By Business Desk New opportunities can arise from out of crises. Chiefs of Korea's top conglomerates are banking on words of wisdom for the year ahead as businesses face an age of relentless changes stemming from geopolitical conflicts, inflationary pressures and a recessionary environment. To overcome factors dragging on business activities, uncovering their own path to thrive for growth has become more important than ever as traditional approaches and paradigms have been challenged. In

Industry Jan. 2, 2023

Rep. Yang Hyang-ja, a former executive at Samsung Electronics’ semiconductor business division, called securing a competitive edge in chips a “matter of life and death” amid the ever-evolving geopolitical landscape and an escalating US-China rivalry. “The winner of the global chip battle will control the economic security order, while the loser will end up becoming a technological colony,” Yang, who heads the ruling People Power Party’s special panel on chips,

Economy Jan. 2, 2023

President Yoon Suk-yeol on Friday ordered ministries to actively consider measures further expanding tax incentives for the semiconductor sector and other national strategic industries. Yoon requested the Ministry of Economy and Finance to come up with ways to further expand tax benefits for national strategic technologies such as semiconductors as they are "our security assets and core technologies," a president office’s deputy spokesperson said. His remark came after the ruling

Economy Dec. 30, 2022

Samsung Electronics will provide a maximum of 50 percent of their annual salaries as bonuses to the employees of its chip business unit at the end of January, industry sources said Thursday. The world's biggest memory chipmaker has reportedly informed its executives and employees about the detailed plan for annual incentives, dubbed the overall performance incentive (OPI), a day earlier. Samsung rewards its executives and employees every January with up to 50 percent of their salaries withi

Industry Dec. 29, 2022

South Korean telecom giant KT Corp. said Wednesday it has appointed its incumbent CEO, Ku Hyeon-mo, as the final candidate to take the helm at the company. The company’s CEO candidate review committee on the same day assessed whether Ku was eligible for a second three-year term. After conducting preferential reviews for seven times, the committee informed the company’s board of directors that Ku is qualified. The KT CEO will be elected at the regular general meeting of shareholders

Industry Dec. 28, 2022

Samsung Electronics on Wednesday unveiled its Galaxy Book2 Pro 360, a 2-in-1 laptop with a 360-degree hinge that flips from PC to tablet in a snap, while offering a touch screen and S Pen. The product is equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 processor. It rolls out on Jan. 16.

Technology Dec. 28, 2022

South Korea’s largest conglomerate Samsung Group recently held a rare gathering of CEOs of all affiliates in an apparent move to ramp up preparedness for a global economic downturn next year coupled with falling chip prices, unfavorable currency rates and further rate hikes, according to industry sources on Wednesday. The high-level meeting was convened at the Samsung Electronics Leadership Center in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province on Monday, according to industry sources who wished to remain

Technology Dec. 28, 2022

Global shipments of foldable smartphones shot up more than 60 percent in the third quarter this year, despite the stagnant smartphone market, owing to high sales of Samsung Electronics’ foldable devices, according to industry tracker Counterpoint Research on Tuesday. From July to September, foldable smartphone shipments worldwide surged about 63 percent on-year to 6.08 million units. Although the global smartphone market posted stagnant sales, foldable items accounted for 2 percent of th

Technology Dec. 27, 2022

The South Korean government will consider increasing public utility fees for the following year to offset widening deficits in the electricity, gas and subway sectors. While the government is set to announce its plan on raising utility prices on electricity and gas within this week, Seoul subway fares are also expected to go up after a yearslong freeze. According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Ministry of Economy and Finance on Monday, the two government bodies are at the

Industry Dec. 26, 2022

Faced with faltering subscriber counts and deteriorating profitability, South Korea's over-the-top (OTT) media, or video streaming services, are making seismic changes as they seek strategies to achieve sustainable business growth. Despite the growing popularity of streaming services worldwide, local firms’ profits have worsened due to their heavy investment in content. The three major domestic streaming services -- Tving, Watcha and Wavve -- have logged an accumulated deficit of 157

Industry Dec. 19, 2022

Huawei Technologies Korea will continuously stay committed to working with its partners to develop green and low-carbon technologies to attain carbon neutral goals, its top executive said Thursday. “We promise to cooperate with South Korean partners to build a better green digital life in the following year,” Sun Luyuan, the chief executive officer of the Chinese tech giant's Korean unit said in a year-end press conference at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Seoul. Huawei's green

Technology Dec. 15, 2022

South Korean steel giant Posco said Tuesday it was named the world’s most competitive steelmaker for the 13th consecutive year. In an annual global industry assessment of 35 steelmakers from around the world, steel information service provider World Steel Dynamics (WSD) gave Posco an average score of 8.5 points out of 10, according to the Korean company. Established in 1999, the WSD is the only organization to announce the competitiveness index among the world's steelmakers. Based o

Industry Dec. 13, 2022

LG Uplus Chief Executive Officer Hwang Hyun-sik, dressed as Santa Claus, delivers a gift to a boy at a Christmas party at an orphanage in Yongsan, central Seoul, Monday afternoon. As part of the telecom carrier's social contribution program that started in 2017, company executives visit welfare facilities every year to donate goods and spend time with children there.

Industry Dec. 13, 2022

Samsung Electronics, which completed its annual executive reshuffle Friday, will embark on a global strategy meeting starting this week to establish business strategies for next year amid persistent uncertainties over the macroeconomic environment. Samsung’s global strategy meeting, which is held biannually in June and December, is a venue where executives at local and global units gather to review business conditions of each sector and discuss new growth engine plans for the upcoming ye

Technology Dec. 12, 2022

LG Group said Sunday it has donated 12 billion won ($9.2 million) to the Community Chest of Korea as part of its year-end charitable giving. LG Corp. President Ha Beom-jong (center left) and Cho Heung-sik (center right), chairman of the Community Chest of Korea, pose for a photo during the ceremony held at the charity’s Seoul office Friday.

Industry Dec. 11, 2022