S-Oil President Ryu Yul joins the “Zero Disposables Challenges,” an environmental initiative launched by Environment Minister Han Hwa-jin in February to reduce the use of disposables in public. A number of key business leaders have participated in the campaign. Ryu named Lotte Data Communication CEO Roh Jun-hyung and Kumho Petrochemical CEO Baek Jong-hoon as the next participants. (S-Oil)

HMM Co. said Thursday it has clinched the top spot in a recent environmental, social and corporate governance rating of major shipping firms around the world. South Korea's No. 1 container shipper said it has obtained a "low" grade of 15.4 points in the rating conducted by Sustainalytics, a Dutch ESG and corporate governance research, ratings and analytics company, with the lower the mark, the better the ESG rating. HMM's score is 9.4 points better than the "medium"

South Korea's finance ministry unveiled a set of measures Thursday to pave the way for the growth of the country's artificial intelligence chip and urban air mobility industries in line with efforts to foster new growth engines. Under the plan, the country will speed up the establishment of data centers powered by homegrown AI chips and expand financial support for the development of such semiconductor products by fabless firms, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The mov

Korea Airports Corp. said Wednesday it is considering adding some 4,500 flights connecting the nation’s seven provincial airports to cities in China by the end of this year, to better respond to China’s travel rush in the coming months. The state-run airport operator held an emergency meeting earlier in the day to discuss measures regarding the Chinese government’s recent decision to lift a ban on group tours to Korea. "As China’s group travel to Korea resumes for th

Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest memory chip maker, has forged a partnership with Groq, a US-based artificial intelligence inference systems provider, securing the first chip order for its semiconductor fab currently in construction in Texas. Groq revealed in a press release on Monday (US time) that it has established ties with Samsung Foundry to be its “next-gen silicon partner,” saying the collaboration will support the company’s growth to consistently “ou

South Korean trading company STX announced Wednesday that the company's board has approved a spinoff of its new shipping and logistics firm, which is tentatively named STX Green Logis, ahead of its stock listing next month. STX said its shares will be divided in an 80:20 ratio between STX and STX Green Logis. For every 100 shares, shareholders will receive around 23 shares of STX Green Logics and 77 shares of STX. The price of STX Green Logis shares will be decided after the company makes i

Samsung Electronics sold a portion of its stakes in Dutch chip equipment maker ASML and secured 3 trillion won ($2.24 billion) in cash, the company reported in its semi-annual report Monday. In the report, the world’s No. 1 memory chipmaker reported that it held 2.75 million shares in ASML stocks, equivalent to 0.7 percent, at the end of June, down from the 1.6 percent or 6.29 million shares from the end of March this year. In selling its shares, Samsung appears to have secured significant

McDonald's Korea on Monday held a special book talk event in Jung-gu, Seoul, to delve into "McDonald's 35 Years of Brand Story in Korea," the two-volume series published last month for the fast food chain's 35th anniversary in Korea. During the event, author Kang Han-ki and McDonald's Korea's Senior Director of Corporate Relations Shim Nari, who spearheaded the development of the book, shed some light on the book's development. “Such a project usuall

Korean auto giant’s newly acquired site to begin production in 2025

Financial support to be offered for strategic industries such as chips and batteries and their suppliers

The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology said Wednesday that a research paper about an air purifier that generates a diary, developed by a team led by industrial design professor Nam Taek-jin, has become Korea's first to win an honorable mention at this year's ACM Designing Interactive Systems conference. The air purifier, named Areca, shows how future objects could potentially have feelings and consciousness with the development of artificial intelligence. (KAIST)

SK On announced Wednesday a 1.5 trillion won ($1.1 billion) investment in expanding the battery production capacity by adding a third plant in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province. Marking the South Korean battery maker’s largest investment in the country, the expansion will bring up the Seosan site’s total annual production capacity to about 20 gigawatt-hours by 2028, enough to be supplied to 280,000 electric vehicles. The company will break ground for the third plant this year, aimin

Mirae Asset Global Investments announced Wednesday that it has acquired Australia’s No. 1 robo-adviser Stockspot. The Korean assets management firm said it will secure a 53 percent stake in the company in a deal worth 28 million Australian dollars ($18 million), with plans to increase the stake in the future in phases. Founded in Sydney in 2013, Stockspot is the leading online investment adviser, ranking atop the robo-adviser sector in Australia with a base of 13,000 clients and some 650

SK Telecom, South Korea's leading telecommunications carrier, said Wednesday that it will host a hackathon event with California-based startup OpenAI next month in Seoul to discover talent who are likely to lead the future artificial intelligence industry. Prompter Day Seoul 2023 will run under the theme of developing services that can help humanity through AI. Planners, developers and designers who are interested in generative AIs can participate in the competition to develop services and

Binggrae, the nation’s largest snack maker, said Wednesday that it posted record sales of 77.5 billion won ($57.9 million) in overseas markets in the first half of this year. The figure is a 27 percent jump from a year ago and has more than doubled over the past five years. Binggrae attributed the upbeat earnings to its ice cream brands, especially its bestselling fruit-flavored ice cream Melona. Of the total earnings, 60.1 percent, or 46.6 billion won, came from ice cream sales. Melona al