LG Electronics outstrips US Whirlpool in H1 sales, lures global customers with innovative, convenient home solutions

South Korea’s leading automaker Hyundai Motor Group and battery producer LG Energy Solution are joining forces to establish a $1.1 billion electric vehicle battery plant in Indonesia, the companies said Thursday. The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding with the Indonesian government for the plant, which would produce 10 gigawatt-hours worth of NCMA (nickel, cobalt, manganese, aluminum) lithium-ion battery cells annually, enough for 150,000 electric vehicles, the firms sai

LG Chem said Thursday it has acquired separator business from LG Electronics for 525 billion won ($458.5 million) to target the fast-growing global electric vehicle battery materials market. According to South Korea’s leading chemical firm, the company took over chemical electronic material business under LG Electronics’ business solutions division. The acquisition includes all tangible and intangible assets of the business including its production facilities and personnel. The

Touts continued tech prowess in memory field; says will make ’meaningful‘ M&A deal in 3 years

Expectations are running high as the release of NCSoft’s Blade & Soul 2 is less than a month away. Set for launch on Aug. 26, the massive multiplayer online role-playing game is the sequel of NCSoft’s Blade & Soul, which notched the grand prize at the 2012 Korea Game Awards. The game will be available on both PC and mobile devices. Users can enjoy Blade & Soul 2 on PC through cross-play service Purple. Preregistrations reached 7.46 million, a record in Korea, break

SES pictures joint ventures with lithium-ion battery giants for its own good and their survival

South Korean food and beverage company Nongshim announced Thursday plans to increase the price of its flagship instant noodles including Shin Ramyun by an average of 6.8 percent starting mid next month. Nongshim last hiked ramen prices in 2016. The latest move comes after rival ramen maker Ottogi announced earlier this month its first price hike in more than 11 years. When broken down by brand, Nongshim’s flagship Shin Ramyun will see a 7.6 percent increase in price while the prices of

Orion, a South Korean confectionery company widely known for Choco Pie, said on Thursday its cumulative revenue had reached 1 trillion won ($873 million) in Russia. The trillion-won threshold was broken after the company racked up 50.6 billion won in sales for the first six months combined this year, following the precedents in China and Vietnam. Efforts to create localized new products, as well as a wide range of biscuits and its popular Choco Pie, tapped into Russia’s dessert culture a

French tire maker Michelin appointed Jerome Vincon as the new head of its South Korean unit, the company announced Thursday. Starting from Aug. 1, Jerome will replace former Managing Director of Michelin Korea Lee Ju-heang who will be moving to the firm’s Asia Pacific Office. Vincon joined the Michelin Group in 2003 and worked with car manufacturers at the firm’s APAC headquarters, serving divisions in sales, marketing and business operations. He was also appointed as marketin

Samsung Electronics Co. on Thursday reported robust second-quarter earnings on the back of its semiconductor business and a one-off gain from its display panel business. Its net profit stood at 9.63 trillion won ($8.3 billion) in the April-June period, up 73.4 percent from a year earlier, the world's largest memory chip and smartphone vendor said in a regulatory filing. Its second-quarter operating profit jumped 54.3 percent on-year to 12.56 trillion won, the largest since the third quarter o

Mobile carriers, government regulators urged to strengthen filtering system to better protect children from harmful content amid privacy dispute

South Korean companies operating in virus-stricken Southeast Asian countries have asked for the government’s help in procuring COVID-19 vaccines for its workers there, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Wednesday. They also called for relaxed quarantine requirements on inbound business travel to Korea at a recent online meeting with ministry officials. The meeting was organized as a number of Southeast Asian countries are reporting explosive surges in infections driven by

Kogas at the center of nation’s hydrogen production, supply and retail

The South Korean government on Wednesday gave the go-ahead for a pilot project to transfer leftover power from electric car batteries to power grids, under a “regulatory sandbox” scheme. According to the Industry Ministry, local electricity provider Busan-JungKwan Energy submitted the vehicle-to-grid project via the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s sandbox support center. The regulatory sandbox measure, introduced in 2019, seeks to foster new business opportunities

Hankook Tire & Technology, the world‘s sixth-largest tiremaker by sales, is further expanding its portfolio of Original Equipment tires by working with global automakers and ramping up efforts to secure core technology in the field. It has so far struck a partnership with 46 car brands for some 320 models across the world, according to the company on Wednesday, including premium brands such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi. Hankook Technodome, its flagship research and development faci