Samsung launches first DRAM-less SSD

Samsung Electronics said Wednesday that the company will roll out the first consumer drive without DRAM -- the 980 Non-Volatile Memory express (NVMe) SSD, which delivers the highest performance among DRAM-less SSDs at a faster speed. Previously, DRAM-less designs had a disadvantage in speed as they lacked the short-term memory for fast access to data. To address the issue and overcome any performance drawbacks, Samsung used the Host Memory Buffer technology, which links the drive directly

March 10, 2021

Samsung aims to boost Bespoke sales to 80% in Korea, expand overseas

Samsung Electronics has an aim to boost its sales of customizable Bespoke products to 80 percent of total consumer electronics sales, the company’s president said Tuesday. During an online press conference held to announce the new Bespoke Home products, Lee Jae-seung, president of Samsung’s consumer electronics business, said the company will expand the Bespoke lineup further both at home and abroad. “The company aims to expand the Bespoke sales to account for 80 percent of

March 9, 2021

Daewoong’s migraine treatment to enter phase two trial in US

Daewoong Pharmaceutical’s partner company in the US is to begin a phase two study of using botulinum toxin complex injections as a preventive treatment for migraines, according to the South Korean firm Tuesday. AEON Biopharma, a California-based private clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, has licensed the ABP-450 injection from Daewoong Pharmaceutical and has exclusive development and distribution rights for ABP-450 in the US, Canada and the European countries. Last year, the US

March 9, 2021

Samsung dominates 2020 foldable smartphone market: report

Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest smartphone vendor, was the dominant player in the global foldable smartphone market last year, a report showed Tuesday, with its leading status expected to continue through 2021. For the whole of 2020, Samsung logged an 87 percent share on a unit basis in the global foldable smartphone market that was estimated at 2.2 million units, according to market tracker Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC). "The Z Flip was the No. 1 model with nearl

March 9, 2021

Samsung to reclaim No. 1 spot in Q1 smartphone production: report

Samsung Electronics Co. is expected to recapture the top spot in global smartphone production in the first quarter of the year, a report showed Tuesday, with the release of its new flagship smartphone. The South Korean tech giant is estimated to produce 62 million smartphones in the January-March period and account for 18.1 percent of global smartphone production, according to market researcher TrendForce. "Moving to the first quarter of 2021, Samsung has released the new lineup of its

March 9, 2021

Celltrion to soon start overseas clinical study for novel heart disease medicine

South Korean pharmaceutical giant Celltrion is preparing to launch an overseas clinical trial for a new medicine for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, according to industry sources Monday. Celltrion is currently recruiting participants in Poland for its phase 1 clinical trial for CT-G20, the South Korean biopharmaceutical company’s first-ever chemical drug for HCM, a heart disease for which there is currently no known cure. The firm plans to submit an investigational new drug application t

March 8, 2021

LG Innotek partners with Microsoft on 3D-sensing camera

LG Innotek said Monday the company has inked a deal with Microsoft to increase its share in the 3D-sensing module market. The South Korean electronic parts supplier signed a memorandum of understanding with the US-based tech mogul to cooperate on the development of ToF modules for Microsoft’s Azure Cloud service. The ToF -- time of flight -- module is a core component of 3D-sensing cameras which perceives three-dimensionality, spatial information and movement of an object by measuring

March 8, 2021

[News Focus] No signs of settlement between Korea’s warring battery makers

Nearly a month has passed since the US trade court delivered a victory to LG Energy Solution in its trade secret dispute with crosstown rival SK Innovation, but the two sides appear no closer to ending their bitter war. Quite the contrary. The fight between the world’s two leading battery producers for electric vehicles has now spilled over to the White House, much to the dismay of Seoul officials, who hope for an early resolution to the matter, saying this would help Korea maintain its l

March 7, 2021

Art display at SKT headquarters

  An employee looks at works created by local artists on display at a lobby area of SK Telecom’s headquarters building in central Seoul. The South Korean telecommunications firm said Sunday that the company would continue installing artwork there to support local artists who have been deprived of opportunities to introduce their works amid the COVID-19 pandemic. (SKT)  

March 7, 2021

South Korea to brief firms on ‘Netflix Law’

The South Korean government will discuss with providers of online services to set up detailed guidelines for the country’s “Netflix Law,” industry sources said Sunday. The Ministry of Science and ICT will hold a meeting this week with officials from Google, Facebook, Netflix, Naver, Kakao and Wavve. The companies are expected to use the session to clarify terms in the revised Telecommunications Business Act, which could potentially disrupt their business activities in the

