Unionized workers at Samsung Electronics to launch 4-day strike

Samsung Electronics' labor union said Tuesday it will launch a four-day strike from Liberation Day this week, stepping up pressure over their demand for a pay raise and additional bonuses. The National Samsung Electronics Union, the largest labor union of the South Korean tech giant, announced its plan to stage the strike on Aug. 15-18, instructing its striking members to refuse to work on Liberation Day on Thursday and to work in shifts until Sunday. The union and management have held seve

Aug. 13, 2024

Chipmakers keen on enhancing power efficiency of AI chips

The latest boom in artificial intelligence is prompting competition among the world's top three memory-chip-makers to debut more power-efficient DRAM chips with higher capacity to power high-performance computing for AI applications. Chipmakers are focusing especially on the seventh-generation Low Power Double Data Rate 5X chip to be used not just in mobile devices, but also in the automotive industry. "As AI applications are diversifying, the demand for memory products consuming low p

Aug. 13, 2024

Telecom carriers rush to launch call recording features for iPhones

South Korean mobile carriers are rushing to launch call-recording services for iPhone users, possibly taking a cue from the market leader SK Telecom’s success with its A. service. According to industry sources on Monday, LG Uplus, the country's smallest telecom company by market share, is planning to launch a call-recording service, dubbed, “ixi O,” in the second half of the year. The service would become the second of its kind after SK Telecom’s A. service, which de

Aug. 12, 2024

Samsung, LG to challenge Chinese rivals with 'all-in-one' robot vacuums

Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are stepping up efforts to carve out a share of the burgeoning robot vacuum market, which has been dominated by China's Roborock, with new machines designed to remove the pain points of existing products. This week, LG Electronics is rolling out its first all-in-one robot vacuum and mop machine in 21 years, since the company introduced its first such device in 2003. Samsung Electronics has also released a robot vacuum and mop combo machine adopting adv

Aug. 12, 2024

[Business Diplomacy] SK’s US control tower revamped to boost negotiating power

Endless guesses are made over who will win the race to the White House between former US President Donald Trump and current Vice President Kamala Harris, but both look likely to bolster the country's protectionist measures to boost the US' domestic industry. Against this backdrop, South Korea's second-largest conglomerate SK Group is beefing up its US offices to elevate negotiating power in the all-important market, where it has been spending heavily to secure a firmer footing for

Aug. 11, 2024

Naver's operating profit surges 27% in Q2

South Korean internet giant Naver on Friday reported record-high quarterly revenue of 2.6 trillion won ($1.91 billion) for the April-June period this year, thanks to profit increases in all of its major businesses including the search platform and cloud service. During an earnings call, Naver Chief Executive Officer Choi Soo-yeon said the company will enhance the user experience by launching a “search feed” feature and adopting AI tools in the second half of the year. Choi also said

Aug. 9, 2024

LG Innotek eyes digital twin tech for better efficiency

LG Innotek announced Thursday that it will expand the integration of digital twin technology throughout its operations in partnership with Ansys, a US engineering simulation software developer. Digital twin technology recreates physical objects in a virtual space to simulate real-world scenarios using computer models, thereby predicting outcomes and cutting manufacturing time and costs. Ansys is renowned for its technological prowess and experience in simulation using 3D modeling, AI and machine

Aug. 8, 2024

Samsung’s HBM3E chip still under review by Nvidia

Samsung Electronics on Wednesday denied a Reuters report that its fifth-generation HBM3E chip has passed Nvidia's qualification test for use, saying it is "still running tests with major clients." The news outlet reported earlier in the day that Samsung has cleared Nvidia’s qualification test for its HBM3E, the fifth-generation high bandwidth memory chip, creating a buzz that the world's No. 1 memory chipmaker may be starting supplying the chip to the US chip giant soon

Aug. 7, 2024

LG debuts Korea’s first open-source AI model

LG Group’s artificial intelligence think tank, LG AI Research, on Wednesday unveiled the third generation of its hyperscale AI multimodal Exaone, providing better performance and cost-efficiency than its predecessors in processing massive amounts of data. To contribute to the development of the AI ecosystem, LG AI Research said it has decided to release the lightweight model of Exaone 3.0 as Korea's first open-source AI model for various research purposes. Exaone 3.0 is the second u

Aug. 7, 2024

SK hynix wins up to $450m of US grants for advanced chips facility

South Korean chip giant SK hynix Inc. said Tuesday it is set to receive up to $450 million in grants from the US government for its investment to build a production base for advanced semiconductor packaging in Indiana. In April, the company announced a plan to invest $3.87 billion to build a memory packaging plant for artificial intelligence (AI) products and an advanced packaging research and development (R&D) facility in West Lafayette of the U.S. state to produce next-generation memory ch

