Samsung Electronics will invest $17 billion into its foundry sector, a business that makes money by manufacturing chips clients have designed. But some experts say that despite the staggering size of the investment, the South Korean tech giant is unlikely to challenge the global foundry race led by TSMC. Instead of splurging cash, a structural change must occur to catch up with TSMC, a No. 1 foundry player with a global market share of 58 percent as of second quarter this year, they said. &ld

Hanwha Solutions said Wednesday it has invested $100 million in a Houston-based tech company Lancium, which aims to build bitcoin mines across Texas that will run on renewable energy. According to the solar-to-hydrogen business unit of South Korean conglomerate Hanwha Group, Lancium has purchased 9.5 square kilometers of land in Texas and plans to establish over 2,000 megawatts of generating capacity across multiple sites. Lancium develops software and technology that connects bitcoin mines

Chill hydrogen to liquid at minus 253 degrees Celsius and the volume shrinks to one-eight-hundredth of its size. As hydrogen is too bulky as a gas, liquidating it is being looked at for transportation. But there is a problem: Under normal storage, liquid hydrogen boils off at the rate of 2-3 percent a day. By the time it arrives at Korean shores, as much as 20-30 percent of the tank would be empty. For South Korea, the evaporation issue is a major one, as the Asia’s No. 4 economy pla

Kwon Bong-seok, the CEO of LG Electronics, is likely to be promoted as the new vice chairman of LG Corp., the holdings firm of South Korean conglomerate LG Group. According to LG Group on Tuesday, LG Electronics and LG Corp. are scheduled to hold their respective board meetings Thursday and finalize the executive reshuffle. Kwon Bong-seok is expected to fill in the shoes of Kwon Young-soo, who was appointed in October as the new CEO of LG Energy Solution, the battery unit of LG Group. The

LG Chem Vice Chairman Shin Hak-cheol on Tuesday emphasized five inclusive growth strategies to bolster the transparency and competitiveness of its suppliers. According to South Korea’s leading chemical company, the five principles are creating a fair trade culture; providing financial support and improving payment conditions; pursuing mutual growth through safe environments and eco-friendly business; building the capacity of suppliers; and sharing information and exchanging ideas. To

Samsung Electronics is reportedly planning to unveil its $17 billion foundry investment plan in the US this week, as its leader Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong returns home after a series of high-profile meetings with White House officials and key lawmakers that might have finalized the plan. According to Samsung Electronics Sunday, the vice chairman was invited to the White House on Friday, US time, and met with top officials to discuss how the South Korean tech giant could help resolve the globa

Doosan Group said Sunday it will develop a hydrogen power pack for commercial vehicles, signaling its entry into the hydrogen bus and truck markets. “We will develop a hydrogen power pack for land vehicles. We are also reviewing a total charging solution at bus depots that can charge both hydrogen and electric buses,” an executive at Doosan Fuel Cell, a hydrogen business unit of Doosan, told The Korea Herald while declining to be named. A hydrogen power pack is a type of generat

두산이 ‘차량용’ 수소 파워팩 개발을 공식 선언했다. 버스, 트럭 등 상용차에 탑재할 수 있는 수소 파워팩을 선보일 예정이다. 정부가 내년까지 수소버스 2천 대를 선제적으로 보급한다는 계획에 따라 현대차와의 치열한 수주 경쟁이 예상된다. 두산퓨얼셀 고위 관계자는 21일 “육상용 수소 파워팩을 개발 예정”이며 “버스 차고지를 거점으로 수소버스, 전기버스, 충전소 조합의 토탈 패키지도 검토 중”이라고 말했다. 수소 파워팩은 전기를 자체 생산하는 일종의 발전기다. 내연기관차의 엔진 격에 해당한다. 수소탱크에서 수소를 공급하면, 연료전지가 전기를 생산하고, 전기모터가 돌아가며 차량을 구동한다. 두산의 차량용 수소 파워팩 개발은 이번이 최초다. 기존 두산은 드론 및 UAM 수소 파워팩 시장에 주력해왔다. 수소 파워팩은 배터리보다 가벼워 장시간 비행에 유리하고 충전 시간도 짧아 경쟁력이 있기 때문이다. 그룹차원의 시

Korea Gas Corp. was born in the aftermath of the global oil crises of the 1970s, with a mission to lead a fuel transition to natural gas. Nearly four decades later, the company is being asked to step up, as South Korea plans another grand energy transition to hydrogen. “In the aftermath of the global oil crisis, Korea decided to switch its national fuel to natural gas and formed Kogas (in 1983). Since then, Kogas led the natural gas transition and experienced every step along the way,&

