The price of nickel was US$28,625 per ton on Dec. 15, up 13.3 percent from the November average price. The price topped US$40,000 early this year in the wake of the war in Ukraine, fell to US$19,100 in July, and is rising again due to undersupply.Nickel is a key component in terms of EV battery perf
The Federation of Korean Industries said at a recent seminar that every main industry of South Korea will have to struggle next year, with the only exception of shipbuilding.According to the federation, South Korean shipbuilders’ order backlogs are already large, with the global LNG carrier demand c
The international lithium carbonate price more than tripled in one year to reach 557.5 yuan per kilogram on Nov. 2. In contrast, the prices of other battery minerals, including nickel, cobalt and manganese, fell more than 20 percent this year for recession concerns.This is because lithium is being u
Global foundry companies are raising the prices of their products and services, with chip undersupply ongoing and raw material prices rising.For example, TSMC announced early this month that a markup of 5 percent to 8 percent will be applied in early 2023 to processors, microcontrollers, power manag
Reuters reported on Dec. 16 that CATL, the world’s largest EV battery manufacturer, may face an undersupply of graphite as a result of increasing orders. The Chinese company made no comment about the report.With the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing around the corner and power shortages in China still
The Nikkei reported on Nov. 30 that the Q3 inventory of five automotive chip manufacturers (Renesas Electronics, NXP Semiconductors, Infineon, STMicroelectronics and Texas Instruments) increased 0.7 percent as compared with the same period of last year.“The inventory increased for the first time in
French Secretary of State for Digital Transition and Electronic Communications Cédric O joined a conference in Seoul on Nov. 17 and proposed a closer collaboration with South Korean EV battery manufacturers.Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron announced last month that France would invest 30 bi
The Joe Biden administration is putting increasing pressure on semiconductor companies while regarding hegemony in the industry as a key part of national security. The White House had an online meeting on Sept. 23 with semiconductor manufacturers including Samsung Electronics, TSMC and Intel, which
The U.S. government told semiconductor manufacturers and their clients, including Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, TSMC, Intel and Apple, to submit their confidential information by Nov. 8. What the South Korean companies are particularly concerned about are contract cancellation, product price fluctu
CarIsYou Data Lab announced on Aug. 3 that a total of 159,043 cars were newly registered in South Korea last month, down 4.8 percent from the previous month and down 8.6 percent from a year ago.The figure is divided into 134,158 domestic and 24,885 imported cars. The figures fell 13.1 percent and ro
Stellantis announced on Aug. 3 that it posted an operating profit of 8,622 million euros in the first half of this year, 45 percent higher than the average of the latest market estimates. That day, BMW announced that it recorded an operating profit of 5,005 million euros in the second quarter of thi
LG Energy Solution, SK Innovation and Samsung SDI recently announced their plans for electric vehicle battery material procurement and development in order to overcome the ongoing undersupply and improve their technologies at the same time.SK Innovation announced on July 1 that it would increase its
Nikkei Business recently reported that TSMC has decided to invest in Japan and the decision would have been impossible without Ibiden, the number one company in the global semiconductor packaging substrate industry.Competition is heating up in the semiconductor packaging industry as well as foundry
The possibility of OLED display driver IC (DDI) undersupply is rising along with the global OLED panel demand. A DDI is a small chip driving the numerous pixels of a display.According to market research firm DSCC, the global OLED sales for the second quarter of this year are estimated at US$6.89 bil
The global LCD panel demand is forecast to peak soon and oversupply is forecast to recur in the second half of this year.The prices of LCD panels have continued to increase since the second half of last year. According to market research firm Omdia, the 55-inch UHD LCD panel price reached US$223 las
Market research firm TrendForce reported on June 27 that the use of OLED panels in smartphones is likely to increase from 39.8 percent to 45 percent next year, with major brands such as Apple and Samsung Electronics increasing their use of OLED panels.The firm pointed out that the supply of OLED dis
South Korean shipbuilders’ order backlogs are continuing to increase. The three major, that is, Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering and Samsung Heavy Industries already met 47.2 percent of their goal for this year. However, the prices of thick plates a
Global pharmaceutical companies are focusing on South Korea as a COVID-19 vaccine production base. At present, South Korea is producing the AstraZeneca, Novavax and Sputnik V vaccines. Novavax CEO Stanley Erck visited South Korea on April 26 in order to check out SK bioscience’s Novavax vaccine prod
Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Kang Hoon-shik announced on Oct. 8 that 5,590 foreign workers with the E-9 visa were allowed to enter South Korea for the first eight months of this year and the number is 9.9 percent of this year’s plan. For reference, a total of 51,365 foreign workers entered Sou
Chinese newspapers reported that Volkswagen is about to acquire 20 percent of shares of Guoxuan by investing US$56 million. Guoxuan is the fourth-largest electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturer in China and the eighth-largest EV battery manufacturer in the world.Earlier, Volkswagen said that it w