[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest chipmaker, on July 7 unveiled the industry’s first 256GB Universal Flash Storage, or UFS Card, with a reading speed five times that of a conventional MicroSD Card. The card has the highest capacity in the market for an external memory card and boasts a reading speed of 530 MBps, equivalent to that of a 2.5-inch solid-state drive, or SSD, the company said. The latest card can read a full HD video (5GB) in 10 seconds. It will also be useful f

[THE INVESTOR] LG Electronics said July 7 that it would join forces with German carmaker Volkswagen to develop a platform for connected cars. The South tech firm recently signed a partnership deal with VW to develop a smart car platform allowing drivers to directly connect their cars over cloud systems with other connected devices at home. Smart car solution on a screen. LG Electronics“LG’s expertise in smart technology and VW’s leading automotive tech will pave new ways for drivers to communica

[THE INVESTOR] KT, South Korea’s leading telecommunications company, will pour 2 billion won (US$1.7 million) to foster 20 start-ups this year, the company said on July 7. In line with the investment plan, the company held the so-called “speed dating” pitching event, at its headquarters in Seoul on the same day. At the event, start-ups suggest their ideas to attract investment and KT executives choose candidates to receive marketing and financial support on the spot. Among the start-ups selected

[THE INVESTOR] Expectations are high on Samsung Electronics’ third-quarter profits after the company released its second-quarter earnings guidance that beat analyst estimates on July 7. According to its tentative earnings report, the Korean tech giant posted more than 8 trillion won (US$7.6 billion) in operating profits and 50 trillion won in sales in the April-June period. Analysts say the company will continue the current momentum in coming months. Samsung Electronics’ headquarters in Suwon, G

[THE INVESTOR] With DRAM prices hitting rock bottom, the global DRAM market has been in the doldrums over the past couple years. According to a market report on July 7, however, the DRAM market will likely pick up steam in the July-September period thanks to increasing demand in the mobile and server markets.“The downward trend in DRAM prices over the past two years has reversed in June,” said DRAMeXchange in its recent report, forecasting the price increase rate would be in the range of between

[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Electronics, which forecast its best quarterly profit in more than two years, is estimated to have sold about 26 million units of its flagship smartphone Galaxy S7 that was launched in March. In its second-quarter earnings guidance announced on July 7, the Korean tech giant said it posted an operating profit of 8.1 trillion won (US$7 billion) while its sales would come in at 50 trillion won. Even though the company didn’t break down earnings of individual business division

[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Electronics estimated in its earnings guidance for the April-June period on July 7 that it would post approximately 8.1 trillion won (US$7 billion) in operating profit in the second quarter while its revenue would come in at 50 trillion won.The estimated operating income and revenue for the second quarter increased from 6.9 trillion won and 48.5 trillion won, respectively, in the same period last year. Samsung Electronics president and mobile chief Koh Dong-jin poses at th

[THE INVESTOR] South Korean display-makers such as Samsung Display and LG Display will maintain their lead in the organic light-emitting diode sector for the next decade, according to a market research firm.“Samsung Display and LG Display will be leading the OLED market for up to 10 years,” said Ricky Park, director of IHS at the OLED Frontier Forum held in Seoul on July 5. “Unlike liquid-crystal displays, OLED requires years of investment and high production expertise, so Chinese displays compa

[THE INVESTOR] SK Telecom has recently decided to offer its immensely popular navigation app T-Map for free to all mobile users. T-Map is the nation’s No. 1 mobile navigation service with more than 8 million users. But the company offered the service for free only to SK Telecom subscribers. Some 230 million mobile users subscribing network services of KT, LG Uplus and other budget plans are expected to benefit from the free service from July 19. The decision comes as Kakao is expanding its onlin

[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Display has long gauged the marketability of large-size organic light-emitting diode displays due to their low production yields and high prices. The display-making unit of Samsung Electronics, however, is said to be speeding up preparations to jump into the sector in earnest, testing a series of technologies to improve production capability. Kateeva’s OLED inkjet printer / The Investor“Kateeva will supply the prototypes of its inkjet printers to its global customers in Ko

[THE INVESTOR] Chinese tech giant TCL’s chairman Li Dongsheng visited Samsung Group’s headquarters in Seocho-dong, southern Seoul, on July 6, possibly to seek partnership on liquid-crystal display business. Li was also accompanied with top executives of China Start Optoelectronics Technology, TCL’s display-making unit and China’s second-largest display maker. TCL chairman Li DongshengSamsung Electronics’ top executives, including CEO and display business chief Kwon Oh-hyun and the company’s TV b

[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Display, an affiliate of Samsung Electronics, is expected to separate its liquid-crystal display and organic light-emitting diode business divisions in a planned reshuffle next week, the Electronic Times reported on July 5. This is the first reshuffle since Samsung Electronics vice chairman and CEO Kwon Oh-hyun took the helm of the display business division in April, hinting at the company’s strategic shift toward more lucrative OLED. Samsung’s flexible OLED displayThe com

South Korea’s leading mobile game company Netmarble Games has entered the race to acquire Israel-based social casino game developer Playtika in a deal valued at up to $4 billion, multiple sources in the local investment banking industry said Tuesday.　If successful, the deal would mark the largest acquisition by a Korean game company to date and significantly boost Netmarble’s market value ahead of its initial public offering scheduled for next year.According to local news reports, Netmarble has

[THE INVESTOR] LG Display said on July 6 it has installed new production equipment for the sixth-generation plastic organic light-emitting diode or POLED panels at its plant in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province. The equipment installation comes after the display-making unit of LG Group invested a combined 1.5 trillion won (US$1.3 billion) into the facilities over the past year. Plastic OLED production equipment is transferred to LG Display’s plant in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province, on July 6. / L

[THE INVESTOR] Netmarble Games, South Korea’s leading online game developer and publisher, has joined the race to buy Israel-based social casino game firm Playtika in a deal could worth over 4 trillion won (US$3.4 billion). It will be the largest acquisition deal made by a South Korean game company since No. 1 player Nexon and NCSoft jointly attempted to takeover Electronic Arts for 4 trillion won in 2012. According to a source on July 6, Netmarble Games submitted a letter of intent for the tran