After nearly two years since he was first hospitalized, Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee’s health is said to be stable currently. Even though the company does not reply to media inquiries about the chairman’s health, industry watchers assume that he is in stable condition but shows no sign of improving.  Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee (Yonhap)“The chairman’s health is his private issue. We do not comment on it,” said a Samsung spokesperson, declining to be named. The Samsung pa

Samsung Electronics has recently set up a new task force to develop chips for self-driving cars, a local news daily reported Sunday. The decision came almost six months after the Korean tech giant launched a new separate team for automotive parts late last year under its chip business division. Citing unnamed sources, the daily said the task force consists of researchers from the chip division’s system LSI unit that produces non-memory chips for mobile application processors and image sensors fo

LG Electronics said Thursday its flagship smartphone G5 shipments have exceeded 1.6 million units globally since its launch a month ago. “We will see more than 3 million shipments in the second quarter,” the company said during a conference call when it reported a 65.5 percent surge in operating profit to 505.2 billion won ($440 million) in the first quarter from a year ago. Even though strong sales of home appliances, especially more lucrative premium models, elevated the company’s profits over

Samsung SDI said Thursday it posted 703 billion won ($ 614 million) in operating loss in the first quarter this year.Its total revenue, however, grew 7.6 percent on-year to 1.3 trillion won during the period, the battery-making arm of Samsung Group said in a regulatory filing.Its operating loss represents a 2,007-percent and 452-percent increase from a year and a quarter earlier, respectively.The firm said the larger operating loss was mainly attributable to 1.1 trillion won in one-off costs ref

Shares of LG Display fell 6.7 percent Friday on a news report that Samsung Display had signed a deal with Apple to supply organic light-emitting diode displays for the next iPhones. The Samsung displays are expected to replace the liquid crystal display panels used in the current iPhones that are produced by LG Display. LG currently produces almost 40 percent of the iPhone display panels. Even though the Samsung-Apple deal had largely been expected, it seems unavoidable that it would have a nega

Samsung Display is considering building a separate production line to produce organic light-emitting diode displays exclusively for Apple’s iPhone, industry sources said Friday. The facility will start operation within the second quarter of this year to have a production capacity of 120,000 panels per month.The plan comes after a news report that the display-making unit of Samsung Electronics recently signed a contract with Apple to supply an annual 100 million OLED panels from the second quarte

베스트셀러 ‘모방경제’ 저자 UCLA 로스쿨 칼 라우스티알라 교수 인터뷰 ‘실리콘밸리 기업들 혁신 위해 삼성과 연대할 것’ [코리아헤럴드=이지윤기자] 미국 연방대법원이 삼성과 애플의 특허 공방을 심리하기로 결정했다. 미 연방대법원이 디자인 특허를 심리하는 것은 122년만이다. 　지적재산권 전문가인 UCLA 로스쿨 칼 라우스티알라 교수는 최근 코리아헤럴드와의 인터뷰에서 “검은 사각형에 둥근 모서리가 자신들만의 디자인이라는 애플의 주장은 터무니 없다”며 “대법원이 합리적인 판단을 내린다면 하급심 판단을 뒤집을 것”이라고 말했다. 　지난 2011년 애플은 삼성을 상대로 디자인 권리 침해 소송을 냈다. 주요 쟁점은 삼성이 아이폰의 ‘둥근 직사각형’ 디자인을 따라 했다는 것이다. 1심 재판은 삼성에 1조2000억원을 배상하라고 판결했다. 　하지만 삼성은 배상금이 과다하다며 항소했다. 현재까지 디자인권을 침해할 경우 해당 제품 전체에 대한 이익을 손해배상금으로 책정하는데 수만개의 부품으로 이루

In the ever-evolving technology industry, companies build on each other’s ideas and continue to reinvent themselves. But tech giants Samsung and Apple are trying to slow each other down in a drawn-out patent battle.The U.S. Supreme Court has recently decided to review the high-profile courtroom fight between the two top smartphone makers, the first time it has looked at a design patent case since the 1800s. The rare decision comes after Samsung filed a request with the top court last year to ree

LG Electronics said Sunday it has developed the world’s first TV reception chip that allows streaming ultrahigh-definition content without a separate set-top box. The breakthrough comes as global broadcasters are bracing for the next-generation digital-based UHD terrestrial broadcasting that offers diverse additional services as well as boasting better picture quality.  The Korean government plans to start the broadcasting from February next year.  LG is a leading player in ROUTE, or real-time o

