The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on Feb. 1 that South Korea’s exports totaled US$55.32 billion in January this year, up 15.2 percent from a year ago, and the figure is the first January figure in history that is over US$50 billion.Last month, South Korea’s semiconductor exports a
George Mason University Korea (Mason Korea) announced on Jan. 27 that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Korea Data Agency (K-DATA) to strengthen cooperation in various areas, including providing internships at data companies and faculty-led business consultation.Through this
The U.S. Department of Commerce released a report on global semiconductor shortage on Jan. 25 based on data previously submitted by 150 semiconductor companies.“The shortage caused by COVID-19 and the resultant supply-demand imbalance is likely to continue for a while, and we are planning to conduct
Samsung Electronics’ new air purifier model, Bespoke Cube Air, has recently obtained marketing clearance (510k, Class 2) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).The company submitted a premarket notification on its new air purifier to the FDA in October 2021 and received an order a month la
LG Energy Solution announced on Jan. 25 (U.S. local time) that Ultium Cells, a joint venture company with GM, will build its third electric vehicle battery plant in Lansing, Michigan of the United States by investing US$2.6 billion. Ground will be broken for the new plant in 2022 for completion in t
Reliance Industries of India, which is owned by Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, acquired a 100 percent stake in sodium-ion battery startup Faradion of the United Kingdom for 100 million pounds earlier this month.According to a statement released by the oil-to-retail conglomerate, Reliance New Ene
AIA Korea announced on Jan. 27 that AIA Vitality is partnering with Golfzon, the largest screen golf company in the country. Starting this month, AIA Vitality members can enjoy 18-hole screen golf game at Golfzon and receive points towards Weekly Missions. AIA Vitality is the first health, wellness
SK Hynix has signed a contract to supply non-volatile memory express (NVMe) solid state drives (SSDs) to Meta (formerly known as Facebook), the largest social media company in the United States.The exact contract value is unknown, but it is estimated at hundreds of billions of won.This is the first
SK ecoplant announced on Jan. 25 that it will invest a total of US$200 million over four years in a 250MW rooftop solar power project in partnership with Nami Sola, a rooftop solar power company in Vietnam.Rooftop solar power generation is a distributed power generation method in which solar panels
Unionized workers at Kia’s plant in Gwangmyeong put the brakes on the company’s plan to turn it into an electric vehicle plant. The workers’ demands include new employment and job security.The workers and the management had a meeting on Jan. 18 and the latter said there that facility adjustment woul
LS Cable & System announced on Jan. 26 that the company has completed the construction of a power cable plant in Indonesia (LSAGI).LS Cable & System started construction of the plant at the 64,000 square meters site in the Artha Industrial Complex near Jakarta in September 2020. LSAGI will mainly pr
GS Engineering & Construction (GS E&C) will export renewable green hydrogen plant modules to California of the United States. It will mark the first time for a Korean construction company to export hydrogen plant modules.GS E&C announced on Jan. 24 that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (M
Samsung Electronics has been facing a lawsuit from a European patent troll. Less than two months have passed since being sued by a former Samsung patent executive, Korea’s largest company has become a target of a parent suit by a patent troll once again.Scramoge Technology, a non-practicing entity (
Naver has recruited young scholars, including a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), to upgrade its AI-powered search services.The company announced on Jan. 24 that it has recently recruited Professor Kim Yoon-hyung of MIT and Professor Karl Stratos of Rutgers University as
The Federation of Korean Industries announced on Jan. 24 that the number of manufacturing workers in South Korea was 4.43 million at the end of 2019 and decreased by 180,000 or so from the end of 2015 to that day.“The number decreased 3.9 percent due to manufacturing facility relocation, an overall
COVID-19 self-test kit exports from South Korea are increasing again with regard to the omicron variant spreading worldwide.This month, SD BioSensor signed large-scale contracts with the United States and Singapore. Specifically, the contracts total 136.9 billion won and the supply to Singapore is i
The United States has made clear its intention to reorganize the semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem around the United States. U.S. President Joe Biden and Intel CEO Pet Gelsinger announced on Jan. 21 (U.S. local time) that Intel will invest US$20 billion to build two semiconductor production plan
The Ministry of Economy and Finance announced on Jan. 23 that it has paid Iran’s U.N. contributions using Iran’s frozen funds in South Korea.The payment of US$18 million was completed on Jan. 21 after Iran’s request on Jan. 13. Iran lost its voting right in the U.N. General Assembly on Jan. 12 for a
The Ministry of Science and ICT, SK Telecom, KT and LG U+ are planning to come up with a dedicated line-based quantum cryptography communication business model this month so that enterprises and institutions can apply quantum cryptography to their information and communication networks using quantum
Samsung Electronics is expanding its presence in the global 5G equipment market. Following the start of 5G services in the United Kingdom, Samsung’s 5G network business is expected to gain momentum with the launch of 5G services in the United States.Vodafone’s British subsidiary launched the first c