March 7, 2021

USITC confirms SK stole 22 trade secrets for EV batteries from LG

The United States International Trade Commission has confirmed publicly that SK Innovation misappropriated 22 trade secrets of its domestic archrival LG Energy Solution while developing electric vehicle batteries. According to a public document unveiled by the USITC on Thursday (US time), SK’s trade secret theft and destruction of related evidence were planned and organized at a high level, which the commission described as “extraordinary.” The document backs the US trade

March 5, 2021

Merck renames materials biz as electronics

Merck, the German science and technology group, said Friday it is changing the name of its performance materials business to electronics. The renaming is part of a strategic realignment it has made since 2018 under its “Bright Future” transformation program. “The renaming of our business sector to Electronics is a logical step for us,” said Kai Beckmann, member of the executive board of Merck and Electronics CEO. “After all, the new name underscores our strat

March 5, 2021

Korea rises to 4th place in international patent filings

South Korea went up one spot to place fourth in terms of the number of international patent filings, according to the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Thursday. The country’s applications for international patent rights to the World Intellectual Property Office increased 5.2 percent from 19,073 in 2019 to 20,060 in 2020, the patent body said. Korea, who placed fifth from 2010 to 2019, follows China, the United States and Japan. The growth in patent filings was made largely in

March 4, 2021

S. Korea unveils W2tr new drug development program

South Korea plans to inject 2.17 trillion won ($1.9 billion) over the next 10 years to support development of new drugs, the government announced Thursday. Some 1.47 trillion of that money will come from state coffers, while private players will invest the remaining 701 billion won, the Ministry of Science and ICT said. The goal is to debut new medicines that could generate annual sales of 1 trillion won, it added. This budget would be spent on supporting the overall development process of

March 4, 2021

Green Cross LabCell launches pet health care company

South Korean biopharma firm Green Cross LabCell has established a pet health care unit, the company announced Thursday. 　 The new entity, Green Vet, plans to introduce health care solutions and products that address various issues regarding the overall life quality of companion animals in addition to the essential medical support, said Green Cross LabCell CEO Park Dae-woo. The technology and know-how of Green Cross LabCell, which specializes in cell curing agents and transportation of consig

March 4, 2021

Samsung further expands presence in NAND flash market in Q4: report

Samsung Electronics further upped its leadership in the global NAND flash market in the fourth quarter of 2020, a report showed Wednesday, despite revenue decline.  The South Korean tech giant, also the leader in the DRAM sector, had a 32.9 percent share of the global NAND flash market in terms of revenue in the October-December period, up 1.5 percentage points from a quarter earlier, according to market tracker TrendForce.  But Samsung's revenue from NAND flash products came to a

March 3, 2021

Nearly half of South Korea's startup founders hail from prominent universities: report

A local survey showed around half of local startup founders are from the country’s four most prominent universities, implying that educational background could play an important role in starting a new business here. “Many people easily associate startup founders with their individual talents or abilities rather than their educational backgrounds. (But data underlines) that the startup sector here is skewed towards certain universities,” said Park Ju-gun, industry tracker CEO

March 3, 2021

KT and LG U+ invest in homegrown app store

South Korea’s telecommunications firms KT and LG U+ said Wednesday they have invested a total of 26 billion won ($23.1 million) in the homegrown app market ONE store, a subsidiary of SK Telecom. KT has spent 21 billion won to acquire a 3.1 percent stake in ONE store, while LG U+ has acquired a 0.7 percent stake with 5 billion won, according to a joint statement released Wednesday. SK Telecom currently has a 50.1 percent stake, and local tech giant Naver has a 26.3 percent share in the

March 3, 2021

USITC embarks on probe into allegation involving Samsung’s LTE devices

The United States International Trade Commission has launched an investigation into an allegation that Samsung Electronics violated a patent related to LTE devices. According to the ITC on Tuesday in the US, the commission voted to institute an investigation of certain LTE-compliant cellular communication devices sold by Samsung and Motorola. The complaint was filed by Austin-based communication device company Evolved Wireless last month. The US firm claimed the importation into the US and

March 3, 2021

Internet use jumps in 2020 amid pandemic

The average amount of time South Koreans spent using the internet reached over 20 hours per week last year, 2.7 hours more than the time spent the previous year amid the stay-at-home trend driven by the pandemic, a report showed Wednesday. South Koreans used the internet 20.1 hours a week on average last year, compared with 17.4 hours the previous year and 16.5 hours in 2018, according to the report from the Ministry of Science and ICT that surveyed 60,000 people over the age of 3. The report

March 3, 2021