Global streaming giant Netflix saw its subscriber numbers soar in South Korea last year due to changes in people's media usage patterns caused by the coronavirus pandemic, a report said Monday. According to the report by market research firm Nielsen Korea, the monthly unique visitors to Netflix in South Korea in November last year surged 64.2 percent, compared with January of the same year. Netflix also ranked second after YouTube in the ranking of mobile video operators. The US-based company

Makers of electric cars struggle to expand price range, maximize market share

South Korean researchers have developed an artificial intelligence-based acoustic sensor that resembles the human cochlea, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology said Monday. The research team, led by KAIST professors Lee Keon-jae and Wang Hee-seung, said they used an ultrathin piezoelectric membrane to mimic the basilar membrane in the cochlea, which acts as an analyzer to translate frequency of sounds. Equipped with machine learning-based speaker recognition, the new acoust

Preserving trees isn’t always the answer to climate change, a local environmental group said Monday. South Korea needs to cut down old trees and plant new ones to help maintain local forests’ carbon-absorbing capacity, the Seoul-based Climate Change Center said. It cited a report written by the Gyeonggi Research Institute that said old forests can’t properly absorb carbon. “South Korea successfully turned barren mountains into forests by planting trees after the Kor

Expectations are high on the foldable smartphone market’s growth as multiple new models are scheduled to be rolled out this year from some of tech‘s biggest names -- including Apple. According to industry sources on Monday, the world’s three biggest smartphone vendors – Samsung Electronics, Apple and Huawei – are preparing to debut new foldable gadgets that feature advancements from initial foldable devices. Huawei will unveil its third foldable smartphone, the

South Korea’s newest Humira biosimilar is high-concentrate and citrate-free, just like the updated original

Hanwha Q Cells to join global action to move supply out of Chinese region after reports of forced labor

LG Chem has raised 820 billion won ($744.1 million) through sales of environment, social and governance bonds to make aggressive investments into new growth engines -- carbon neutrality, battery materials, new drugs and sustainable growth, the company said Monday. According to South Korea’s leading chemical company, it issued bonds totaling 1.2 trillion won -- 820 billion won in ESG bonds and 380 billion won in general corporate bonds -- breaking records previously held by Hyundai Stee

LG Chem Ltd., South Korea's largest chemical firm, said Monday it will issue corporate bonds worth 1.2 trillion won ($1.1 billion) to fund its new growth drivers, including renewable energy and battery businesses. LG Chem said it will issue 820 billion worth ESG (environmental, social and governance) bond and corporate bond worth 380 billion won, the largest amount to be raised by a local company. The parent of LG Energy Solution Ltd., which supplies electric vehicle batteries to Tesla and a n

Leggings sales fueled by pandemic deliver great year for ‘media commerce’ start-up

Hankook Tire & Technology Co., the world's seventh-largest tiremaker by sales, said Monday it plans to expand its US plant to meet demand from local carmakers. Hankook Tire plans to initially inject 100 billion won ($91 million) this year to double the production at its plant in Tennessee by the first half of 2024, a company spokesman said over the phone. The Tennessee plant will have an annual output capacity of 11 million tires, up from the current 5.5 million units, if the expansion is

Samsung Heavy Industries said Monday that it has signed a 781 billion won ($707 million) deal to build five liquefied natural gas (LNG)-fired container carriers. Under the deal with an Asian company, the 15,000-foot equivalent unit (TEU) container carriers will be delivered by July 2023, Samsung Heavy Industries said in an emailed statement. The shipbuilder did not reveal the name of the buyer. "This year is expected to see a rise in new orders for eco-friendly container carriers thanks

　South Korea returned to first place in the latest Bloomberg Innovation Index, while the US dropped out of a top 10 that features a cluster of European countries. 　Korea regained the crown from Germany, which dropped to fourth place. The Asian nation has now topped the index for seven of the nine years that it’s been published. Singapore and Switzerland each moved up one spot to rank second and third. 　The Bloomberg index analyzes dozens of criteria using seven equally weighted metri

South Korea's internet-of-things (IoT) device subscriptions hit over 10 million last year on the back of growing use of connected cars and remote control services. As of the end of last year, the number of mobile connections to such devices stood at 10.05 million, up around 2 million from the previous year, according to data from the Ministry of Science and ICT. IoT devices range from connected vehicles to home appliances that exchange data with other devices over the internet, and they can pr

Samsung Engineering Co. said Monday it has clinched a $120 million order to build facilities meant to boost propylene production in Thailand. Under a deal with PTT Global Chemical Public Co., Samsung Engineering will be responsible for the engineering, procurement and construction for an olefins 2 modification for propane feedstock project (OMP). The project calls for the construction of new facilities to change the main composition of existing feedstock from ethane to propane to increase prop