Samsung Electronics and Huawei are reportedly ready for the launch of their foldable smartphones. Industry watchers say that a foldable phone war would begin this August at the earliest. The two companies took the wraps off their foldable phones at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2019 in Barcelona i
Large Korean companies are found to be active in filing international patent applications. In particular, they tend to increase overseas patent applications while reducing domestic ones.Korea’s international patent applications filed with the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) for the past f
As an arrest warrant for Kim Tae-han, CEO of Samsung BioLogics, has been dismissed, the company is expected to step up efforts to put its business back on track.The Seoul Central District Court dismissed on July 20 the arrest warrant for Kim sought by the prosecution for his involvement in the compa
An increasing number of South Korean manufacturers are considering relocating their production facilities to the United States with regard to high U.S. tariffs and Japan’s export restrictions targeting South Korea. A shortened workweek, a rapid increase in minimum wage and militant labor unions in t
Japan’s economic retaliation against South Korea is expected to expand to cover semiconductor manufacturing equipment as well as semiconductor materials. The semiconductor industry of South Korea will take a direct hit in that case with both Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix making new investments in
A series of mergers between Chinese shipbuilders are threatening South Korean mid-size companies which are already struggling to survive. The mergers are a favorable development for winning China’s approval of the proposed merger between Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine
Samsung Electronics will begin volume production of the industry’s first 12 Gb mobile DRAMs, which offer the highest speed and largest capacity ever achieved, late this month. The newly developed product is expected to go into the Galaxy S11, the company’s flagship smartphone to be launched early ne
Samsung BioLogics is on alert as Japan's trade retaliation could disrupt the supply of materials essential for biopharmaceutical production.Samsung BioLogics recently held an emergency meeting of executives as Japan is expected to remove Korea from its export white list. If Japan does exclude Ko
Volvo Group announced on July 18 that it has entered into a strategic partnership with Samsung SDI Co. to develop battery packs for the group’s electric trucks. Under the agreement, Samsung SDI will supply battery cells and modules customized for electric trucks to Volvo, which will develop an elect
Chinese news outlets reported on July 16 that Befar Group, a chemical company located in Shandong Province, signed a hydrogen fluoride (etching gas) supply contract with a South Korean semiconductor manufacturer. The Nihon Keizai Shimbun also reported that Samsung Electronics recently began to test
Samsung Electronics secured high-purity hydrogen fluoride equivalent to a two-month inventory after the Japanese government restricted the export of semiconductor and display materials to South Korea on July 4. The company is planning to keep improving the efficiency of its semiconductor manufacturi
The aggregate annual operating profit of 229 companies listed on the KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets this year is estimated at 134.51 trillion won (US$113.76 billion), down 24.6 percent from last year, according to Seoul-based market tracker FnGuide on July 17. The net profit is also forecast to drop 20.8
South Korean shipbuilders’ performance in the first half of this year is not up to the mark. The amount of new shipbuilding orders they won in the first six months of the year fell short of half of their yearly goals.The poor performance is attributed to a drop in the amount of new shipbuilding orde
Samsung Display is in talks with SKC over the supply of colorless polyimide (CPI) used for foldable smartphones. This represents the first time that Korean corporations collaborate to substitute local products for items that are under the Japanese government’s export control.CPI is a key component o
Samsung Electronics said on July 17 that it is testing etching gases supplied by multiple South Korean and non-South Korean companies in order to find out whether they can provide a satisfactory production yield. Likewise, SK Hynix is currently testing etching gases procured from South Korea, Taiwan
China's leading TV maker TCL appears to be considering entering the Korean market.TCL has filed an application with the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) to register a “TCL QLED” trademark. KIPO disclosed TCL’s application on June 26 so that people can file complaints against the tradem
An increasing number of South Korean companies are making a direct investment in overseas autonomous driving technology companies.ESMO Co., a South Korean wiring harness producer, made a 26.30 billion won (US$22.32 million) investment in France-based self-driving car developer Navya on July 1, accor
The Japanese government is likely to implement additional export restrictions against South Korea in the near future and the next targets are likely to be automobiles and machinery, an analyst at Samsung Securities said on July 16.“Export restrictions targeting the two industries have a smaller impa
Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, the No. 1 and No. 2 memory chipmakers in the world, are responding to Japan’s export curbs in different ways. In the case of Samsung Electronics, vice chairman Lee Jae-Yong is in the forefront of searching for ways out of the crisis. At SK Hynix, working level offic
Samsung Display and LG Display are in starkly different situations in the face of Japan’s restrictions of parts and materials exports to Korea. LG Display can produce organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels at its overseas plants, but Samsung Display’s overseas plants will be inevitably affected