small and medium enterprises (SMEs)

Beauty & Cosmetics Korea launches $27 mn fund to invest in K-beauty startups

South Korea’s Ministry of SMEs and Startups on Thursday announced the launch of a 40 billion won ($27 million) fund to invest in Korean beauty...

K-pop KAIST launches Korean rapper G-Dragon’s music into space

The Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST) has launched the music and iris image of G-Dragon, a Korean rapper and singer-songw...

Energy HD Hyundai, TerraPower to commercialize next-gen SMR

South Korea’s largest shipbuilder, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., is deepening its partnership with TerraPower LLC, the US nuclear venture f...

Private equity South Korea emerges as private equity firms’ global hub

New York-based Apollo Global Management and London-based Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) have joined the ranks of global private equity firms that ...

Leadership & Management Small firms emerge as prime targets of management disputes in Korea

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) accounted for the majority of disputes over corporate management control in South Korea last year, with th...

Banking & Finance Lotte Card Card to launch loans for affiliates in Vietnam

South Korea's Lotte Card said on Monday it will launch loans for affiliates in Vietnam.Lotte Finance Vietnam, the Vietnamese corporation of Lotte Ca...

Korean startups Asan Nanum to offer Silicon Valley residence to Korean startups

The Asan Nanum Foundation, a South Korean startup accelerator program operator, said on Thursday it will open a residency space for Korean venture f...

Artificial intelligence Bespin Global, Upstage to co-work on AI platform

South Korea's cloud solution provider Bespin Global said on Monday it signed with Upstage, the domestic artificial intelligence (AI) startup, to bui...

Construction & Planning SK Ecoplant selects four companies at ConTech Meet-Up

South Korea's SK Ecoplant Co. said on Friday it held the "2024 ConTech Meet-Up Day" award ceremony at the Grand Walkerhill Hotel in Seoul. ConTech M...

Automobiles Hyundai Motor aims high for online small EV sales in Japan

TOKYO – Hyundai Motor Co. will accelerate its penetration into Japan, a market it has been struggling to crack for decades, with small-size el...

Korean chipmakers Samsung to unveil 400-layer bonding vertical NAND for AI servers by 2026

Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s largest memory chipmaker, plans to unveil a 400-layer vertical NAND flash chip by 2026 to lead the fast-g...

Artificial intelligence Naver Cloud launches AI meeting minutes service

Naver Cloud, the cloud subsidiary of South Korean online giant Naver Corp., said on Friday the launch of Naver Works Clova Note, an AI-based enterpr...

Tech, Media & Telecom SK Broadband to launch nationwide dedicated line service in S.Korea

South Korea's SK Broadband said on Thursday that it will establish a nationwide network using Internet Protocol-Multi Protocol Label Switching (IP-M...

Central bank BOK flags more rate cuts but in gradual, small steps

South Korea’s central bank is open to more cuts in interest rates after its first rate reduction in more than four years on Friday but only in...

Electronics LG Elec, Ricoh to team up for B2B DX business

LG Electronics Inc. said on Thursday that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with global office solutions company Ricoh to discover servi...

Korean chipmakers Samsung mass-produces QLC V9 NAND to lead AI storage market

Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s largest memory chipmaker, said on Thursday it has begun mass production of a 286-layer high-capacity NAND...

Tech, Media & Telecom Samsung expands AI horizon with B2B-specific SmartThings Pro

BERLIN – South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. is entering the AI-powered business-to-business connectivity platform market with its...

Aerospace & Defense Hanwha Systems, WB Group to collaborate on SAR satellites

South Korea's Hanwha Systems Co. said on Monday that it signed a mid- to long-term business cooperation memorandum of understanding (MOU) for space ...

Beauty & Cosmetics Korea Shopping Festa in Vietnam records $12.9 mn in export consultations

The Korean Ministry of SMEs and Startups said on Friday that the "2024 Korea Shopping Festa with Lotte" export consultation event, held in collabo...

Logistics Hanjin to provide logistics services for S.Korean SMEs in Vietnam

South Korea's Hanjin Transportation, a logistics unit of Hanjin Group, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Small Enterprise and Mark...

Korean chipmakers Samsung to unveil industry’s highest-capacity eSSD in November

Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s largest memory chipmaker, plans to unveil the industry’s highest-capacity enterprise solid-state dr...

IPOs LG CNS gears up for 2025 IPO with $5.1 billion in enterprise value

LG CNS Co., the information technology service unit of South Korea’s LG Group, is gearing up for an initial public offering early next year, o...

Korean SMEs KOSME, CJ Olive Young support K-beauty SMEs to enter US

Korea SMEs and Startups Agency (KOSME) announced on Tuesday that it held online and offline marketing and buyer meetings in partnership with CJ Oliv...

Electronics S.Korea relinquishes control to China in smaller OLED market

LG Display Co. and Samsung Display Co. lost ground to their Chinese rivals in the global small and mid-sized organic light-emitting diode (OLED) pan...

Economy South Korea’s 2025 minimum wage rises 1.7%; SMEs seen suffering

South Korea has set next year’s hourly minimum wage at 10,030 won ($7.3) – a 1.7% increase from this year’s 9,860 won, the second-...

Retail Coupang opens Rocket Growth seller website

Coupang Inc., South Korea’s largest e-commerce platform, announced on Tuesday that it opened a dedicated website for sellers (sell.coupang.com...

Korean startups Kakao supports startups with cloud services

Kakao Enterprise, an AI-based cloud solutions service subsidiary of South Korea's Kakao Corp., announced on Thursday that it started the Rocket La...

Artificial intelligence LG CNS gets AWS Generative AI Competency

LG CNS Co., a cloud computing services arm of South Korea's LG Corp., announced on Wednesday that it achieved the AWS Generative AI Competency from ...

Mergers & Acquisitions Rebellions-Sapeon Korea merger to challenge Nvidia’s AI chip dominance

Rebellions Inc., a South Korean artificial intelligence chip design startup, is merging with its crosstown rival Sapeon Korea Inc., an AI chip firm ...

Pension funds Korea may mandate pension plans for all workplaces from 2025

South Korea is seeking to introduce corporate pension plans to all workplaces in stages starting next year, alongside mandatory contributions to the...