Cargo processed at South Korea's largest port of Busan fell more than 2 percent in the first half of the year on slowing global consumption and other negatives, data showed Wednesday. Container cargo handled at the southeastern port came to 11.21 million twenty-foot-equivalent units (TEUs) in the January-June period, down 2.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Busan Port Authority and the Korea Maritime Institute. The decline was blamed on a slowdown in global consu

Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Corp. said Wednesday their combined sales in the United States fell 11 percent last month from a year earlier amid the prolonged global chip shortage. Hyundai and Kia sold 123,080 vehicles in the world's most important automobile market in July compared with 138,599 units a year ago, according to the companies' sales data. Hyundai's sales declined 11 percent to 60,631 units last month from 68,500 a year ago, while Kia's were also down 1

SK hynix said Tuesday that it had unveiled plans to mass-produce the industry‘s first 238-layer four-dimensional NAND flash memory in the first half of 2023. At the Flash Memory Summit of 2022 held in Santa Clara, California, Choi Jung-dal, head of NAND development at SK hynix, said the newest NAND flash, which boasts the highest layer count and highest triple-level cell density in the industry, has been sampled by clients after the development was complete in July. The technological br

Contract manufacturing giant Samsung Biologics said Tuesday it has successfully completed the first commercial-scale engineering run of the drug substance for COVID-19 messenger RNA vaccines. With the latest completion, the company added that now it is equipped to provide end-to-end mRNA production for clients. In November last year, the company signed a contract manufacturing organization partnership deal with US biotech firm GreenLights Biosciences. After months of technology transfer, the

An environmental activist displays the radiation level of a portable fan at a civic group’s office in Seoul on Tuesday. The group, called Asian Citizen’s Center for Environment and Health, claimed handheld fans emitted harmful levels of electromagnetic radiation, a day after the Ministry of Science and ICT concluded that the fans met international safety standards after reviewing 20 different small portable fans on the market.

New technology expected to contribute to enhancing efficacy of regenerative medicine

Overpowering decision-making entity key to boosting domestic chip industry, lawmaker says

South Korean chipmaker SK hynix said Tuesday it has completed the acquisition of domestic contract-based chip manufacturer Key Foundry The announcement came nine months after SK hynix signed a 575.8 billion won ($440.3 million) deal in October to acquire the entire stake of the 200-millimeter wafer foundry company based in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, from local private equity firms Alchemist Capital Partners and Gravity Private Equity. SK hynix added that it has won the antitru

Hyundai Motor said Tuesday that its Xcient Fuel Cell, the world’s first mass-produced, heavy-duty truck powered by hydrogen, will make its debut in Germany as part of the carmaker’s efforts to expand its presence in the largest commercial vehicle market.  A total of 27 units of Xcient trucks will be delivered to seven local companies in the logistics and manufacturing sectors. This will be the second time that Hyundai has exported its fuel-cell truck to Europe after it clinche

Posco said Tuesday that it will conduct a feasibility study with Brazil’s largest raw material supplier, Vale, for the possible production of hot briquette iron as part of the steel giant’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint.  HBI, which is created by reducing the iron ore with natural gas, is a relatively new product that has been recently introduced to be used as a pre-material in blast furnaces or electric arc furnaces. A low-carbon HBI manufacturing plant emits less ca

Despite enjoying increased sales from the ongoing “lunchflation,” fast food joints in South Korea have been raising their burger prices, citing surging production costs amid lingering inflation fears. Mom‘s Touch, a homegrown chicken chain, said Tuesday that it will raise the prices for 50 products by 200-400 won ($0.15-$0.31) starting Thursday. This is the second price hike by the burger joint this year alone. Mom’s Touch explained that the decision was made “w

Sizzling temperatures that hit the country last month led to record-breaking electricity demand, data showed Monday. According to Korea Power Exchange, the country’s average maximum power demand stood at 82,007 megawatts last month, up 1.0 percent on-year -- the highest since records began in June 2005. The sudden surge of power consumption resulted from many households and buildings turning up the air conditioning due to the scorching heat wave and tropical nights across the nation thro

The South Korean government said Monday that it would revise the law to allow battery subscription services for electric vehicles, a move that is expected to pull down EV prices almost one-third from their current price tag and lower entry barriers for potential buyers.  The Ministry of Land, Transport and Infrastructure said that a 36-member regulatory reform committee held a meeting on Thursday to approve the planned revision. The current law on vehicle registration does not allow two

Samsung Electronics said Monday its joint research team with Ajou University published a paper last month on the wider adoption of artificial muscle actuators for wearables in Nature Communications, an online publisher affiliated with Nature, the science journal. The paper, titled “Actuating Compact Wearable Augmented Reality Devices by Multifunctional Artificial Muscle,” was recognized for expanding the use of artificial muscle actuators in robotics to the field of smaller wearabl

Hyundai Motor Group on Monday unveiled its vision for smart city at the World Cities Summit in Singapore, with an aim to offer a blueprint for smart mobility solutions that revitalize urban communities.  During a panel discussion at the biannual summit, the automaker’s President and Chief Innovation Officer Chi Young-cho offered a detailed look into the company’s vision for human-focused city design through its HMG Smart City concept. The company first unveiled such vision for