The solar power industry is facing an unprecedented challenge with the prices of polysilicon and photovoltaic modules dropping. South Korean solar power companies are planning to prepare for intense competition by enhancing management efficiency and investing in R&D.Market research firm PVinsights r

LG Chem and VinFast Trading and Production Ltd. of Vietnam have agreed to set up a joint-venture company for battery pack production in Vietnam. VinFast is a subsidiary of Vingroup.The plant is located in VinFast’s Supplier Park in the northern port city of Hai Phong, VinFast said in a press release

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) announced on April 7 that Canada imported 138 million barrels of U.S. crude oil last year to become the largest importer and it was followed by South Korea (86.15 million), China (83.32 million), the Netherlands (53.17 million), India (48.22 million),

Amid expectations that 5G smartphones will inject new vitality into the slumping global smartphone market, competition is expected to heat up among Samsung Electronics, which rolled out the world's first 5G smartphone, LG Electronics, Xiaomi and others that will launch their 5G smartphones befor

The number and value of merger and acquisition (M&A) deals declined in the first quarter of 2019, the first time in 10 years. Restructuring-type deals accounted for the lion's share, with private fund and venture capital more active than conglomerates. In the advisory market, which has been domi

Excluding Samsung Electronics Co., the aggregate net profit of South Korean firms listed on the main stock exchange declined as much as 10 trillion won (US$8.80 billion) last year. Their profit plunged in just one year after hitting an all-time high in 2017.The combined operating profit of 540 compa

South Korea’s goods account surplus hit a 55-month low in February this year, led by sluggish exports of major items and a decrease in exports to China. However, the country’s current account surplus increased from a month earlier based on service account improvement.The Bank of Korea announced on A

Toyota of Japan has decided to share its patents on hybrid vehicle technologies with competitors. While global automakers are pulling out all the stops to develop electric vehicles (EVs) in order to preempt the future automobile market, Toyota has made a surprising move.So far, Toyota has been engag

LG Chem has acquired the core technology for soluble OLEDs, which are expected to lead the next-generation display market. Soluble OLED displays are called next-generation displays because of their low recoding rate and high color gamut. Global display manufacturers are currently conducting resarch

The expanded fab (Plant 2) of SK Hynix factory in Wuxi, China will go into full operation this month. Once the 950-billion-won expansion project is completed, the plant’s production capacity will increase to 180,000 wafers per month. However, SK Hynix said that it expanded its production lines simpl

Samsung Electronics will launch the Galaxy S10 5G, the world's first 5G smartphone, on April 5 in Korea.A 5G network is 20 times faster than a 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) network and the former’s latency is one tenth of that of the latter. These features enable users to receive various multimed

The majority shareholder of Asiana Airlines Inc. is under pressure from creditors, including Korea Development Bank (KDB), to hand over managerial control to a third party. Yet the company’s management claims that the company will be normalized again if it overcomes the short-term liquidity crisis.A

Statistics Korea announced on March 31 that South Korea’s semiconductor manufacturing sector posted an operating ratio index of 97.1 last month, down 4 percentage points from the previous month. That point is the lowest in 43 months.The index had been as high as 114.1 in October 2018, but fell for f

Mirae Asset Daewoo Securities Co. will expand the current 6 trillion won (US$5.28 billion) of investment assets at home and abroad further and respond to a rapid change in the mobile era by enlarging wealth management (WM) offices this year, said Choi Hyun-man, the company’s executive vice chairman,

Members of Bithumb, the largest crypto asset exchange in South Korea, will now be able to pay with “Bithumb cash” on an online duty free shop.Bithumb announced on March 28 that it has formed a partnership with Shinsegae Duty Free and started the “Bithumb cash” payment service on online Shinsegae dut

Kumho Asiana Group chairman Park Sam-koo has decided to step down from all his posts to eliminate what is called an “owner risk,” a risk that stems from investor distrust in the owner of a company. He was forced to resign to regain investors’ confidence in his group.Park has been showing his strong

The Korean Fair Trade Commission (FTC) is continuing a hot legal debate to determine whether Apple Korea committed unfair practices in distributing its products in the Korean market. The commission is expected to come up with the final judgment in April at the earliest.The FTC held a third round of

Korean manufacturers that need to secure excess carbon credits are in trouble as the trading volume of carbon emission has plummeted amid skyrocketing emission permit prices.The market price of the carbon emission permit hit an all-time high at 26,500 won (US$23.31) per ton on March 26. The average

Samsung Electronics unveiled its entry-level smartphone “Galaxy A70” on March 26. The Galaxy A70 has a screen size of 6.7 inches and a screen ratio of 20 to 9, making it the model with the largest screen among Samsung's budget Galaxy A smartphone series.The Galaxy A has Infinity-U Display with a

Despite growing demand for polysilicon, leading Korean solar panel manufacturers including OCI and Hanwha Chemical have announced their intention to reduce or give up domestic production due to an increase in electricity charges. Industry analysts say that these companies are weighed down by a gradu