Samsung Electronics Co. is expected to recapture the top spot in global smartphone production in the first quarter of the year, a report showed Tuesday, with the release of its new flagship smartphone. The South Korean tech giant is estimated to produce 62 million smartphones in the January-March period and account for 18.1 percent of global smartphone production, according to market researcher TrendForce. "Moving to the first quarter of 2021, Samsung has released the new lineup of its

Samsung Heavy Industries Co. said Tuesday that it has obtained a 794 billion-won ($695 million) order from an Asian company. Under the deal to build five 15,000-twenty foot equivalent unit (TEU) container carriers, Samsung Heavy Industries will deliver the vessels by January 2024, the shipbuilder said. The company said the five vessels will be propelled by liquefied natural gas (LNG). With the latest deal, Samsung Heavy Industries has won orders worth $2.4 billion to build 19 ships in tota

Samsung Electronics Co. on Tuesday said it will expand its lineup of customizable home appliances that allow consumers to better reflect their lifestyles as the South Korean tech giant aims to boost sales amid the pandemic-driven stay-at-home trend. Samsung said its concept of BESPOKE will be applied to all of its home appliance products as it introduced BESPOKE HOME solutions designed to help consumers decorate their entire home space with various customizable products. BESPOKE is a concept

　South Korean carmakers’ sales rose 4.8 percent last month from a year earlier helped by strong demand for SUVs amid the COVID-19 pandemic, industry data showed Tuesday. 　The five carmakers in South Korea – Hyundai Motor Co., Kia Corp., GM Korea Co., Renault Samsung Motors Corp. and SsangYong Motor Co. – sold a combined 544,823 vehicles in February, up from 520,095 units a year ago, according to data from the companies. 　Their domestic sales jumped 24 percent to 101,356 u

Kia Corp. on Tuesday released a teaser for the EV6, its first dedicated all-electric model built on Hyundai Motor Group's EV platform, ahead of its global unveiling later this month. Kia plans to launch seven all-electric models by 2027, and the EV6 is the first model of the planned EV-only lineup, the company said in a statement. The EV6 is based on the group's own Electric-Global Modular Platform (E-GMP) and developed under Kia's new design philosophy that embodies its shifting focus towar

South Korean vaccine maker SK Bioscience Co. on Tuesday kicked off a two-day public subscription for its initial public offering (IPO), seen as a high-profile share sale during the first half. SK Bioscience, a unit of South Korea's No. 2 family-controlled conglomerate SK Group, has allowed individual investors to subscribe to up to 2.29 million new common shares to be sold under the planned IPO. SK Bioscience has set the IPO price at 65,000 won ($57) per share, which puts its corporate value a

LG Electronics Inc. has revamped its overseas auto parts production bases, industry insiders said Monday, in a move to beef up its automotive solutions business for future growth. LG recently completed closure of its plant in Kunshan, southeastern China, which had been producing vehicle infotainment components, such as audio, video and navigation (AVN), according to industry sources. The move was part of the company's plan to enhance manufacturing efficiency in its automotive business, accordi

Auto and battery manufacturers respond to raw material price hikes

Samsung Heavy Industries said Monday that it will lodge an appeal at a British arbitration court over the recent ruling that it has to refund the money received from a Swedish client for a delayed shipbuilding deal. The London Court of International Arbitration ruled Friday that the South Korean shipbuilder should return the prepaid money and the interest -- worth 463.2 billion won ($408.89 million) to Swedish shipping line company Stena. The court said that Stena’s cancellation of a de

Enhanced gender equity rule, growing ESG trend pushes businesses’ search for female professionals

Posco International aims to increase the production of fuel cell separators for electric vehicles to 10,000 tons by 2027, the company said Monday. The firm, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Posco SPS (Steel Processing & Service), currently produces 1,400 tons of Poss470FC, the stainless separator essential in utilizing hydrogen as an energy source for fuel cell EVs. The current volume covers around 35,000 FCEVs. Poss470FC boasts a thinness of 0.1 millimeters, and it is produced in an

South Korean pharmaceutical giant Celltrion is preparing to launch an overseas clinical trial for a new medicine for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, according to industry sources Monday. Celltrion is currently recruiting participants in Poland for its phase 1 clinical trial for CT-G20, the South Korean biopharmaceutical company’s first-ever chemical drug for HCM, a heart disease for which there is currently no known cure. The firm plans to submit an investigational new drug application t

E-commerce platform Interpark on Monday started offering air tickets which you can purchase now and fly after quarantine restrictions for international traveling are lifted. The “Early Go” tickets, which are for South Korean low cost carrier T’way Air flights, come with a one-year price freeze after self-quarantine is no longer required between Korea and the destination country, the platform said. Destinations include Cebu, Hanoi, Bangkok, Macau, Taipei and Hong Kong as well

Yanolja, the largest accommodation and leisure activity booking platform operator in South Korea, said Monday it would give out 10 million-won ($8,900) worth of stocks in their company to each of its 1,000 staff. The decision will see the stocks given to the company’s current employees and new staff, after CEO and co-founder Lee Su-jin and head of C&D Lim Sang-kyu donated a total of 600,000 stocks. Though the company has previously given stocks to some of its staff through its loya

LG Innotek said Monday the company has inked a deal with Microsoft to increase its share in the 3D-sensing module market. The South Korean electronic parts supplier signed a memorandum of understanding with the US-based tech mogul to cooperate on the development of ToF modules for Microsoft’s Azure Cloud service. The ToF -- time of flight -- module is a core component of 3D-sensing cameras which perceives three-dimensionality, spatial information and movement of an object by measuring