Kakao Mobility, the operator of South Korea’s leading taxi-hailing service Kakao T, seems to be seeking new opportunities in Europe as it faces growing scrutiny here. According to industry sources on Monday, the company is likely to submit its final bid to acquire a stake of around 80 percent in German mobility service provider FreeNow as early as this week. The exact deal size was not revealed, but sources predict it to amount to some hundreds of millions of dollars. If the company wins

Sapeon, a fabless startup backed by South Korean telecom-to-chip conglomerate SK Group, has come up with a more powerful and efficient artificial intelligence chip to compete head-on with US chip giant Nvidia, which enjoys a near monopoly in the soaring market for data center graphics processors. “We‘re focused on being very good at (developing) AI inference (neural processing units) and we’ll take a part of the expanding (AI chip market),” Sapeon Chief Technology Officer

SK Telecom CEO Ryu Young-sang, who also leads SK Group's ICT committee, said Thursday he is confident about seizing new business opportunities as the rise of generative artificial intelligence reshapes industries. “Even before the black swan event of the emergence of (Chat)GPT last year, SK Group has been accumulating its capabilities in AI and new technologies as we (feel sure) about the growth of (such) innovation,” Ryu said in his opening speech at this year’s SK Tech S

Google Cloud has enabled Korean customers to use the tech giant’s generative artificial intelligence services to store their data domestically instead of overseas to alleviate customers’ worries over data leakage, while ramping up its efforts to expand its presence in the enterprise generative AI market here. On Tuesday, Google’s cloud affiliate announced its new data residency guarantees for Korean clients through Vertex AI by including Korea as one of its first 10 global data

Kakao CEO Hong Eun-taek apologized Thursday over a recent controversy surrounding alleged stock manipulation in connection with the tech giant’s acquisition of K-pop agency SM Entertainment. “We apologize for causing concern to Kakao shareholders with the negative news that occurred during the process of taking over SM Entertainment's management rights," the CEO said at the company’s third-quarter earnings conference. “We are faithfully (talking) to the investig

SEJONG -- South Korean internet giant Naver opened its second data center in the city of Sejong on Monday, speeding up its big push to secure supremacy in the burgeoning artificial intelligence and cloud markets. Naver invited a group of reporters to its new data center, which it calls Gak Sejong, for the opening ceremony. The first of its kind, Gak Chuncheon, was set up in Gangwon Province in 2013. Located on a 294,000-square-meter site, Gak Sejong is one of the five biggest data centers in A

LX International, the trading arm of South Korea's LX Group, said Tuesday it will buy a major stake in a nickel mine in Indonesia as it pushes to expand its resources business. The company's board of directors has approved an agenda to invest 133 billion won ($101.6 million) to acquire a 60 percent stake in the Adhi Kartiko Pratama, or AKP, mine and secure its management rights. The acquisition will be LX's first nickel mine investment in the Southeast Asian country. Located near

Samsung Electronics co-CEO Kyung Kye-hyun, who oversees the tech giant's chips business, called on experts to conduct more in-depth research on the safety, trustworthiness and sustainability of artificial intelligence in line with rapid advancements in technology. “The spotlight has recently shifted toward generative AI technology, as it provides us the potential to unlock new solutions and address long-standing challenges. But the need for in-depth research on the safety, trustworthi

SEJONG -- With the increasing demand for next-generation semiconductors globally, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, an electronic parts manufacturing affiliate of Samsung Electronics, has been seeking to take the lead in the chip package substrate market. On Thursday, Samsung invited a group of reporters to its manufacturing site in Sejong, where a new plant for chip package substrates, the fifth of its kind there, is being built to be completed by May next year. "For next-generation chip packages

Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon on Friday expressed her satisfaction with the company’s business results regarding its upgraded, hyperscale generative artificial intelligence model, HyperClova X, unveiled in August. “Based on what we’ve observed and experienced so far, we seem to be having better results than we expected," Choi said when asked about the level of the IT giant’s hyperscale AI-based business when compared to her prior expectations, during the company’s ea

The global semiconductor industry is struggling to make ends meet amid sluggish demand and price decreases, but German technology firm Merck sees Korea, the home of the world's two largest memory chip producers Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, still an attractive destination for business. “The leading players in the industry that are investing the most amount in new capacity, our Korean customers are at the top of that list. Making sure that we are continuing to engage with the leadi

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won called on the board of directors to review the decision-making process of South Korea's second-largest business conglomerate’s overall management activities and actively provide feedback to help CEOs make optimal and balanced decisions, the group said Wednesday. “By making efforts to promote communication with executives and employees, the board of directors will be able to resolve (the group) affiliates’ problems and inconveniences, while pr

Samsung Electronics said Tuesday it reduced its deficit in the memory chip business in the July-September period while posting better-than-expected profits in mobile and display businesses. Samsung's device solutions division in charge of the company’s semiconductor business marked losses of 3.75 trillion won ($2.78 billion) for the division's third consecutive quarter of losses. So far this year, its chip losses have amounted to 12.7 trillion won, the company said in its third-q

Apple’s latest flagship smartphone series -- the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max -- debuted in Korea earlier this month with higher price tags than elsewhere. The new phones are priced from 1.25 million won to 1.90 million ($926.20-$1,407.80) here. Compared to their prices sold in the US, Japan and China, the Korean prices are almost 10 to 20 percent higher. But Apple’s pricing policy seems to have little impact on Koreans’ love for iPhones. Accor

LG Electronics said Monday it held the Global IT Challenge, a five-day IT skills competition for youth with disabilities, in Abu Dhabi, UAE, last week. Since its launch in 2011, more than 5,000 students from 40 countries have participated in the competition, which aims to enhance their accessibility to IT services and help them advance into society. (LG Electronics)