The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at ys.jung@nhqv.com -- Ed. Jeju Air continues to exhaust liquidity amid slow demand recovery. In light of the chances of additional capital expansion within 2022, we lower our TP on Jeju Air from W24,000 to W18,000. Pre-condit
The authors are analysts of Shinhan Investment Corp. They can be reached at doyeon@shinhan.com and hyon@shinhan.com, respectively. – Ed. 4Q21 OP reported at KRW4.22tr (+1.1% QoQ)SK Hynix posted operating profit of KRW4.22tr (+1.1% QoQ) on sales of KRW12.38tr (+4.8% QoQ) for 4Q21, meeting market cons
Market research firm Gartner said on Feb. 2 that IT manufacturers' semiconductor purchases totaled US$583,477 million (about 706.42 trillion won) in 2021, up 25.1 percent from a year ago.Apple took first place by purchasing US$68,269 million worth of semiconductors, an increase of 26.0 percent f
The Financial Services Commission announced on Feb. 2 that deposits at Korea's four major cryptocurrency exchanges fell from 9.2 trillion won to 7.63 trillion won from Sept. 24 to Dec. 31 last year.Specifically, the deposits consist of 77.47 percent at UPbit, 19.04 percent at Bithumb, 3.88 perce
The Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) announced on Jan. 27 that professor Lee Hyun-wook and his research team at its School of Energy and Chemical Engineering succeeded in suppressing the Jahn–Teller effect, which limits sodium-ion battery duration.A sodium-ion battery is ch
The author is an analyst of KB Securities. He can be reached at jeff.kim@kbfg.com. -- Ed. 2022-2027 earnings from metaverse 3D sensing modules to surge over 100-fold We maintain BUY and TP of KRW500,000 on LG Innotek, as the company looks like it will become the world’s exclusive supplier of 3D sens
Hyundai Engineering, which is planning to go public on KOSPI next month, announced on Jan. 25 that it would invest 2.1 trillion won in the six fields of plastic recycling, hydrogen production from ammonia, microreactor, electricity generation, carbon dioxide recycling, and waste landfill and inciner
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 author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at jinmyung.choi@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Order backlog to continue expandingWe maintain a Positive rating on the shipbuilding sector in light of expanding order backlogs and solid top-line growth. Combined 4Q21 new orders at the top-
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
Automotive operating system (OS) development is accelerating along with vehicle electrification. Nowadays, automotive electrical and electronic architectures are becoming increasingly centralized, that is, a small number of electronic control units covering a wide variety of functions. This is more
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
Bloomberg reported on Jan. 22 that IBM would sell off its Watson Health to private equity firm Francisco Partners for US$1 billion or more. According to IBM CEO Arvind Krishna, this is to focus more on the cloud computing market, which is growing faster.Some point out that the price is too low. “Alt
An affiliate of OK Financial Group is reportedly going through an intensive tax probe by the National Tax Service (NTS).Dozens of NTS officials raided the consumer finance group's main office in Jung-gu, Seoul on the morning of Jan. 18.Industry insiders believe that the NTS has detected evidence
Domestic semiconductor design companies are expected to have difficulty in producing prototypes in the first half of this year as their demand for multi-project wafer (MPW) arrangements, which support prototyping, is concentrated in this period.MPW arrangements involves the manufacturing of multiple
Samsung Electronics regained the top spot of the global semiconductor market last year on the back of sales growth of memory semiconductors amid the spread of COVID-19.Samsung Electronics beat Intel in terms of sales for the first time in three years, Gartner said on Jan. 20.In 2021, Samsung Electro
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at hwdoh@nhqv.com. -- Ed. ASML has released its 4Q21 results, which fell short of consensus, and presented sluggish guidance for 1Q22. Main factors include parts and supply chain issues caused by Covid-19 and the fire at a Ber
The author is an analyst of KB Securities. She can be reached at shinay.park@kbfg.com. -- Ed. Revise down target price 5%; stock to trend upward We maintain BUY on BGF Retail but revise down our TP by 5% to KRW210,000, as we lower 2022E and 2023E OP by 6% each. Expectations for 4Q21 earnings include
The author is an analyst of KB Securities. He can be reached at jeff.kim@kbfg.com. -- Ed. Widening metaverse client base expected to include Big Tech firms We maintain BUY and our TP of KRW500,000 (12.3x 2022E P/E) on LG Innotek, as the company’s metaverse client base should widen, including Big Tec
Samsung Electronics is speeding up research and development (R&D) of 3D DRAMs. The semiconductor giant has started to reinforce related organizations, such as recruiting personnel.In the past, DRAMs were produced by lining up transistors and capacitors on a plane. However, as DRAM capacity exceeded