Samsung Electronics’ flagship Galaxy S7 is off to a promising start, with its sales in the U.S., the home turf of its archrival Apple’s iPhone, soaring 30 percent in the first month of sales from a year ago. According to a survey by analyst firm Counterpoint Research, the Galaxy S7 and its Edge variant have sold more than 10 million units over the past month since their global launch on March 11.  The figure is up 25 percent from that of predecessor Galaxy S6 last year, found the survey based on

LG Uplus, the nation’s No. 3 telecom carrier, said Thursday that CEO and vice chairman Kwon Young-soo has acquired 20,000 company shares. The company’s share price closed at 10,700 won ($9.16), up 100 won from the previous day.  “With the acquisition, he is showing his willingness for more responsibility in management and confidence in the company’s future,” the company said in a statement. “We also hope to elevate the trust of shareholders about the company’s future business.”At a shareholders

Last month, I was in Houston, TX at IHS’s annual event CERAWeek. As usual, energy leaders from across the world gathered to talk about the challenges and opportunities ahead. The next 35 years will see the global population grow to over 9 billion people. We already have over 1 billion people without access to power, and another 2 billion without adequate access. We are even more dependent on power for our daily lives; for the development of economies, for the growth of industry and the developme

Samsung Electronics will unveil a new vision called “Start-up Samsung” this week in a move to learn from start-ups and improve its rigid top-down corporate culture. The company is expected to reduce emphasis on job titles and give more authority to team leaders.Detailed plans are expected to be announced Thursday, but industry watchers are already paying keen attention to the winds of change blowing at the nation’s largest company. Samsung Group office in Seoul. (Yonhap)Korean companies, especia

Moscow (AFP) -- All 61 people on board a FlyDubai Boeing 737 were killed when their plane crashed and burst into flames as it was landing in Rostov-on-Don, in Southern Russia, on Saturday morning, officials said.The plane was making its second attempt to land in bad weather when it missed the runway, erupting in a huge fireball as it crashed.“Flydubai regrets to confirm that flight FZ981 crashed on landing and that fatalities have been confirmed as a result of this tragic accident,” the airline

BEIJING (Yonhap) -- China is open to three-way talks with South Korea and the United States on implementing new U.N. sanctions targeting North Korea's nuclear and missile programs, South Korea’s chief nuclear envoy said Saturday after meeting with his Chinese counterpart. Kim Hong-kyun, South Korea‘s special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, also said he and his Chinese counterpart, Wu Dawei, shared “concerns” about North Korea’s test-launch of two mid-range ballist

North Korea‘s nuclear test site is believed to be capable of supporting additional tests at any time, a website monitoring the communist nation said Friday, citing satellite imagery showing continued activity at the site.The website 38 North said that the activity at the Punggye-ri underground test site does not appear directed at further tunnel excavation but rather to maintain existing tunnels as well as to clean up after the January nuclear test.  North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspects mili

The United Nations Security Council “strongly condemned” North Korea on Friday for its test-firing of ballistic missiles, saying that the North’s provocation cannot be accepted.After holding an emergency session, the UNSC issued a statement saying that the North's latest missile launches are “unacceptable” and “constituted a clear violation” of relevant UNSC resolutions. The reaction came as North Korea launched two medium-range ballistic missiles on Friday into waters off its east coast in a sh

Korean Go master Lee Se-dol has proved human intuition can still surpass the ever-evolving artificial intelligence technology, with his first victory against Google’s AI program AlphaGo. “This single win is so valuable and I would never exchange this with anything in the world,” Lee said after the victory on Sunday in Seoul. Demis Hassabis, CEO of DeepMind, the AlphaGo developer, also offered his respect to Lee’s victory. He said, “We are very happy about Lee’s victory. This is why we came here

Samsung Electronics said Wednesday it has started production of a 1.2 megapixel image sensor for smartphones that applies its own dual pixel technology. The company’s latest smartphone Galaxy S7 and its Edge variant that boast advanced camera functions are the first to adopt the sensor.  Dual pixel technology means each of the 12 million pixels have two photodiodes that collect light. The pixels work better like human eyes, improving autofocus speed and allowing clear photos even in low light co