Samsung Electronics confirmed Thursday it has teamed up with China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba to further tap into the soaring Chinese mobile payments market. Under the strategic partnership that is expected to be announced Friday, Samsung Pay, the Korean tech giant’s mobile payments system, will include Alibaba’s Alipay within its platform as one of its payment methods. After fingerprint verification, Samsung Pay users are required to choose a payment method among credit cards and membership poi

Korea's deficit in the intellectual properties account shrank to a four-year low in 2015 as exports grew at a faster clip than imports, central bank data showed Thursday.The deficit in the intellectual properties account came to $4 billion last year, down from a $4.53 billion deficit in the previous month, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). Bank of Korea (Yonhap)The 2015 tally marks the lowest level since a $3.38 billion deficit posted in 2011. It also marked a third con

Farmers harvest garlic in an Ethiopian town Tuesday. LG Electronics has designated some towns in the African country as its “LG Hope Village” since 2012 to teach farming techniques to local people and support their livelihoods. (LG Electronics)

Korean chipmakers saw their sales of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips drop in the first quarter of the year due mainly to falling prices and increased competition.According to the data compiled by industry tracker DRAMeXchange, Samsung Electronics, Korea's top chipmaker, logged sales of $3.97 billion in the January-March period, down 16.6 percent from $4.76 billion the previous quarter.SK hynix posted sales of $2.32 billion in the first quarter, also down 19.2 percent from $2.86 billion

A former Samsung Electronics worker who contracted leukemia after working at the company’s chip plant, urged Banolim, an advocacy group that has led related compensations talks, to stop its politically-intended fight and take more care of cancer-stricken victims and their families. “About 150 people have applied to get compensations and some 110 of them have been compensated. We think the compensation process is nearing its end,” Kim Eun-kyung said Wednesday in her message posted on a Samsung we

KT on Wednesday opened its GiGA IoT Smart Center, a control tower that monitors the telecom carrier’s Internet of Things services, at a regional office in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province. (KT)

Tech giant Samsung Electronics said Wednesday that its mobile payment system Samsung Pay has surpassed the 1 trillion-won ($847 million) mark in transaction volume in South Korea. First launched in the nation in August last year, the mobile payment system which is available on Samsung’s high-end smartphones, including the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, has seen constant growth in its number of subscribers due to robust sales of the smartphones. Models pose with Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy S7 smartphones

SK Holdings C&C, the information technology solutions unit of SK Group, said Wednesday it has revamped its organization to renew commitment to its new growth engine businesses such as artificial intelligence and cloud services. The company said it has set up two new business divisions “Cloud Z” and “Aibril” that were named after its new brands for cloud and AI businesses, respectively.  (Yonhap)The company also launched a new “Digital Marketing Division” that supports its clients in better using

Samsung Electronics’ 55-inch mirror displays are installed Wednesday at a hair shop in Seoul. The high-tech display offers customized consultations for hair styling as well as improved viewing angles. Samsung plans to launch related display products from the third quarter this year. (Samsung Electronics)

Serial entrepreneur eyes global talents for business expansion

Cymechs Inc., a producer of semiconductor robots, on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding with Singapore’s Creative Robots to jointly develop artificial intelligence robots.Cymech CEO Bae Do-in said the two companies’ collaborative project, the revamped educational robot “Alpha,” will have more than 200 facial expressions, unlike its prototype that only transmitted information through a rectangular black-and-white display panel.  Cymech CEO Bae Do-in (Cymech Website)Bae stressed the new A

Samsung Electronics has newly acquired stakes in five start-ups in the first quarter of this year as part of its ongoing efforts to elevate its software prowess.According to its quarterly report filed Monday, the five firms include SensiFree (15.09 percent), Unispectral (7.76 percent), Zyomed (2.17 percent), Keyssa (2.06 percent) and Bot Home Automation (0.99 percent).Samsung’s digital city complex in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province (Samsung Electronics)Even though the total spending, worth about 10 bi

Tech giants Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are currently showcasing their technical prowess at the World IT Show, an IT trade fair that kicked off in Seoul on Tuesday.Consumers are able to see top-of-the-line products by the two companies during the event, the companies said.Models pose with Samsung Electronics’ virtual reality headset at the firm’s exhibition venue at the World IT Show trade fair that kicked off in Seoul on Tuesday. (Samsung Electronics)The two tech giants are in fierce

U.S.-based chipmaker Qualcomm said Tuesday that it has promoted Lee Te-won, the head of Qualcomm Korea’s R&D center as the president of its Korean office.The newly appointed president founded audio solutions start-up SoftMax in 2002, which was acquired by the chip company in 2007. Since the takeover, Lee has been working for the chipmaker’s research and development center.Lee Te-won, new president of the Korean office of U.S. chipmaker QualcommBefore joining Qualcomm, Lee served as a neural comp

Shares in Samsung C&T have been on a downward curve since September when a merger of two major Samsung Group affiliates generated the construction-to-fashion holding company for Samsung Group, analysts said Tuesday.They attributed the fall largely to the company's drop in overseas orders and sluggish domestic demand for the construction, fashion and resort sectors.Samsung C&T, newly created on Sept. 1 last year through a merger between a construction and fashion unit of the same name and Cheil I