The market capitalization and operating profit of South Korea’s top 100 companies have been surpassed by those of their counterparts in Taiwan. This reversal comes as TSMC outpaced Samsung Electronics in operating profit in 2022, leading to a widening gap between the two representative companies.Acc
Bereum, a pioneering force in postbiotic, has recently inked a strategic collaboration with Hyundai Corporation Group to venture into the North American market. The contract, valued at $10 million, marks a significant milestone in the company's journey, positioning it as the sole domestic competitor
Twenty years ago, the wage level of workers in South Korea was not even half of that in Japan, but now it has surpassed Japan. The wage gap between large, medium, and small-sized enterprises has further widened due to the cumulative wage increases in large companies.On March 17, the Korea Enterprise
Taiwan’s TSMC, the worldwide leader in the semiconductor foundry industry, has surpassed 60 percent of the market share, widening its gap between with second-ranked Samsung Electronics. In the fourth quarter (October-December) of 2023, the foundry market grew about 8 percent from the previous quarte
South Korea’s exports to China are expected to surge in 2024 due to a recovery of the IT market in China. However, South Korea is unlikely to record a large trade balance surplus as in the past due to an increase in imports of Chinese batteries and the declining competitiveness of Korean products.“I
Despite the current economic downturn, South Korea’s top three battery manufacturers are ramping up their investments in infrastructure this year to strengthen their business foundations. According to industry sources on Feb. 18, LG Energy Solution plans to invest approximately 10.9 trillion won in
The author is an analyst for NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at junsup@nhqv.com -- Ed.WFG’s CET1 ratio is now at 11.9%. While we positively view y-y improvement in the figure, we believe that CET1 ratio needs to be actively strengthened in order for WFG to meet market expectations for
The market capitalization gap between South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and Taiwan’s TSMC, leading semiconductor companies, has widened over the past year. While TSMC has benefited from rising expectations in AI, South Korean firms are considered undervalued.Data from the global market capitalizatio
The author is an analyst for NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at yk.choi@nhqv.com -- Ed.We lower our TP on Hyosung TNC to W440,000 to reflect both a slower-than-expected spandex industry recovery and underperforming fiber division earnings. But, we still see clearly improved fundamental
Micron Technology, alongside other leading artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor companies like Intel, has ramped up efforts to challenge industry front runners. According to semiconductor industry sources on Dec. 24, Micron, the third-largest DRAM manufacturer globally, is currently undergoing
Following the spread of COVID-19, North Korea’s real gross domestic product (GDP) has experienced three consecutive years of negative growth, leading to a widening income gap of up to 30 times per capita between North and South Korea. Last year, North Korea’s population was approximately half the si
The author is an analyst for NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at ys.jung@nhqv.com -- Ed.Moving ahead, we expect to see further structural strengthening in CJ Logistics’ profitability, powered by a combination of higher parcel delivery volume, a widening sales portion for small parcels,
K-beauty companies are gaining tremendous popularity in the Japanese market, surpassing beauty powerhouse France. Leveraging cost-effectiveness and product quality, these companies are showcasing their presence across both online and offline markets, offering a range of products from basic skincare
As High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), essential for powering generative AI, emerges as the main battleground in the next generation of memory semiconductors, fierce competition is brewing between Samsung Electronics and Micron to snatch the Nvidia orders currently monopolized by SK hynix.On Nov. 28, the T
It has been revealed that the overseas subsidiaries of the top four domestic commercial banks achieved high performances in the third quarter of this year compared to the previous year.With the lifting of the COVID-19 lockdown in China, KEB Hana Bank and KB Kookmin Bank saw notably significant incre
Samsung Electronics has set a goal to increase the sales proportion of artificial intelligence (AI) chips in its foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) business to 50% by 2028.According to sources in the semiconductor industry on Nov. 20, the current revenue breakdown by application for Sams
The author is an analyst for NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at sw.kang@nhqv.com -- Ed.With the US unemployment rate rising for a second straight month, we are nearing the threshold for the Sahm Rule recession indicator (which has a 100% historical accuracy rate). Given the effects of
The author is an analyst for NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at yk.choi@nhqv.com -- Ed.Adhering to Hyosung TNC as our petrochemical industry top pick, we raise our TP by 18% to W520,000. With the price of spandex remaining strong despite raw material price decrease, the spandex spread
The author is an analyst for NH Investment & Securities. She can be reached at eunsang.lee@nhqv.com -- Ed.We expect LX Hausys’s 3Q23 results to come in sound, matching the figures posted in 2Q23. Meanwhile, the valuation gap with Hanssem has widened. The slowdown in construction starts from 2022 is
Samsung Electronics has decided to transition to a 200-layer NAND process at its NAND flash factory in Xi’an, China. The move to produce 236-layer products, which belong to the 8th generation of NAND, is seen as a strategic step to overcome a decline in performance due to sluggish global NAND demand