20 percent of global semiconductor production in 2032, reaching an all-time high in output, a US report showed on Thursday. Asia’s fourth-largest economy is predicted to take up 19 percent of global chip production eight years later, according to a report by the Semiconductor Industry Association, in partnership with the Boston Consulting Group. The report evaluated that Korea invested in the development of the semiconductor industry from the

May 9, 2024

SK Hynix to sell 50% stake in China foundry unit to Chinese enterprise

South Korea's SK Hynix has agreed to sell its nearly 50% stake in its foundry unit based in China to a Chinese state-owned enterprise, according to regulatory filings and media reports. SK Hynix System IC said in a regulatory filing that it plans to sell a 21.3% stake in its foundry unit in Wuxi to China's state-owned Wuxi Industry Development Group Company for 205.4 billion won ($150.81 million). In a separate filing, SK Hynix System IC said it will also sell its intangible assets,

May 8, 2024

Minister says chip subsidy a ‘tall order’

Countries have been rolling out competitive subsidy programs to boost their edge in the critical semiconductor industry. For South Korea, it is difficult to come up with such direct support programs, but the government is working to create an environment to benefit long-term investment in the sector, Industry Minister Ahn Duk-geun said in a press briefing Tuesday. Ahn also explained that the ministry, along with other government entities will set up a public fund to support strategic industries,

May 8, 2024

Czech envoy visits S. Korea's latest nuclear plant ahead of bid result

A Czech envoy visited a South Korean nuclear power plant last week amid the ongoing process to select the winner for the European nation's construction project estimated at around 30 trillion won ($22 billion), industry sources said Wednesday. Ivan Jancarek, the Czech Republic's ambassador to South Korea, visited the Saeul Nuclear Power Plant in Ulsan, 299 kilometers south of Seoul, on Friday, and was briefed on the overall operations of the facility, according to the sources. The visi

May 8, 2024

Will China's self-sufficient dream in HBM come true?

With the US imposing strict trade restrictions on China's advanced semiconductors and chipmaking equipment, Beijing has been ramping up efforts to develop home-grown artificial intelligence chips to keep up with the global AI boom. Recently, the Chinese government and chipmakers have been working together to produce high-bandwidth memory chips, a crucial component in graphic processing units. With the backing of the government, the consortium led by Huawei aims to produce HBM2 by 2026. Indu

May 7, 2024

[KH Explains] Can tech firms' AI alliances take on Nvidia?

Tech firms have joined forces both domestically and globally to take on US chip giant Nvidia in the AI chip sector, which has enjoyed a near monopoly in the burgeoning market. An increasing number of global Big Tech companies are building their own AI ecosystems amid expectations for continuous growth in the sector, according to experts on Tuesday. While Nvidia has teamed up with SK hynix and TSMC to further strengthen its technical leadership in high-bandwidth memory chips, other tech firms are

May 7, 2024

LG CNS hosts contest for math optimization talents

LG CNS said Tuesday it will host a contest that targets talented individuals in the field of mathematical optimization for bundle deliveries. Co-organized with the Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers, Optimization Grand Challenge 2024 aims to nurture exceptional talents in mathematical optimization and foster broader social interest in the field. Mathematical optimization involves finding the most efficient solution by considering all possible scenarios under current resources and condition

May 7, 2024