Korea’s public investment in future industrial materials and nanotech will jump 136 percent on-year in 2020, as the country moves to enhance its global competitiveness in cutting edge sectors, the government said.　The sum of 233.6 billion won ($201.2 million), approved by policymakers and experts, follows the passage of this year’s budget by the National Assembly. The focus will be on acquiring original technologies, expanding research and development infrastructure and the creation

Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics said Wednesday they will showcase their new editions of refrigerators equipped with enhanced artificial intelligence capabilities at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show, slated to kick off next Tuesday in Las Vegas, US.It is not the first time that they are displaying their smart fridges at the show. But this year, backed by improvements in AI technologies, some upgrades and more convenient features will be highlighted.The most notable change that they h

KakaoTalk, Korea’s most widely used messaging app, had a server slowdown around midnight on New Year’s Eve, with some of its users unable to send out New Year’s greetings, according to the app’s operator on Wednesday.  The system error in the KakaoTalk server lasted for some two hours from around midnight. Upon identifying the problem, the company immediately took recovery action, it said. The server was fully restored at 2:15 a.m.During the year-end period, the mess

Samsung Electronics is expected to unveil another artificial intelligence platform, named “Neon,” at the Consumer Electronics Show next month, according to reports on Monday. It was developed by Samsung Technology and Advanced Research Lab, based in the United States, under the leadership of the unit’s President Pranav Mistry, the youngest executive at Samsung. Neon is likely to be introduced as a new AI platform of Samsung. A recent tweet on the unit’s official Twitter a

South Korea's science ministry said Sunday that it will inject 76.1 billion won ($65.6 million) into its artificial intelligence hub program in 2020 as part of an ongoing effort to bolster the country's competitiveness in the sector.The reading marks a more than two-fold increase from 31 billion won allocated for this year and more than an eight-fold surge compared with 9.2 billion won spent in 2018 when Seoul launched the endeavor.  The ministry's AI hub is an open portal that can be used

South Korea's science ministry said Sunday it will allocate 26.9 billion won ($23.2 million) in 2020 to further expand the country's innovative drone capabilities.Of the total, 13 billion won will be used to secure original technologies, with 6.7 billion won to go drones that make use of 5G and artificial intelligence technologies, the Ministry of Science and ICT said. It said funds will also be set aside for public procurement. The amount to be spent in the new year is up 94 percent from 13.9 b

While the market was anticipating another face-off between Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show 2020, it now seems highly unlikely.According to industry sources, the Consumer Technology Association, which organizes the world’s largest annual tech event in Las Vegas, has specific terms in the exhibit space contract that prevent companies from giving presentations on products of rival firms, as well as from displaying offensive and inappropriate co

Despite seeing a drop in revenue this year, South Korean companies increased their investment for research and development by nearly 4 trillion won combined, data by CEO Score showed this week.Internet and IT companies were among the most active in research investments, as were pharmaceutical firms.(khnews@heraldcorp.com)

South Korea’s large businesses increased investment in research and development by around 11 percent throughout the year despite declines in sales, according to data from a local market tracker released Wednesday. The aggregate investments of 211 major companies stood at 39.2 trillion won ($33.7 billion) as of the third quarter, up 11.3 percent from the 35.2 percent recorded during the same period last year, showed a report from corporate researcher CEO Score. The 211 firms are among the c

LG Electronics said Wednesday it will debut its connected car platform -- built in collaboration with multiple global tech companies -- for the first time at the Consumer Electronics Show 2020 that kicks off in Las Vegas on Jan.7. The South Korean tech giant is going to demonstrate the latest version of Linux-based car infotainment platform webOS Auto that it has been working on with Qualcomm, Microsoft, Qt and Luxoft. The company will exhibit a connected car model co-designed by automotive seat

South Korea’s mobile carriers are busy preparing to counter an expected surge in data traffic during the year-end season, the companies said Wednesday.  Now is usually the time when mobile carriers experience a dramatic increase in data usage, including voice calls, particularly in locations where many people gather to celebrate.Whenever large numbers of people occupy the same space at the same time, data traffic tends to increase accordingly, said officials from the mobile carriers.T

The global TV market that has seen lackluster sales this year due to the US-China trade dispute and overall market downturn is expected to pick up next year, according to industry watchers.TV sales usually peak in even-number years when major sports events are held. Tokyo Summer Olympics 2020 is scheduled for July-August.According to global market research firm IHS Market, the delivery and sales of TVs worldwide in 2020 are expected to grow by 4 percent and 2 percent on-year, respectively.South

LG Chem is mulling a slew of measures to bolster its electric vehicle battery business, including a plan to spin off the battery unit next year, according to a news report Tuesday. The report said an internal task force at LG Chem is currently operating with a schedule to spin off the battery business division as a subsidiary of the LG affiliate by July. In response, LG Chem said, “The company is considering various measures in order to enhance competitiveness and value of the battery busi

Samsung Display, the sole supplier of foldable displays for Samsung Electronics, has acquired majority stake in ultrathin glass substrate firm Dowoo Insys as part of its plan to secure adequate supplies, according to industry sources Tuesday. The subsidiary of Samsung Group purchased 600,000 shares of Dowoo Insys for 13.5 billion won ($11.6 million) last week through a collaborative fund with Samsung Venture Investment Corp., making it the largest shareholder with a total of 27.7 percent stake.

Addressing the need to protect endangered animals, SK Telecom on Monday released its latest campaign to promote the concept of a zoo without animals using its advanced media technologies. Adopting “mixed reality” -- a combination of virtual reality and augmented reality -- the video campaign depicts a father of a family bringing a polar bear to life using 5G for his son. The images use realistic rendering to mimic the lifelike fluff of the animal and environmental rendering that refl