SK joins world's largest tech show to beef up US presence

The Samsung Electronics booth is set up at the Las Vegas Convention Center on Sunday. (Samsung Electronics)
The Samsung Electronics booth is set up at the Las Vegas Convention Center on Sunday. (Samsung Electronics)

Korea Herald correspondent

LAS VEGAS – South Korean tech giants Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics kicked off CES 2025 on Monday by unveiling their innovative visions for smart homes, introducing groundbreaking connectivity systems to transform how people interact with and optimize their living spaces.

Samsung, which has set up the largest booth at the consumer-focused tech show spanning 3,368 square meters at the Las Vegas Convention Center, filled the venue with its latest artificial intelligence-powered products, integrated via the SmartThings hub, its connectivity platform.

Under five home themes addressing different family needs, Samsung demonstrated how its SmartThings platform, incorporating AI, can help users save energy and time spent on house chores. With features like Spatial AI, SmartThings is to analyze movement, sound and usage patterns of users, collected by wearables including the Galaxy Ring and Galaxy Watch, to provide personalized suggestions for sleep and exercise.

Samsung also introduced the Smart Things Pro at this year's CES, extending the availability of its connectivity platform beyond homes into vehicles, ships and business environments. In cars, SmartThings Pro will enable users to remotely check the status of their vehicles, as well as control home appliances from the car’s infotainment system. On ships, the pro version will support vessel operators to remotely monitor and control onboard systems.

During the First Look 2025 event held on the sidelines of this year’s CES, Sunday, Samsung Electronics also unveiled Samsung Vision AI, which enables its TVs to gather information of its surroundings to make "intuitive" choices to make adaptive changes to user preferences.

Samsung Vision AI supports multiple new features, including Click to Search that offers instant information about what is on screen, and Live Translate, the real-time translation function powered by on-device AI.

“With Samsung Vision AI, we’re reimagining what screens can do, connecting entertainment, personalization and lifestyle solutions into one seamless experience to simplify your life," said Yong Seok-woo, president and head of visual display business at Samsung Electronics.

Samsung's most advanced and largest screens are also being showcased at the event. The new 98-inch Neo QLED 8K, powered by the latest NQ8 AI Gen 3 processor, made its debut, as well as supersized premium microLED TVs in 101, 114 and 144 inches.

Harman, Samsung’s automotive electronics subsidiary, set up a separate booth to showcase its Neo QLED technology for vehicles, including the new Ready Display with higher brightness for an immersive in-car viewing experience.

The LG Electronics booth is set up at the Las Vegas Convention Center on Sunday. (LG Electronics)
The LG Electronics booth is set up at the Las Vegas Convention Center on Sunday. (LG Electronics)

LG Electronics is also making its presence known at this year’s CES, focusing on AI Home technologies.

LG has set up a booth spanning 2,044 square meters under the theme “Life’s Good 24/7 With Empathetic Intelligence,” capturing the eyes of visitors with a massive kinetic LED sculpture in front of the entrance.

In the AI Home Zone, the tech giant has displayed its latest home appliances connected to the ThinQ On platform and other AI home hubs, which analyze user behavior, preferences and environmental conditions with sensors and offer highly personalized home experience.

LG is also pushing AI into the mobility space, redefining vehicles as an extension of connected home. At the showroom, LG demonstrated In-Cabin Sensing technology and the Mobility eXperience platform to support more personalized riding experiences.

At the showroom, the tech giant also unveiled 2025 OLED evo, its top-segment TV model boasting brighter and sharper visuals with smarter AI-driven features.

The company explained its new model has adopted a brightness-enhancing technology dubbed Brightness Booster Ultimate, with revamped display algorithms and upgraded organic compound structure to increase brightness up to three times higher than standard OLED models.

“The 2025 OLED evo combines sharper visuals and smarter AI-driven webOS to provide an immersive viewing experience to customers worldwide," said Park Hyoung-sei, president of LG’s home entertainment.

LG TVs are adopting webOS25, powered by advanced large language models, and have been improved on personnel recommendation features and automatic screen optimization, the company said.

Viewers can also adjust screen settings like picture quality and sound modes by holding the AI button on the remote. For instance, LG TVs will adjust screen colors and audio, selecting from 1.6 billion picture modes and 40 million sound modes when the viewer makes voice orders such as “make the screen warmer” or “enhance voice clarity,” after holding the AI button on the remote.

In the meantime, SK Group, the nation's No. 2 conglomerate, also set up its own exhibition booth under the theme of "Innovative AI, Sustainable Tomorrow," with key affiliates including SK Telecom and SK hynix joining.

SK said it aims to showcase its vision for a sustainable future powered by AI innovation and to extend partnerships with global industry leaders.

Anticipation is also growing over whether SK Group Chair Chey Tae-won will meet with Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang to discuss collaboration on next-generation HBM4, a critical component for enhancing the performance of Nvidia's advanced graphic processing units for AI applications.

This year's CES, organized under the theme, "Connect. Solve. Discover. Dive In," features about 4,500 companies from 160 countries, about a 30 percent increase from 2024. Some 140,000 visitors are expected to attend.

About 800 companies are set to join the event from South Korea alone.