Korean IT CEOs to flock to CES 2020

Heads of Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are to attend the Consumer Electronics Show 2020 in Las Vegas from Jan. 7-10.

Samsung’s Consumer Electronics division CEO Kim Hyun-suk will deliver the keynote speech on Jan. 6, the company said Sunday. LG’s president and chief technology officer Park Il-pyung had been the keynote speaker at the CES 2019. 

Top officials from Samsung to attend the CES 2020 are Device Solution division’s vice chairman and CEO Kim Ki-nam, IT & Mobile Communications division’s president and CEO Koh Dong-jin and Visual Display division’s president and CEO Han Jong-hee.

From affiliates, Samsung Display’s chairman and CEO Lee Dong-hoon, and Samsung Electro-Mechanics’ president and CEO Lee Yun-tae are said to go.

This CES 2020 will be the debut stage for many LG officials who have been recently promoted.

New CEO Kwon Bong-seok, who had been head of mobile communications and home entertainment at LG for five years, will represent the firm at the CES 2020. Kwon will come flanked by the LG’s executive vice president of home entertainment, Park Hyoung-sei, and the new executive vice president for mobile communications, Lee Yeon-mo.

LG Display’s new president, Jung Ho-young, and LG Innotek CEO Jeong Cheol-dong will be at the exhibition.

A yearly event where the latest technology is unveiled, some 4,500 companies from 161 nations are expected to participate in this year’s CES.

Among other innovative projects involving automobiles and mobile devices, Samsung will bring five of its internal C-Lab startups and four external startups it helped foster. Some of the things these startups will showcase include a frontal camera solution that detects hand motions and can turn any surface into a type-enabled virtual keyboard, window-shaped devices that emit imitation sunlight where an exterior window is not possible, a smart highlighter pen that digitizes printed text and a companion robot for humans. 

LG, on the other hand, promised to introduce 10 upgraded sound systems at CES 2020 to take an aim at the global premium sound bar market that is growing at an annual rate of 10 percent. The tech firm said it has packed even its medium-grade lineups with high-end technologies from audio gurus Dolby ATMOS, DTS:X and Meridian Audio. Next to its three-dimensional surround speaker, baritone woofer speaker and a speaker that projects the sound upwards, LG will bring out a new sound bar that comes with Google’s artificial intelligence assistant and an enhanced audio return channel that catches the sound that reflects off the surrounding environment. 

By Lim Jeong-yeo (kaylalim@heraldcorp.com)