Lee appoints serious crimes agency chief, ending two-week vacancy

President Lee Jae Myung on Thursday approved Kim Ji-yong as the inaugural head of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, filling the role just two weeks after the agency’s launch. The approval came 38 days after Interior Minister Yun Ho-jung recommended Kim for the post, presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said. Lee had ordered additional vetting after hard-line members of the broader ruling bloc opposed Kim, arguing that his perceived ties to former President Yoon Suk Yeol could undermine

2026-10-15 20:53:53:00

Lee urges US firms to pursue new opportunities in South Korea

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Thursday urged US businesses to seek new investment opportunities in South Korea, calling for stronger two-way investment between the allies. Lee made the request during a meeting at Cheong Wa Dae with Evan Greenberg, chair of the US-Korea Business Council and CEO of Chubb Group, presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said. “South Korea and the US are developing into a future-oriented comprehensive strategic alliance encompassing the economy and advanced t

2026-10-15 20:50:59:00

Why Korea's industrial giants want a piece of Westinghouse

South Korea's leading conglomerates are considering a multitrillion-won investment in US nuclear power company Westinghouse Electric, in a move that could give Korean businesses a stronger foothold in America's expanding nuclear energy market. But the proposed investment raises a central question: Will buying a stake in Westinghouse translate into construction and equipment contracts for Korean companies? SK Group, Samsung C&T, Hyundai Engineering & Construction and Doosan Enerbility are reviewi

2026-10-15 15:21:05:00

Why a memory chip glut could be Korea's weapon against China

As Samsung Electronics, SK hynix and Micron Technology race to build new chip factories, concerns are growing that expansion to meet today's AI-driven memory shortage could eventually result in another damaging supply glut. But a leading Korean semiconductor expert argues that expanding capacity could give the industry's dominant players greater flexibility to respond to shifting demand — and potentially help Korean chipmakers regain market share lost to Chinese rivals. Kim Hyung-joon, head of t

2026-10-15 11:02:33:00

Samsung chief to receive W2.6tr stake from his mother

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong will receive company shares worth about 2.6 trillion won ($1.8 billion) from his mother, Hong Ra-hee, increasing his direct stake in the technology giant. Samsung Electronics said in a regulatory filing Tuesday that Hong, honorary director of the Leeum Museum of Art, will give Lee 11.16 million shares, equivalent to a 0.17 percent stake. Based on Tuesday’s closing price, the shares are valued at about 2.6 trillion won. Lee currently owns 105.22 million S

2026-10-13 18:25:01:00

Korea launches chip policy office to fast-track W800tr investments

South Korea will launch a dedicated semiconductor policy office next week to fast-track major chip investments and strengthen industry competitiveness as the US, China and Japan intensify their race for advanced chip production. The director-general-level office, to be established under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources, will oversee semiconductor policy, coordinate large-scale investments and implement a new industry-support law, following Cabinet approval of the reorganization on T

2026-10-13 15:00:47:00

Samsung unveils next-gen memory strategy for AI data centers at OCP

Samsung Electronics outlined plans to improve AI data center performance through faster memory, expanded capacity and more efficient storage at the Open Compute Project Global Summit 2026 in San Jose, California, the company said Tuesday. The Korean chipmaker showcased its latest high-bandwidth memory, including eighth-generation HBM5, custom HBM solutions, and processing-in-memory technology designed to accelerate data processing and improve power efficiency. Samsung also highlighted Compute Ex

2026-10-13 14:56:06:00

Yann LeCun sees Korea edge in AI’s shift to physical world

Artificial intelligence’s next breakthrough will come not from ever-larger language models, but from systems that can understand, predict and act in the physical world, AI pioneer Yann LeCun said Monday, arguing that “world models” will drive the next phase of AI. The shift could give South Korea an opening in the global AI race by playing to its strengths in manufacturing, robotics and engineering, LeCun and other global AI leaders said at an industrial AI panel discussion in Seoul. Rather than

2026-10-12 14:41:14:00

Samsung becomes first tech giant to top W100tr quarterly profit

Samsung Electronics said Thursday its third-quarter operating profit surged an estimated 782.5 percent from a year earlier to a record 107.4 trillion won ($80 billion), making it the first technology company worldwide to cross the 100 trillion won mark in quarterly operating profit. The milestone puts Samsung alongside Saudi oil giant Aramco, the only other company to have surpassed that threshold, and well above Nvidia’s $63.7 billion operating profit for its fiscal second quarter ended in July

2026-10-08 07:56:16:00

AMD’s Lisa Su calls chips ‘team sport’ as Samsung, SK hynix ties deepen

AMD Chair and CEO Lisa Su put Korean AI chips at the center of partnership talks in Seoul on Wednesday, exploring how they could work alongside AMD processors in systems built for global markets. In meetings with Second Vice Science Minister Ryu Je-myung and executives from 13 Korean AI companies, Su discussed pairing AMD’s CPUs and GPUs with Korean neural processing units designed for AI inference. Demonstration projects in Korea would test the systems to develop a blueprint for overseas deploy

2026-10-07 14:33:14:00