Hyundai Motor Co. announced on Oct. 30 that it would make a strategic investment in and conduct joint R&D with Impact Coatings, H2 Pro and GRZ Technologies to accelerate the popularization of hydrogen electric vehicles based on a reduction in the costs of hydrogen production and storage technology a
KT has put forward a plan to invest 300 billion won in artificial intelligence (AI) for the next four years and nurture 1,000 AI professionals. The telecom giant will also expand handsets loaded with its AI engines to 100 million units by 2025. KT’s vision is to lead a super-intelligent society base
The Vision Fund, led by SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, has finally decided not to invest in Tada, a ride-hailing service, after a year-long review. The fund has reportedly been considering investing 200 billion won to 300 billion won in Tada. But as tensions among the taxi industry, political circles a
Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy S10 and Galaxy Note 10 smartphones have recently been found to have a flaw in its fingerprint recognition system. Soon after that, yet another glitch has been found in user authentication, which is a key feature of smartphones.Users of the Galaxy S10 reported that when th
LG Chem requested an import ban with regard to SK Innovation’s battery pack in the Kia Niro. Kia Motors is likely to be affected by the patent infringement lawsuit LG Chem recently filed with the United States International Trade Commission (USITC).The USITC initiated its investigation for the lawsu
Early this month, the OECD Secretariat proposed a unified approach so that digital taxes can be imposed on global manufacturing as well as IT companies if their global sales are above a certain level.Digital taxes are imposed on global Internet companies such as Google and Facebook. The approach pro
Hyundai Motor Co.’s sales in Saudi Arabia have increased more than 60 percent compared to last year amid rebounding automobile sales in the Middle East country. Hyundai Motor has drawn up a new marketing strategy as the Saudi Arabian automobile market is expanding due to a rise in the number of fema
The operator of van-hailing app Tada has been indicted on charges of violating the transportation law, becoming the latest victim of Korea’s stifling regulations on mobility startups.Mobility-related regulations remain unchanged despite the Korean government’s repeated pledges of reform. As a result
Hyundai Motor announced on Oct. 28 (local time) that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Israel's largest logistics company Taavura to secure future technology.Taavura is a road transport and air cargo services company established in 1955 and has recently expanded its business
Hyundai Heavy Industries Group has obtained approval from Kazakhstan of its plan to merge with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME).Kazakhstan is the first country to approve the merger plan. Hyundai Heavy Industries Group said on Oct. 29 that Kazakhstan authorities approved its plan with
Samsung Electro-Mechanics and LG Innotek, the two largest electronic component manufacturers in South Korea, are showing a noticeable performance improvement in the second half of this year. This is because their camera module and semiconductor substrate sales are growing fast after Apple and Samsun
South Korean investors’ overseas stock trading value hit an all-time quarterly high in the third quarter of this year along with their overseas securities trading value. This is because the South Korean stock market is moving sideways and South Korean companies’ business outlook is not bright.The Ko
Korea Southern Power Co. (KOSPO) announced on Oct. 28 that it has issued kangaroo bonds worth US$300 million in Australia for the first time since the company was founded. A kangaroo bond is a foreign bond issued in Australian dollars by non-domestic entities, including corporations, financial insti
SK Telecom and Kakao Corp. have been fiercely competing in the field of information and communication technology (ICT). Yet the two ICT giants have decided to enter all-round cooperation from telecommunications to commerce. To beef up solidarity, they will exchange equities worth 300 billion won.SK
Naver has unveiled a plan to build the world's first robot-friendly building.“We have made a bold decision for the coexistence of people and robots,” Naver Labs CEO Seok Sang-ok said while announcing the Second HQ Building 1784 project at DEVIEW 2019, the biggest developer conference in Korea he
Tesla of the United States is eyeing the Korean energy storage system (ESS) market amid lingering concerns about the safety of domestic ESS products.Tesla recently started procedures to obtain a certificate from the Korea Battery Industry Association (KBIA) for ESS sales in Korea. Once its ESS batte
The Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology announced on Oct. 28 that the top 1,000 South Korean companies in terms of R&D investment made a total R&D investment of 49.7 trillion won last year, up 7.9 percent from a year ago.Their R&D investment-to-sales ratio increased from 2.66 percent to 3.
The number of startups is dropping in the manufacturing sector of South Korea. This can be attributed to the negative outlooks of its semiconductor and display industries and uncertainties represented by the ongoing trade disputes between South Korea and Japan.The Ministry of SMEs and Startups annou
The Korean Intellectual Property Office announced on Oct. 28 that it detected 1,140 suspicious cases of illegal trademark preoccupation in 62 countries with regard to South Korean companies’ 279 trademarks.The cases include 594 in eight ASEAN member countries and 189 in 22 European countries. The fo
South Korea’s publicly traded banks and bank holding companies rank 29th among the 34 OECD countries in terms of the price-to-book ratio (PBR), a researcher of the Korea Institute of Finance (KIF) has found.Seo Byeong-ho, a senior KIF researcher said in a report released on Oct. 27 that average PBR