[Herald Interview] 'Lifting regulations key to corporate push for RE100'

Regulations are holding back companies like Samsung Electronics in speeding up their renewable energy commitments, so the government should remove them and pursue grid transformation, the head of Climate Group said Tuesday. Noting how Korea had a lot of regulatory limitations on implementing renewable energy plants, Helen Clarkson, the chief executive officer of the London-based entity, highlighted the role of the government and that its initial moves are the key for the country to "get on

May 22, 2024

14 global tech giants adopt business pledge on 'responsible' development of AI

A group of South Korean and global tech companies adopted a joint pledge Wednesday, vowing to responsibly develop and use artificial intelligence and to address social challenges with the technology. The Seoul AI Business Pledge was announced by 14 companies, including Korea's Samsung Electronics Co., Naver Corp., Kakao Corp. and KT Corp., as well as global big tech companies, such as Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and IBM, during the opening ceremony of the AI Global Forum in Seoul. The AI Glob

May 22, 2024

Dabeeo launches palm oil farm AI monitoring project in Indonesia, covering area larger than Seoul

Leading geospatial intelligence AI technology firm Dabeeo on Monday commenced its latest AI monitoring project of palm oil farms in Indonesia, covering an area that is larger than the South Korean capital of Seoul. The company inked a deal with Tunas Sawa Erma Group, one of Indonesia's major palm oil producers, for the project, spanning across a total of 765 square kilometers. "While high-precision satellite imagery is commonly used for military and IT purposes, cases like this one,

May 22, 2024

K-water boasts 'super-gap' technoloiges at World Water Forum

Korea Water Resources Corp., or K-water, said Tuesday that it presented three "super gap" technologies the agency has developed to tackle water issues at the 10th World Water Forum in Bali, Indonesia. The technologies include digital twin technology for water management, AI-based water purification plants, and a smart water network management system. Recognized for their potential to tackle the unpredictable and unprecedented climate crisis, they were featured in a special session at

May 21, 2024

XR partnership between LG, Meta falls through

The highly-publicized partnership between LG Electronics and Meta for an extended reality device seems to have fallen through largely due to the lukewarm outlook for the XR market overall, according to industry sources on Monday. “LG and Meta may continue collaborating in other areas such as artificial intelligence and metaverse. But for an XR device, they are pushing back their plans after seeing the sluggish sales of the earlier models, especially Apple’s Vision Pro,” an indu

May 20, 2024

LG CNS launches Orelo conference interpreting solution

Korean IT service provider LG CNS said on Monday it has launched a multi-lingual video conference interpretation solution, called “Orelo,” which can simultaneously interpret up to three different languages in real-time. The solution can distinguish about 100 languages by voice alone and provides simultaneous interpretation in the languages used by the meeting participants. It recognizes the statement in a certain language and immediately translates it into selected languages and prov

May 20, 2024

Samsung eyes W1tr in sales of pricey capacitors for cars

Samsung-Electro Mechanics, a leading electronic parts maker affiliated with Samsung Electronics, has set a sales goal of 1 trillion won ($736 million) for its flagship Multi-Layer Ceramic Capacitor or MLCC products this year, strategically targeting the automotive sector. "Leveraging our technological prowess nurtured in the IT sector, the company aims to expand its portfolio to servers for AI services and automotive solutions, the two burgeoning markets for MLCC," Kim Wi-heon, the MLC

May 19, 2024

LG Uplus unveils new slogan for AI innovation

LG Uplus, one of the nation's top telecom carriers, on Sunday unveiled a new brand slogan “Growth Leading AX Company" to accelerate innovation centering on the artificial intelligence transformation, referred to as AX. The company said the latest announcement came during an internal online session held on Friday to look back on its first quarter performance and share future business directions and plans. During the meeting, CEO Hwang Hyeon-sik noted that it became necessary to

May 19, 2024

Samsung expected to introduce new Exynos processor in next Galaxy series

Samsung Electronics is expected to introduce its new flagship Exynos 2500 mobile processor made with its cutting-edge 3-nanometer process, in the upcoming Galaxy S25 smartphone lineup, according to industry sources on Friday. The envisioned chipset, which will be produced on Samsung Foundry’s second-generation 3nm process node using the advanced Gate-all-around technology, will be designed with the main focus on improving power efficiency. Samsung, the world's top memory chipmaker, ha

May 17, 2024

Kepco to raise electricity prices as total debt soars past W200tr

Despite self-rescue efforts, a hike in electricity prices is inevitable, the Korea Electric Power Corp. Chief Executive Officer Kim Dong-cheol said Thursday. Explaining how the company was able to reduce its snowballing debt through all-out efforts, including a massive personnel restructuring, Kim noted that Korea's electricity prices are far lower than other countries. "The cost of purchasing electricity surged from 2021, but we could not shift the burden into electricity prices, and

May 16, 2024

Hyundai, KAIST develop world’s 1st technology to extend lifespan of LFP battery

Researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology have developed the world’s first technology to extend the lifespan of electric vehicle batteries by 10 to 20 percent, KAIST said Thursday. The study, which was supported by Hyundai Motor Group, came up with a triazole-motivated electrolyte additive that can significantly increase the duration of lithium-ion batteries. According to the researchers, the new electrolyte additive succeeded in protecting lithium iron phosphat

May 16, 2024

Miracell showcases stem cell technology at Milan trade show

South Korean stem cell research company Miracell said Thursday that it showcased its stem cell extraction system, Smart M-Cell, at the recent 21st ESSKA congress held in Milan. The biennial European Society for Sports Traumatology, Knee Surgery, and Arthroscopy congress brings together worldwide orthopedic surgeons, clinicians and scientists to discuss the latest advancements in sports medicine, joint diseases and surgery. This year’s conference, held May 8-10, featured over 130 educationa

May 16, 2024

Head of Line operator said to stress job security at meeting with Korean employees

The Japanese head of the operator of the popular Line messenger app attended a meeting with Naver Corp.'s employees and was said to pledge job security, an industry source said Wednesday, as the South Korean internet giant is under pressure from Tokyo to sell stake in Line. Takeshi Idezawa, president of LY Corp., the operator of Line controlled by a joint venture between Naver and SoftBank of Japan, attended the meeting with employees of Line Plus Corp. on Tuesday, according to the source.

May 15, 2024

LG Electronics strengthens medical robot services

LG Electronics joined hands Hanllym University Sacred Heart Hospital as part of its effort to strengthen medical robot services with its “affectionate intelligence” robot, Cloi, the company said on Wednesday. In an agreement, LG and the hospital agreed to collaborate to discover various scenarios of when robots can be used in medical institutes, and establish demonstration cases within domestic and international medical institutions. "With LG's Cloi robot taking charge of r

May 15, 2024

Korean display makers show off next-gen OLED technologies at SID event

Samsung Display and LG Display presented the next-generation organic light-emitting diodes and Quantum dot panel technologies at this year’s Display Week 2024 in the US. Samsung introduced the industry's first quantum dot light-emitting diode display, the next-generation self-luminous technology, at SID Display Week 2024. The event, hosted by the Society for Information Display, kicked off Tuesday in San Jose, California, and runs until Thursday. The new technology implements RGB pixe

May 15, 2024

[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