Korea to focus 2027 R&D on AI, biotech, quantum

South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT on Thursday unveiled its direction for 2027 national research and development investment, prioritizing artificial intelligence, advanced biotechnology and quantum technologies. Speaking at a press briefing in Seoul, Park In-kyu, vice minister for science, technology and innovation, said next year’s R&D spending will focus on applying AI to drive innovation and deliver tangible benefits to the public. “Next year’s R&D investments will center on harnessing

March 12, 2026

Line Plus enters AI agent race with ActEngine AI

Line Plus, the Korean subsidiary of Line Corporation, on Thursday unveiled ActEngine AI, an artificial intelligence platform designed to automate customer support and sales operations, marking its push into the fast-growing enterprise AI market across Asia. Unlike conventional query-based chatbots, ActEngine AI uses execution-based AI agents capable of performing tasks such as customer service, complaint handling and sales proposals. The platform allows companies to manage and deploy AI agents t

March 12, 2026

Samsung Electronics average pay surges to record level

Samsung Electronics employees earned an average salary of 158 million won ($107,300) last year, the highest level on record, according to the company’s 2025 business report released Tuesday. The average compensation per employee in 2025 rose 21.5 percent from 130 million won a year earlier, the filing showed. The report also detailed Samsung’s performance stock unit program, introduced in October to strengthen employees’ accountability for long-term business performance. Under the plan, the comp

March 11, 2026

Samsung Electronics to cancel W16tr in treasury shares

Samsung Electronics will cancel about 87 million treasury shares worth roughly 16 trillion won ($10.9 billion) in the first half of this year as part of its efforts to enhance shareholder value, according to its 2025 business report released Tuesday. The cancellation represents a large portion of the 105.43 million treasury shares the company held at the end of last year. Based on Tuesday’s closing price of about 190,000 won per share, the shares slated for retirement are valued at roughly 16 tr

March 11, 2026

Samsung Electronics spends record W37.7tr on R&D

Samsung Electronics spent a record 37.7 trillion won ($25.7 billion) on research and development last year despite heightened global economic uncertainty, according to its 2025 business report Tuesday. The figure is a 7.8 percent increase from 35 trillion won a year earlier, equivalent to more than 100 billion won spent each day on technology development. Industry observers say a significant portion of the investment likely went toward next-generation memory technologies, particularly high-bandw

March 11, 2026

SK Inc. to retire record W4.8tr in treasury shares

SK Inc., the holding company of SK Group, said Tuesday it will retire about 4.8 trillion won ($3.27 billion) of treasury shares, marking the largest share retirement ever undertaken by a domestic holding firm. The board approved a plan to retire 14.69 million treasury shares out of the 17.98 million shares currently held by the company, excluding 3.29 million shares reserved for employee compensation. The retirement represents roughly 20 percent of SK Inc.’s outstanding shares and, based on curr

March 10, 2026

After DeepSeek: China shifts from breakthrough to AI scale

One year after DeepSeek unsettled the global AI landscape and signaled that China had narrowed the gap with the US in generative artificial intelligence, the question is no longer whether China can compete. It is whether China is beginning to define the architecture of the next AI order. “The difference between adopting AI and defining its architecture is huge,” said Ahn Jun-mo, a professor of public administration at Korea University. “Countries that set the standards have the power to shape ec

March 10, 2026

Korea has five years to act on AI gap with China: KAIST professor

As China accelerates its advance in foundation models, South Korea is not far behind in frontier model performance, according to Shin Jin-woo, ICT endowed chair professor at the Kim Jaechul Graduate School of AI at KAIST. But performance is not the real issue. “The technology gap is often exaggerated,” Shin said in a recent interview with The Korea Herald in Seoul. “Based on the time required to absorb and reproduce publicly released technologies, the difference is closer to half a year.” Becaus

March 10, 2026

SK hynix unveils world’s first 1c-based LPDDR6 chip

SK hynix said Tuesday it has developed a next-generation 16-gigabit LPDDR6 DRAM built on its 10-nanometer-class sixth-generation 1c process, designed to support on-device artificial intelligence in mobile devices. LPDDR, or low-power double data rate memory, is widely used in smartphones and tablets because it operates at a lower voltage to reduce power consumption. The company recently completed what it said was the world’s first certification for a 1c-based LPDDR6 product after unveiling the c

March 10, 2026

Samsung Electronics unions launch strike vote, eye May walkout

Samsung Electronics’ labor unions will hold a strike authorization vote starting Monday as they move toward a possible general strike in May. The unions’ joint struggle headquarters said Friday that a vote on industrial action will take place from Monday to March 18, with the aim of securing the legal right to strike by mid-March. If more than half of all union members approve the move, the unions plan to stage a large-scale rally of members in April and proceed with a general strike in May. “Th

March 6, 2026