01 Life Technology

Korean chipmakers South Korea asks US for tailored approach to chip tariffs

South Korea has officially requested that the US take a distinct approach in its ongoing probe into foreign semiconductor technology and related dow...

Woori Financial wins approval for Tongyang, ABL Life acquisition

Woori Financial Group Inc., South Korea’s fourth-largest financial services provider, has received conditional approval from the country&rsquo...

Debt financing Kookmin Bank raises $700 mn in forex bonds amid strong demand

Kookmin Bank, a unit of KB Financial Group, raised $700 million in foreign exchange bonds on Tuesday, signaling a recovery in investor sentiment tow...

Mergers & Acquisitions Kyobo Life poised to buy Japan’s SBI Group-owned savings bank

Kyobo Life Insurance Co. is in the final stages of negotiation with Japanese financial group SBI Holdings Inc. to buy about a 50% stake in SBI Savin...

Korean chipmakers SK Hynix makes strides in CXL technology, escalating rivalry

SK Hynix Inc., the leading global high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chip provider, has moved faster than its rivals in the commercialization of the next-g...

Shipping & Shipbuilding Samsung Heavy makes breakthrough in FLNG liquefaction technology

Samsung Heavy Industries Co., a major Korean shipbuilder, has made a breakthrough in its liquefaction technology for floating liquefied natural gas ...

Real estate Warburg Pincus-Wide Creek Asset JV picks up 2nd Korean logistics asset

US private equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC and South Korean real estate manager Wide Creek Asset Management Co. are building a logistics center for l...

Mergers & Acquisitions Meritz drops bid for troubled MG Non-Life Insurance; Liquidation looms

Meritz Financial Group Inc., South Korea’s second-most valuable financial holding firm, has dropped its bid to acquire financial distressed MG...

Hydrogen economy Samsung E&A buys Norwegian Nel stake for hydrogen business push

South Korea’s Samsung E&A Co. has purchased a stake in Norway’s hydrogen technology company Nel ASA at 47.6 billion won ($32.8 milli...

Shipping & Shipbuilding HD Hyundai, Palantir chiefs discuss AI shipyard, defense technology

Chung Kisun, executive vice chairman of the world’s largest shipbuilder HD Hyundai Co., has met with Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir Technologies I...

Private equity Affinity, GIC sell out of Kyobo Life; Chairman Shin seeks holding firm, M&A

Affinity Equity Partners and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC have sold their entire stake in Kyobo Life Insurance Co., exiting from thei...

Machinery Hyundai Rotem inks $1.5 bn Morocco train supply deal

South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem Co. said on Wednesday it has won a 2.2 trillion won ($1.5 billion) train order from Morocco, the biggest single de...

Private equity Kyobo Life’s Shin in talks with Affinity, GIC over exits below purchase price

Kyobo Life Insurance Co., South Korea’s third-largest life insurer, is in talks with some of its financial investors (FIs) to help them exit f...

Aerospace & Defense S.Korea’s defense order backlog reaches record $73.1 billion at end-2024

South Korea’s seven major defense companies saw their combined order backlog reach a record 105.6 trillion won ($73.1 billion) at the end of 2...

Private equity EQT targets healthcare, technology, business service providers in Korea

EQT, the largest private equity firm in Europe, is setting its sights on healthcare, technology companies and business service providers in South Ko...

Corporate restructuring Samsung Life, Samsung Fire sell $193 mn in Samsung Electronics shares

Samsung Life Insurance Co., South Korea’s largest life insurer, and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co., the country’s No. 1 non-lif...

Corporate restructuring Samsung Life mulls putting Samsung Fire under its wing as subsidiary

Samsung Life Insurance Co., South Korea’s largest life insurer, is considering bringing Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co., the country&r...

Bio & Pharma SK Biopharmaceuticals, Eurofarma to set up AI epilepsy platform JV in US

South Korea’s SK Biopharmaceuticals Co. has signed a deal with Brazil’s Eurofarma Laboratórios S.A. to establish a joint venture ...

Automobiles Hyundai Mobis to boost US production to cope with Trump

LAS VEGAS -- Hyundai Mobis Co., the world’s fifth-largest auto parts maker, plans to beef up its US production to cope with President-elect Do...

Korean Innovators at CES 2025 LG Electronics bets big on humanoid robots: CEO Cho

LAS VEGAS – South Korea’s top home appliance maker LG Electronics Inc. has thrown down the gauntlet to frontrunners in the AI robot race...

Automobiles Hyundai Motor vows record investment of $16.7 bn in South Korea

Hyundai Motor Group will invest 24.3 trillion won ($16.7 billion) this year in South Korea, the largest-ever annual investment in its home country, ...

Automobiles Hyundai AutoEver establishes JV in Indonesia

South Korea's Hyundai AutoEver Corp. said on Monday it built the joint venture PT Terra Link technology in Indonesia with India's MapmyIndia. T...

Artificial intelligence SK Telecom invests $3 mn in AI-powered video analysis startup Twelve Labs

South Korea’s top mobile carrier SK Telecom Co. said on Friday it will invest $3 million in Twelve Labs Inc., a Korean AI-powered video analys...

Steel POSCO Future M develops technology to make electrode rods

POSCO Future M Co., a battery material and steel manufacturing equipment supplier, said on Thursday it has developed electrode rod manufacturing tec...

Electronics Korean displays regain top spot with premium information tech OLEDs

South Korean display makers regained ground in the global organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panel market in the second quarter, elbowing out the p...

Cloud computing CJ OliveNetworks to expand cloud management biz

South Korea's CJ OliveNetworks said on Wednesday it will expand its managed service provider (MSP) in the cloud industry, utilizing Naver Cloud and ...

Korean chipmakers SK Hynix to produce HBM4 on 3 nm foundry process in 2025

SK Hynix Inc. will adopt the 3-nanometer process, the most advanced foundry technology available, to produce customized HBM4 chips in the second hal...

Mergers & Acquisitions Hanwha Life acquires US securities firm Velocity

South Korea's Hanwha Life Insurance said on Wednesday it signed a stock purchase agreement (SPA) to acquire a 75% stake in Velocity Clearing LLC, ...

Logistics Korean logistics companies expand overseas businesses

South Korea’s logistics companies such as local industry leader CJ Logistics Corp. are expanding their overseas operations to take advantage o...

Batteries South Korea approves Korea Zinc’s precursor as national core technology

South Korea has designated Korea Zinc Inc.'s precursor manufacturing process as a national core technology and advanced industrial technology, effec...