Aug. 6, 2024

Samsung begins mass production of ultraslim DRAM chip for on-device AI

Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest memory chip maker by revenue, announced Tuesday it has begun the mass production of the industry’s thinnest 12-nanometer LPDDR5X DRAM chip that helps better thermal control within mobile devices. The ultraslim DRAM chip, which comes in storage with 12- and 16-gigabytes, would create additional space within mobile devices to facilitate better airflow. This supports easier thermal control, which has become increasingly important, especially for

Aug. 6, 2024

SK chief inspects HBM chip production lines

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won called for its memory chip-maker SK hynix to seek next-generation profit models to continuously secure its leadership in the burgeoning artificial intelligence semiconductor market. “SK hynix is currently recognized in the high bandwidth memory market, but competition will become more intense when the sixth generation HBM4 is commercialized next year,” Chey said upon his visit to the chip maker’s plant in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, to inspect the

Aug. 5, 2024

Tech giants eye growing home appliances subscription market

Subscription services in the home appliances market are fast expanding in South Korea, with the country’s top players targeting younger and smaller households. LG Electronics, the country's leading home appliance giant, has achieved a record sales figure surpassing the 1-trillion-won ($ 736 billion) mark for its subscription service, and Samsung Electronics is also reviewing to launch a similar service for its home appliances in the latter half of the year. For 2023, LG Electronics re

Aug. 4, 2024

Samsung unveils 1 terabyte microSD storage cards

Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest memory chip maker, said Thursday it has launched two types of 1 terabyte high-capacity microSD cards: Pro Plus and Evo Plus. These new products incorporate the industry's highest capacity, 1-terabit triple-level cell eighth-generation V-NAND technology, stacked in eight layers. This technological advancement allows terabyte-class high capacity previously achievable only in SSDs to be implemented in the compact form factor of a microSD card, wit

Aug. 1, 2024

Samsung projects 15-fold surge in Q2 earnings on AI chip boom

Samsung Electronics said Wednesday that it will continue its earnings growth by expanding sales of the high-performance high bandwidth memory chip in the second half, particularly the fifth-generation HBM3E, to meet rising demand in the fast-growing artificial intelligence market. “Customer evaluation of the 8-layer HBM3E product is currently in progress, and mass production supply is scheduled to begin in earnest in the third quarter,” Kim Jae-june, executive vice president in cha

July 31, 2024

SK hynix to mass-produce GDDR7 DRAM chip in Q3

SK hynix, the world's second-largest memory chip maker, on Tuesday unveiled its next-generation GDDR7 graphics memory chip that boasts the industry’s most outstanding performance in terms of operating speed and power efficiency. The company said it will start mass production in the third quarter. GDDR is a type of high-performance memory commonly used in graphics cards. It has recently gained popularity as graphics cards are increasingly used to power artificial intelligence workloads

July 30, 2024

[Photo News] Sweet collaboration

Samsung Electronics on Monday unveiled its latest collaboration with US chocolate maker Hershey’s for its mobile device accessories from cases for foldable phones to watch straps. Starting from Korea, the products are set to hit shelves in overseas markets, including the US, Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines, in phases in the coming weeks. (Samsung Electronics)

July 29, 2024

Can Samsung adapt to being a latecomer in HBM sector?

High bandwidth memory chips are becoming a headache for Samsung Electronics, as the world's No. 1 memory chip maker is months behind its crosstown rival SK hynix in supplying the profitable components to Nvidia, the dominant player in the burgeoning AI market. Samsung’s fourth-generation HBM3 chips have reportedly been cleared for use by Nvidia recently, but SK hynix, the No. 2 in the memory chip market, has supplied it with more advanced fifth-generation HBM3E chips since March this

July 28, 2024

SK hynix confirms W9.4tr investment in Yongin Cluster's 1st fab

SK hynix, the world's second-largest memory chip maker, said it has decided to invest about 9.4 trillion won ($6.77 billion) in building the first manufacturing plant and business facilities of the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster in a board meeting on Friday. The chipmaker plans to start construction of the first fab in the Yongin cluster in March next year, and complete it in May 2027. The envisioned manufacturing plant will produce next-generation DRAM, including High Bandwidth Memory, a rep

July 26, 2024

Samsung may supply advanced image sensors for Apple: analyst

Samsung Electronics may supply its advanced camera sensors for Apple, ending Sony’s longstanding rein as an exclusive supplier to the global tech giant, according to a supply chain analyst. According to Ming-Chi Kuo, a supply chain analyst at TF International Securities, Samsung is expected to “begin shipping its 1/2.6-inch 48MP ultra-wide CMOS image censors (CIS) as early as 2026.” “To this end, Samsung has established a dedicated team to serve Apple” the analyst w

July 26, 2024