Seoul denies chips eyed for first US investment project

South Korea’s Industry Ministry on Tuesday denied that semiconductors are being considered as the first project under Seoul’s US investment commitments, as Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan holds last-minute talks in Washington over the package and related tariff issues. “It is not true that semiconductors are being discussed as a candidate for the first strategic investment project in the US,” the ministry said in a statement. The denial followed a local newspaper report that Seoul had initially

2026-08-18 14:44:39:00

LG outearns Samsung in appliances, despite similar sales

Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics generate broadly similar revenue from TVs, home appliances and air conditioning. The profits they make from those sales, however, have diverged sharply. In the second quarter, Samsung’s business involving visual displays and digital appliances posted 14.5 trillion won ($10.5 billion) in revenue, but an operating loss of some 10 billion won. LG, meanwhile, generated combined revenue of 14.92 trillion won from its sales of home appliances, TVs and heating, ve

2026-08-18 13:12:29:00

Korea seeks to keep $200b US investment rollout on track

South Korea and the US are seeking to resolve last-minute issues over a $200 billion Korean investment package, potentially complicating Seoul’s goal of unveiling the first projects by the end of this month, Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan said Sunday. “We had been considering announcing the projects around late August or early September, but various concrete, working-level issues have emerged in the final stage,” Kim told reporters after arriving at Dulles International Airport near Washington.

2026-08-17 15:55:23:00

LG humanoid set for 2027 debut with Nvidia AI brain

LG is accelerating its push into robotics, teaming up with Nvidia to unveil its first bipedal humanoid robot early next year. LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo traveled to the US to sign an agreement with Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang, formalizing their strategic partnership in humanoid robots, AI factories and autonomous driving, the conglomerate said Friday. The agreement was signed Thursday at Nvidia's headquarters in Santa Clara, California, about two months after Koo and Huang met in Seo

2026-08-14 14:30:51:00

Samsung hires AI experts to accelerate chip business transformation

Samsung Electronics has recruited two artificial intelligence and data specialists as it steps up efforts to deploy AI across its semiconductor operations, from chip design and process development to manufacturing. The company said Friday it had hired Han Bo-hyung, a leading researcher in deep learning and vision AI, as a fellow, and Hahn Tai-rin, a data engineering specialist formerly with Meta, as an executive vice president. Han will lead the development of AI models tailored to semiconductor

2026-08-14 14:21:17:00

SK hynix to break ground on $3.9b Indiana chip packaging plant this month

SK hynix will hold a groundbreaking ceremony on Aug. 27 for its $3.87 billion advanced chip packaging plant in Indiana, as the South Korean memory maker steps up its US expansion in artificial intelligence chip production. The ceremony will take place in West Lafayette, Indiana, where SK hynix is building an advanced packaging facility and research center for high-bandwidth memory, according to industry sources Thursday. The company has begun sending invitations to major customers and business p

2026-08-13 14:35:25:00

Samsung opens India HVAC line to tap AI data center demand

Samsung Electronics said Thursday it has opened a new heating, ventilation and air-conditioning production line in India, expanding its manufacturing capacity as it targets growing demand from AI data centers. The new facility in Pune, Maharashtra state, will be able to produce up to 6,500 HVAC units annually once fully operational, the company said. It will operate alongside FlaktGroup’s existing production site in Noida and serve customers in India as well as the broader Asia-Pacific region. S

2026-08-13 14:35:09:00

AI rewrites the rules of memory chip sales

The artificial intelligence boom is changing not only how much memory chipmakers produce, but also how they sell it. The world's top three memory chipmakers — Samsung Electronics, SK hynix and Micron Technology — are increasingly locking customers into long-term supply agreements lasting as long as five years as global tech companies race to secure memory for AI data centers. The shift marks a departure from an industry long dominated by quarterly negotiations and short-term orders, potentially

2026-08-12 15:01:24:00

SK hynix weighs Solidigm IPO to fuel US expansion

SK hynix’s US NAND subsidiary Solidigm could be moving closer to a Nasdaq debut, potentially giving the chipmaker a way to recover part of its $9 billion acquisition cost and raise fresh capital for expansion in the United States. Market attention has intensified since reports emerged that Solidigm may pursue a pre-IPO funding round followed by a US listing. SK hynix stopped short of confirming the plan last week. In an Aug. 5 regulatory filing responding to reports of a possible stake sale, the

2026-08-11 15:59:44:00

aweXome Ray readies EUV pellicle material for commercial debut

Korean materials startup aweXome Ray said Monday it has raised 7.5 billion won ($5.3 million) and opened a dedicated production line for carbon nanotube membranes used in extreme ultraviolet pellicles, taking its first step from research toward commercial supply. The company said customer evaluations are underway, with initial deliveries and revenue expected once they are completed. It did not identify potential customers or specify when supply would begin. The new clean room line in Anyang, Gye

2026-08-10 17:16:06:00