Elon Musk strikes again. With every word he posts on Twitter, the market swings like a pendulum. From bitcoin to space, the eccentric leader’s influence has no bounds. This time, the Tesla CEO is shaking up the electric vehicle market by challenging the decades-long paradigm of lithium-ion batteries. Last month, Tesla announced that it would use a cheaper, safer alternative called lithium-iron phosphate, or LFP batteries, in all of its standard-range cars. Taken aback by Tesla&rsqu

After staying under the radar for more than three months since his parole in August, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong on Sunday revealed himself at an airport in Seoul leaving for an overseas business trip for chips and vaccine, signaling his return to the forefront of management. The Samsung Electronics executive arrived at Seoul Gimpo Business Aviation Center at around 7:45 a.m. on Sunday and hopped on a Korean Air charter flight to Canada after briefly talking to the press.

Samsung Electronics will overhaul its job ranking system for the first time in five years, Samsung Electronics said Friday. The move is seen as part of Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong’s plan to create a new Samsung one year after his father’s death. According to the company, the tech giant posted an internal message saying it would revise its evaluation and promotion system. “The change will be completed within this month and an official announcement will be made,” a comp

South Korean steel giant Posco said Friday that it would test the feasibility of a carbon capture and utilization technology that could potentially eliminate 320,000 tons of carbon emissions from steel production. According to the world’s No. 6 steelmaker, the technology, once fully developed, will be applied to coke ovens installed inside its two steel mills -- one in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, and one in Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province. Each of the coke ovens emits 30,000-50,0

Hanwha Defense said Thursday it had become the first South Korean defense company to obtain certification for ISO 37301, a compliance management standard of the International Organization for Standardization. The ISO 37301, introduced by the international rule-setting body in April, examines whether a firm‘s compliance and risk management systems meet international standards. The ISO 37301 combines ISO standards with international agencies’ guidelines, including those from the Int

Hanwha Q Cells said Thursday it will break ground on its first energy storage systems project in Texas in January. According to the solar business unit of Hanwha Solutions, the 380-megawatt-hour project, once completed in December next year, will be able to store enough electricity for 154,000 Texas residents to use for one day. Energy storage systems are giant batteries designed to compensate for the intermittency of renewable energy. When renewables such as solar and wind power generate m

Unity Technologies, creator of 3D game engine Unity, said Wednesday it will acquire Weta Digital, a visual effects company co-founded by director Peter Jackson, to prepare for the global metaverse transition. Weta Digital worked on movies including “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,” “Avatar” and “Black Widow.” Under the $1.6 billion deal, Unity will obtain the firm’s technology division, including its artist tools and engineering ta

GS Caltex on Wednesday kicked off a livestreaming service where customers can check out in real-time how their cars are being fixed. According to the South Korean total energy company, the service, dubbed Kixx Live, will broadcast auto inspections live through a YouTube channel open exclusively for each customer. Customers can communicate with mechanics on the channel and watch the video again at any time. “Through Kixx Live, GS Caltex mechanics will communicate live with customers,

Korea Electric Power Corp. and its six power generation subsidiaries on Wednesday announced a gradual but complete exit from coal by 2050. Kepco and the six subsidiaries -- Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, Korea South-East Power, Korea Midland Power, Korea Western Power, Korea Southern Power and Korea East-West Power -- together discharged 269.6 million tons of carbon in 2018, accounting for a whopping 37 percent of South Korea‘s total emissions. The seven companies’ carbon neut

Steel emits less carbon than diapers per ton of production. Due to its staggering size of production, however, steel is responsible for roughly 8 percent of the world’s carbon emissions and has been blamed as the main polluter driving up the planet’s temperature. Posco, the South Korean steelmaker, was the country’s greatest emitter of carbon last year. It discharged more carbon than it was allowed to by regulations, and even accrued debt worth 78.6 billion won ($66.4 mil

While desperately searching for alternative sources of urea, a key ingredient for a liquid solution essential for diesel vehicles, South Korea is forced to reexamine its reliance on China for other materials and realize the need to preemptively respond to supply chain risks. The country’s supplies of diesel exhaust fluid are currently at dangerously low levels after Chinese authorities last month imposed a de facto export ban on DEF, an emissions control solution without which diesel c