KakaoTalk meltdown exposes peril of ubiquitous tech

Kakao says 'limited financial impact' expected from weekend outage

South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics announced Monday it has opened six shared working spaces to nurture a hybrid work environment and flexible work culture. Two of the six spaces are located outside Samsung offices, in Seoul and Daegu, and the other four in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province; Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province; Gwangju; and Seoul are within Samsung office buildings. These co-working spaces, dubbed "d'light," feature open seats, partitioned desks, adjustable standing desks,

Experts criticize tech giant for outsourcing data servers to reduce costs

The longest-ever server outage for KakaoTalk, the nation's most popular messenger app, and its affiliated services, is prompting people here to seek alternatives, according to data on Sunday. As of 3 p.m. Sunday, the top downloads on Apple's app store were alternatives for Kakao's popular apps. Naver's messaging app Line topped the list, rising six steps since Saturday, while taxi reservation app UT came in second, with GPS location service Naver Map coming in third. Other mobility apps, such a

A fire Saturday at a Kakao data center in Pangyo, south of Seoul, has led to a server outage affecting the KakaoTalk messenger app, along with other apps such as Kakao T, Kakao Map, Kakao Metro, Kakao Webtoon, Kakao Bank, Kakao-owned portal Daum and music streaming service Melon. The internet connection for the apps has been unavailable since 3:30 p.m. "There has been a fire at SK C&C data center since 3:30 p.m. Work has begun to put down the fire, but we are uncertain when the fir

Onmind, a subsidiary of South Korean game-maker Neptune, said Friday its artificial intelligence virtual human model Sua has signed a three-year modeling deal to work with Thai advertising firm DDD. DDD advertises for large Korean conglomerates, Thai Airways and global luxury brands such as Chanel and Dior. It currently has advertisement billboards at major landmarks in Bangkok including Suvarnabhumi Airport, and malls Siam Paragon and MBK Center. Under the contract, Sua will appear on billboard

Samsung Wallet, a digital wallet and digital certificate platform known as Samsung Pay in South Korea, will become available in 13 more countries by the end of this year, tech giant Samsung Electronics announced Friday. The service will be expanded to Bahrain, Denmark, Finland, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Norway, Oman, Qatar, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates. With Samsung Wallet, Galaxy users can organize digital keys, payment cards, boarding passes, as well as ide

South Korean lithium-ion battery manufacturer LG Energy Solution is set to complete a $916 million capital commitment for a factory in Ohio under Ultium Cells, LG’s joint venture with General Motors, as the factory prepares for mass production in the near future, a filing showed Thursday. LG Energy Solution's US subsidiary will have its committed capital to Ultium Cells fully earmarked by Friday, as LG's payments first began in January 2020, according to the filing with the Finan

South Korean wireless telecommunications operator SK Telecom, which operates its own metaverse platform called ifland, said Wednesday it signed a deal with United Arab Emirates’ top telecommunications carrier e& Group to provide its metaverse service to Middle Eastern countries. Under the memorandum of understanding, South Korea’s leading telecommunications carrier will be developing an optimal metaverse service tailored to Middle Eastern users’ tastes, based on the data e&

South Korean lithium-ion battery maker SK On has signed a conditional framework agreement to buy a 10 percent stake in Australian lithium developer Lake Resources in its new rights offering, a filing showed Wednesday. SK On will buy the stake in June 2023 on the condition that the high-purity lithium extraction from brine water in Lake Resources' flagship projects, including Kachi Project in Argentina, yields a "positive result," according to the filing with the Financial Supervisory S

Government denies US machine maker to immediately stop exporting to SK hynix

South Korean lithium-ion battery maker LG Energy Solution and Japanese automaker Honda have selected Fayette County, Ohio as the location to commit to a combined $4.4 billion to build an electric vehicle battery plant beginning 2023, the companies said Wednesday. The construction was initially estimated to cost $3.5 billion. Once the construction is complete by the end of 2024, the new plant will start to mass produce pouch-type lithium-ion batteries beginning 2025 with the annual production cap

South Korean semiconductor wafer maker SK Siltron and Britain-based chip material firm IQE has inked a strategic collaboration agreement to develop next-generation compound semiconductor products targeting the Asian market, SK Siltron said Tuesday. Under the agreement signed Thursday, the two companies will work to develop epitaxial wafers based on gallium nitride using IQE's technology, with wafer substrates made of silicon and silicon carbide supplied by SK Siltron. Gallium nitride can he

South Korean business conglomerate Lotte Group has signed a deal to acquire a controlling stake in Iljin Materials, a copper foil supplier to electric vehicle battery makers for 2.7 trillion won ($1.9 billion), in Lotte's move to enhance the EV component portfolio, filings showed Tuesday. Lotte Battery Materials USA, a subsidiary of Lotte's petrochemical arm Lotte Chemical, will buy a 53.3 percent stake, or 24.6 million ordinary shares, in the world's fourth-largest copper foil ma