Kumho Tire plans to invest more than 1 trillion won to build its inaugural factory in Europe by 2027. The company intends to evaluate incentives and tax benefits pledged by four countries -- Romania, Serbia, Portugal, and Turkey -- including the size of subsidies, before finalizing the factory’s loc
Big South Korean companies are exiting China one after another. Business uncertainties are being fueled by fiercer competition and declining profitability in the Chinese market coupled with the U.S. government’s checks on China and policy changes by Chinese government authorities.Lotte Chemical sold
On March 13, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to ban TikTok, a Chinese video platform, from being downloaded in the United States due to security concerns. The bill was approved with an overwhelming majority of 352 votes in favor and 65 against. Europe is also engulfed in national sec
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Express announced a consumer protection policy on March 14 that offers unconditional returns and refunds within 90 days for cross-border online purchases. Additionally, it has officially launched a customer service hotline and plans to invest about 1.5 trillion won o
For the fourth consecutive month, semiconductor exports have shown double-digit growth rates, leading the charge in exports. With increases in exports across various components such as displays and computer/peripheral devices, the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector as a whole is s
In January, Korean display companies received a shocking report card. According to market research firm DSCC, Samsung Display, which held 36% of the market share in the foldable market and was considered the future of the industry, lost its first-place position to China’s BOE, which captured 42% in
After the Korean government has announced a strategy to secure 33 key minerals used in high-tech industries, including lithium and graphite, by reducing its dependence on China to 50 percent by 2030, Korea’s dependence on China for some key items began to shrink in 2023.Korea’s lithium hydroxide imp
The United States targeting Chinese-made goods as part of its supply chain localization and trade war strategies is expected to affect China’s shipbuilding industry after the Chinese semiconductor industry.According to the Financial Times (FT) and other foreign media outlets, U.S. President Joe Bide
Chinese online shopping platforms AliExpress, Temu, Shine and other overseas business operators over a certain size will be required to have representatives in Korea. This new policy is aimed at making them responsible for consumer protection.Unlike AliExpress, which currently has a legal entity in
Chinese TV manufacturers are aggressively targeting the OLED market, dominated by Samsung and LG, with their large LCD products offered at breakthrough prices.During the “Korea Display Conference” hosted by Omdia in the Seocho district of Seoul on March 13, Park Kyung-sun, director at Omdia Korea, s
South Korean shipyards are continuously winning contracts for very large crude carriers (VLCCs). Recently, Hanwha Ocean and HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (HKSOE) have pursued high-value contracts for VLCCs as part of their strategy to diversify their vessel portfolios and prioritize s
SK innovation has liquidated its Chinese battery subsidiary.According to the Financial Supervisory Service’s electronic disclosure system on March 12, SK innovation has liquidated its China-based subsidiary Blue Dragon Energy. It has been six years since the company invested 580 million yuan in Blue
LG Chem, Korea’s largest petrochemical company, will shut down its styrene monomer (SM) plant at the end of March. SM is widely used in the manufacture of various petrochemical products. The company is also reportedly considering abandoning production of ethylene oxide (EO) and ethylene glycol (EG),
Taiwan’s TSMC, the worldwide leader in the semiconductor foundry industry, has surpassed 60 percent of the market share, widening its gap between with second-ranked Samsung Electronics. In the fourth quarter (October-December) of 2023, the foundry market grew about 8 percent from the previous quarte
As the global semiconductor war has become a hot race among nations, major countries such as the United States, China, and Japan have been providing large cash support to their own companies or foreign companies that make investments in their semiconductor industries to boost the growth of their sem
Coupang announced on March 11 that it has expanded its “Rocket Direct Purchase” service to Japan. The company has been expanding its direct purchase regions, starting from the United States in 2017, followed by China in 2021 and Hong Kong in 2022.Coupang’s decision to add Japan to its Rocket Direct
Samsung Electronics and SK hynix have reportedly stopped selling their old semiconductor equipment to China. The move comes in response to the United States urging them to align with its controls on semiconductor exports to China.The Financial Times (FT) cited several industry insiders on March 12 s
Coupang announced on March 11 that it will launch the Rocket Cross-Border Shopping Service in the cross-border shopping of goods from Japan, after the United States, China, and Hong Kong.Rocket Direct is a cross-border shopping service provided by Coupang. Coupang has been expanding its service for
Samsung Display has begun the construction of the world’s first 8.6th generation organic light-emitting diode (OLED) production line. As major manufacturers such as Apple are increasing the proportion of OLED displays instead of liquid crystal displays (LCDs) in the laptop and tablet markets, Samsun
South Korea’s current account remained in surplus for the ninth consecutive month thanks to strong semiconductor and automobile exports.According to provisional statistics on the balance of payments released by the Bank of Korea (BOK) on March 8, the nation’s current account surplus stood at US$3.05