Chinese electric vehicle battery makers are quickly gobbling up market share from their South Korean rivals, largely buoyed by a surging demand at home, data showed Thursday. According to Seoul-based market tracker SNE Research, China’s CATL retained its top spot in global sales in the January-September period as it supplied 119.9 gigawatt-hours of batteries, more than doubling from a year ago. Its market share increased from 30.7 percent to 35.1 percent, widening the gap with Korea’

Technology Nov. 3, 2022

Samsung Electronics on Thursday held an extraordinary shareholders meeting – the first in six years – to appoint two outside directors – Yoo Myung-hee, a former trade minister, and Heo Eun-nyeong, an economics professor. Yoo served as the nation’s top negotiator for free trade talks during the Moon Jae-in administration. She was also one of the final candidates to run for the director-general of the World Trade Organization in 2020. Yoo, a trade specialist, is expected to

Technology Nov. 3, 2022

Lee Jae-yong’s formal ascension to the top seat at Samsung Electronics, the crown jewel of the nation’s largest conglomerate, is fueling speculation about potential changes in the founding family’s governance structure across Samsung companies. His promotion to chairman has long been considered a crucial step for Lee to wield more power at Samsung. With the new title, Lee’s vision for a “New Samsung” will take a clearer shape, while stalled talks on mega deals

Technology Nov. 2, 2022

Samsung Electronics on Tuesday marked the 53rd anniversary of its foundation in a toned-down event, out of respect for the victims of the recent deadly Itaewon crowd crush. The annual event, held at a convention center in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, is typically one of the Korean tech giant’s biggest celebrations. This year in particular, speculation was running high that recently promoted Chairman Lee Jae-yong would unveil concrete plans for his “New Samsung” vision. But the moo

Technology Nov. 1, 2022

SK C&C, the operator of the fire-hit Kakao Corp.’s data center, on Thursday denied a report that it had ignored two fire alerts made hours before the servers went down last week due to a fire in batteries. The company said its battery management system worked properly until the fire broke out at the SK facility in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province, on Saturday, revealing the actual graph showing a stable movement both in electricity and voltage. A BMS monitors the temperatures across the batte

Technology Oct. 20, 2022

In a surprising move, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won has recently stepped up as an evangelist for hansik, or Korean food, even though his sprawling energy-to-chip business has no food subsidiary. Last month, he hosted a banquet at a fancy hansik restaurant in New York to invite a dozen UN ambassadors and introduced them Korean cuisine and its unique ingredients. He even appeared in a TV show as a main host to discuss ways to nurture K-food as a potent industry that appeals to the global audience

Industry Oct. 6, 2022

Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest memory chip maker, has denied any plans to reduce production of memory chips, amid widespread fear of an economic slowdown and falling chip prices. “We have no plan to do so for now,” Han Jin-man, senior vice president of Samsung’s memory chip business division, told reporters at a tech forum on Wednesday in San Jose, California, in response to a question about potential production reduction plans. Han’s remarks come as Sam

Technology Oct. 6, 2022

LG Energy Solution said Wednesday it has launched two in-house ventures, called KooRoo and AVEL, allowing its employees more independence and flexibility to spur innovation in its battery business ecosystem. KooRoo is a battery as a service (BaaS) company that offers services based on data generated throughout the whole life cycle of batteries. Their first project is a battery pack replacement service for two-wheeled vehicles like an electric bicycle. AVEL is an energy as a service (EaaS) compan

Technology Oct. 5, 2022

Samsung Electronics unveiled a five-year road map for its contract chipmaking business Monday, saying it would start producing chips using the 2-nanometer technology in 2025 and the 1.4-nanometer technology in 2027. The new plan came after the South Korean tech giant became the first chipmaker to produce chips on the 3nm production process, the most sophisticated chipmaking technology in the market, in June. Chips with smaller nanometer ratings are more powerful, as they can fit in more transist

Technology Oct. 4, 2022

SoftBank Group Corp. CEO Masayoshi Son arrived in Seoul on Saturday to meet business leaders, including Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, on a possible deal involving UK chip designer Arm. His visit comes after the Samsung chief hinted at their planned meeting late last month upon arrival from a business trip to the UK, where Arm is based. In the next day, Son also confirmed the meeting, saying he planned to discuss a strategic alliance with Samsung on Arm. Their possible meet-up r

Technology Oct. 3, 2022

The Korea Enterprises Federation held a meeting with Chinese Ambassador to Korea Xing Haiming at a Seoul hotel on Thursday to discuss ways to further bolster economic ties between the two countries. KEF Chairman Sohn Kyung-shik and other business leaders representing major companies, including Hanwha, Doosan and Hyundai Motor, took part in the annual meeting that was launched in 2020. “Celebrating the 30th anniversary of their bilateral ties this year, South Korea and China are crucial par

Industry Sept. 29, 2022

Samsung Electronics’ smart home platform SmartThings has hit the 10 million mark in connecting devices and home appliances around the world as of Sept. 12, the South Korean tech giant said Wednesday. Launched in 2018, the app aims to connect small and larger appliances from refrigerators and washing machines to air purifier and dishwashers via smartphones. More recently, Samsung is increasingly teaming up with other brands to bolster connectivity. The number of connected devices has double

Technology Sept. 28, 2022

SK Group on Monday launched the Ulsan Forum, a regional communication channel where SK companies, experts, academics and the local community talk about the future growth direction of the city and the provincial economy. The launch comes as SK Innovation marked the 60th anniversary of its Ulsan CLX, the nation’s first oil refinery built in the industrial city, some 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, back in 1962. Succeeding the annual Icheon Forum launched in 2017 in Icheon, Gyeonggi Provin

Industry Sept. 27, 2022

Noting growing uncertainties surrounding the escalating US-China rivalry, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won said Wednesday that his priority at the moment is bracing for business survival itself, not seeking profits or efficiency. “The most urgent task is finding the way of survival under any circumstances,” the tycoon said at a press conference in Washington, where he was visiting to inspect local operations. “Rather than focusing on maximizing profits or efficiency like in the p

Industry Sept. 22, 2022

A guide dog walks with a trainer during a press event at Samsung Guide Dog School in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance held the event to celebrate the 29th anniversary of the program, a pet project of the late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee. Dogs for eight people were assigned to people after being trained for years. (Samsung Electronics)

Technology Sept. 20, 2022