IT giant offers sneak peek into new metaverse platform Arcverse, world’s first artificial intelligence operating in Korean

South Korean tech giant’s new fab in US set to start operation in 2024

South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics is looking to add a second site for its foundry semiconductor chip manufacturing plant in Texas, according to reports Tuesday. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is scheduled to make an “economic announcement” concerning Samsung Electronics’ plan to build a new chip plant in Williamson County, near the city of Taylor, Texas, which will involve $17 billion of capital expenditure, Wall Street Journal reported. A Samsung Electronics spokesperson s

Shares of South Korean semiconductor firms rose sharply Monday over market prospects on recovery of memory chip price on intensifying global race to adopt metaverse technology. Memory chips are a critical component in the metaverse, in which users interact with each other in digital worlds, which could offset the bearish forecast for memory chip prices.　 Samsung Electronics -- the tech giant with interests in semiconductors, electronic devices and handsets -- surged 5.2 percent Monday. Another

South Korea broke ground Monday for an artificial intelligence complex in the southwestern city of Gwangju to foster the related industry, the science ministry said. The groundbreaking ceremony was held in Gwangju, 330 kilometers south of Seoul, for a major construction project to create an AI complex center, including data centers and facilities in automobiles and energy sectors. A total of 393.9 billion won ($332 million) will be spent from 2020 to 2024 for the project, according to the mini

Philips Foundation and Philips Korea have provided four special compact cars equipped with wheelchair lifts in collaboration with the Korea Association of Welfare Institutions for Persons with Disabilities, the multinational group said Friday. Philips Korea held a donation ceremony at Kyonam House of Hope, a welfare facility for the disabled located in Gangseo district, Seoul, on Nov. 12. Kim Dong-hee, country leader of Philips Korea and Jung Seok-wang, chairman of the Korea Association of W

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong poses with Noubar Afeyan, co-founder of Moderna, at the headquarters of Flagship Pioneering, a biopharmaceutical investment firm invested by Afeyan in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Tuesday.  Lee discussed cooperation measures for the COVID-19 vaccine with the Moderna co-founder, as Samsung Biologics is currently bottling Moderna’s vaccine at its plant in Songdo, Incheon, Samsung said.

Hanwha Solutions said Thursday that the company has invested $160 million in securing low-carbon photovoltaic materials amid a growing demand for renewable energy in the United States. The energy affiliate of South Korean conglomerate Hanwha Group said it agreed to purchase a 16.67 percent stake in REC Silicon for $160 million. The investment will make the Hanwha company a co-leading shareholder of the polysilicon manufacturer along with Aker Horizons, a Norway-headquartered investment fir

SK Bioscience’s contract manufacturing deal to produce AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine will expire by the end of this year, according to the company Thursday. The deal greatly helped South Korea secure shots in its early vaccination stage, but as the government has decided to phase out the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, there is no need for the firm to continue producing it, the firm said. As for international supplies, however, the firm remains in talks with AstraZeneca, the fir

Streaming giant Netflix announced on Thursday a subscription fee increase of up to 17 percent, its first hike since launching the service in South Korea in 2016. The streaming platform’s standard plan will cost 13,500 won ($11.45) a month, up 12.5 percent from the previous 12,000 won, and the premium plan will go up 17.24 percent to 17,000 won from 14,500 won. The basic plan will remain unchanged at 9,500 won. Local users will be notified of the price changes 30 days before their renewa

Apple released an update to its mobile operating system Thursday to fix dropped calls on iPhone devices, including the iPhone 12 and 13. The release of the iOS 15.1.1, an updated version of the iOS 15.1, fixes the call drop performance issue on the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 as well as the usual bug fixes, U.S. online website Apple Insider said. iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 users have recently experienced consistent dropped calls on their devices, preventing them from receiving incoming calls. Apple

DataStreams said Wednesday its CEO won a bronze tower order of industrial service merit from the government for the company’s technological prowess in big data solutions. Founded 20 years ago, DataStreams is a leader of the local big data solution market and is taking steps to get listed in Kosdaq. In addition to the order of merit won by CEO Lee Young-sang, the company’s big data platform named TeraONE won a tech award from the minister of trade, industry and energy. By Kim So-hy

LG Innotek said Wednesday one of its senior officials won a presidential commendation at the 2021 Korea Tech Show for developing innovative technology and products. Lee Kwang-tae, head of LG Innotek’s package substrate production division, received the award for contributing toward enhancing the competitiveness of Korea’s semiconductor substrate industry. Lee joined LG Electronics in 1999 and has worked on substrate development and production technology. Since 2008, he has led the

Naver, the No.1 portal operator and internet firm in South Korea, announced Wednesday it has nominated Choi Soo-yeon as new chief executive officer. Choi, born in 1981, would mark the youngest leader of the company so far. The appointment of Choi is interpreted as the tech firm’s intention to overhaul its corporate culture and accelerate business growth in the global market. A Seoul National University graduate with an engineering degree, Choi joined Naver as an entry-level employee

South Korea will spend 20 billion won ($16.9 million) next year to nurture local industries for materials, parts and equipment for chips, future cars, bio products and nanotechnologies, officials said Wednesday. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki, unveiling a road map to identify and strengthen the weakest link in the country’s industrial value chain, said if all goes as planned, the country will see a drastic decline in imports of essential parts and equipment in backbone industries. &ldqu