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Seoul steps up push for Canada submarine contract
South Korea’s industry minister pledged deeper industrial cooperation with Canada as Seoul intensifies its push to win a multibillion-dollar submarine contract, highlighting Korean companies’ track record of delivering on investment and job commitments in the country. Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan met Canadian Industry Minister Melanie Joly on Thursday to discuss potential collaboration tied to Canada’s submarine procurement program, shortly after a South Korean consortium led by Hanwha Ocean
March 6, 2026 -
Galaxy S26 preorders hit record 1.35m in Korea
Samsung Electronics said Friday that preorders for its latest flagship Galaxy S26 smartphone had reached 1.35 million units in South Korea over a seven-day period, the highest preorder volume ever recorded for the Galaxy S series. The previous record was set by the Galaxy S25 lineup, which drew 1.3 million preorders during an 11-day presales period. Demand again centered on the premium model. The Galaxy S26 Ultra accounted for about 70 percent of total preorders, continuing a recent trend of str
March 6, 2026 -
LG Energy Solution opens Canada battery plant, pivots to ESS
LG Energy Solution has officially opened its first battery manufacturing plant in Canada, positioning the facility as a key hub for batteries used in energy stroage systems across North America. The South Korean battery-maker said Friday it held an opening ceremony for the plant, run by its Canadian manufacturing subsidiary, NextStar Energy, in Windsor, Ontario, Thursday. The ceremony invited senior officials from both countries, including Ontario Premier Doug Ford, Canadian Industry Minister Me
March 6, 2026 -
Hyundai Capital sells Korea’s first public yuan kimchi bond
Hyundai Capital said Thursday it has issued South Korea’s first publicly offered offshore yuan-denominated kimchi bond by a financial institution. The 660 million yuan ($95.6 million) notes carry a two-year maturity and a coupon of 2.2 percent. KB Securities acted as lead manager. Kimchi bonds are foreign-currency debt sold in Korea’s domestic capital market, allowing issuers to tap local investors for overseas funding. The deal marks the first public offering of a yuan-denominated kimchi bond.
March 6, 2026 -
Daewoong affiliate CGBio in talks for private equity sale
Daewoong Group is moving to sell its regenerative medicine affiliate CGBio to a local private equity firm in a deal that could value the company up to 1 trillion won ($680 million), industry sources said Friday. The sources said IMM Private Equity has emerged as the preferred bidder for CGBio, securing exclusive negotiating rights to acquire a 51 percent stake held by the company’s largest shareholder, A-Hana. A-Hana is controlled by Bluenet, a company owned by the Daewoong Group’s founding fami
March 6, 2026 -
Posco Future M to build synthetic graphite anode plant in Vietnam
Posco Future M is seeking to expand global orders by investing in a new synthetic graphite anode material plant in Thai Nguyen, an industrial city in northern Vietnam. The company said Thursday its board approved an investment of about 3.57 billion won ($2.44 million) to build the facility. Construction is set to begin in the second half of this year, with mass production targeted for 2028. The plant will be built on a site capable of expanding production capacity to up to 55,000 tons, with phas
March 5, 2026 -
SK Plasma clinches $75m plasma tech deal with Turkey
SK Plasma said Thursday it has secured its largest technology export deal, signing a 65 million euro ($75 million) technology transfer and licensing agreement with Proturk, a joint venture backed by the Turkish Red Crescent, as part of Turkey’s effort to build domestic plasma fractionation capacity. The contract marks the largest single agreement since SK Plasma was established in 2015, the company said. Under the deal, SK Plasma will grant Proturk a license to manufacture plasma-derived pharmac
March 5, 2026 -
German court sides with Samsung in TCL QLED dispute
A German court has ruled that Chinese electronics maker TCL engaged in misleading advertising by promoting certain televisions as having QLED screens despite lacking meaningful quantum-dot functionality, siding with a complaint filed by Samsung Electronics. According to industry sources Thursday, the Munich Regional Court ordered TCL’s German unit to stop marketing some models — including its QLED870 series — as QLED TVs, finding the advertising violated Germany’s fair competition law. Samsung f
March 5, 2026 -
‘Buy European’ push highlights reliance on China EV supply chain
The European Union’s newly proposed Industrial Accelerator Act — often described as Europe’s answer to the US Inflation Reduction Act — appears less aggressive toward Chinese electric vehicles than expected. Rather than curbing China’s grip on the EV supply chain, the policy highlights how difficult it may be for Europe to reduce its reliance on Chinese batteries and components — a reality that could create fresh challenges for Korean automakers and battery makers in the world’s second-largest E
March 5, 2026 -
SK-backed TerraPower SMR wins US regulatory approval
The US nuclear regulator has approved construction of an advanced small modular reactor developed by TerraPower, a US-based energy firm founded by Bill Gates and backed by SK Group, marking the first time a new commercial nuclear reactor has received clearance in about a decade. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Wednesday granted approval in a unanimous decision for TerraPower to build a 345-megawatt sodium-cooled reactor in Kemmerer, Wyoming. The new plant’s permit application was filed in 2
March 5, 2026 -
Hyundai Engineering targets energy value chain in 2026 strategy
Hyundai Engineering said Thursday it has unveiled its 2026 management strategy, aimed at becoming a key player across the energy value chain while building a sustainable growth framework based on stronger technological capabilities. The company plans to cultivate new growth drivers by expanding its energy business, securing core technologies in strategic sectors, diversifying orders in advanced industrial construction and expanding electric vehicle charging infrastructure. As the global energy l
March 5, 2026 -
K bank reaches Kospi after long, bumpy IPO journey
The market has proved no easy battlefield for K bank, Korea’s first online-only lender, as it finally completed a long and bumpy journey to the Kospi on Thursday, following two failed attempts to go public. The debut drew a strong reception, with the stock surging as much as 16 percent to 9,880 won ($6.70) in the first hour of trading, well above its initial public offering price of 8,300 won. K bank sold 60 million shares in the IPO, raising about 498 billion won and valuing the lender at rough
March 5, 2026 -
LG CNS unveils containerized data center ‘AI Box’
LG CNS said Thursday it will roll out a containerized artificial intelligence data center solution capable of housing hundreds of GPUs in a single unit, as it moves to capture rapidly growing global demand for AI infrastructure. The AI Box system is a modular micro data center designed to house up to 576 GPUs with an IT power capacity of 1.2 megawatts in a single container. By removing the need for a conventional building, LG CNS said the system can be deployed in about six months, compared with
March 5, 2026 -
SK chief to meet Nvidia CEO at GTC
SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won will attend Nvidia’s annual technology conference this month, where he is expected to discuss cooperation on AI memory chips with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. According to industry sources on Thursday, Chey will travel to San Jose, California, to attend Nvidia GTC 2026, which begins March 16. It will mark the first time the SK chair has attended Nvidia’s flagship developer conference. The anticipated meeting between the two leaders comes after their informal “chicken a
March 5, 2026 -
Hana Financial teams with Circle, Crypto.com on USDC payments
Hana Financial Group is stepping up its push into stablecoin payments in South Korea, launching a promotional campaign for foreign visitors using USDC through partnerships with Circle and Crypto.com. The group said Thursday that its card unit, Hana Card, will offer 5 percent cashback in CRO, a token issued by Crypto.com, to foreign users who pay at Korean merchants using Crypto.com’s prepaid Visa card funded with USDC. The promotion follows a partnership signed in December between Hana Card and
March 5, 2026