Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
Chinese tech giants aggressively expand presence in Korea
Xiaomi Korea General Manager Jony Wu, left, and Xiaomi International Business Department East Asia Region General Manager Andrew Li pose during an event to announce the opening of the brand's first Korean official retail store at IFC Mall in Yeouido, Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap
By Nam Hyun-woo
Xiaomi to open 1st retail store in Seoul
Chinese tech giants are quickly expanding their presence in Korea by opening retail stores or making investments, exploiting their strong capital and cost effectiveness to put the country’s industrial sovereignty to the test.
During a press conference Wednesday, home appliance giant Xiaomi said it will open its first Korean retail store in Seoul on Saturday, signaling an aggressive sales push across smartphones, smart bands, TVs and a range of other tech products.
“Korea holds a strategic significance in Xiaomi’s retail strategies,” Andrew Li, general manager of the East Asia Region for the Xiaomi International Business Department, said during the event. “Our core vision is to build an ecosystem comprising human, car and home, and we believe the store we are opening will serve as a crucial channel to realize that vision.”
Nestled in Seoul’s landmark IFC Mall in Yeouido, the store will be an integrated sales and service store, where customers can purchase products and access repair and maintenance service at the same location.
At the store, the company will offer the Xiaomi 15 flagship smartphone, the Smart Band 10 and more than 260 types of Xiaomi products, which have previously been available online only. Xiaomi set up its Korea entity, Xiaomi Korea, in January and has since been running an online store for the Korean market.
Models check Xiaomi products at the brand's first official Korean store in IFC Mall in Yeouido, Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap
“This will be our first offline store in Korea, which will offer better services for Xiaomi fans here, and we plan to open more sales and service stores across Korea,” Xiaomi Korea General Manager Jony Wu said.
Currently, Xiaomi Korea does not have plans to roll out its electric vehicles (EVs), the SU7 sedan and the YU7 SUV, but Li said that “there will be a good timing for us to release EVs in the global market.”
The store is the latest in a series of expansion moves by Chinese big-name tech firms in Korea.
Last week, Alibaba Cloud, a cloud computing unit of Alibaba Group, said that it will open its second data center in Korea to meet Korean companies' soaring demand for artificial intelligence services.
The company did not reveal the capacity, investment value or other details of the data center, but said that Alibaba Cloud has been continuously expanding its infrastructure here, and its investment underscores how strategically it views the Korean market.
Models promote Roborock's Saros Z70 robot vacuum cleaner at a pop-up store in Shinsegae Department Store Gangnam in Seoul, June 17. Courtesy of Shinsegae Department Store
Smart home firm Roborock is making efforts to consolidate its leadership in the robot vacuum cleaner market here, by opening flagship stores and launching new models. Despite Korea being the home of Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, Roborock is the nation's leading robot vacuum cleaner firm, accounting for nearly 50 percent of the market.
Huawei is expanding its presence in Korea's market for data center equipment and other IT infrastructure. According to industry officials, the company recently completed the National Radio Research Agency’s certification on four types of rectifiers used for uninterruptible power supply systems in February. The equipment is essential for data center infrastructure.
Huawei is reportedly participating in equipment bids at prices more than 20 percent lower than its competitors.
The domestic semiconductor sector is also seeing growing influence from Chinese firms.
Korean fabless firm Zinitix, one of the first-tier vendors for Samsung Electronics, is now in a dispute over its managing rights, after its largest shareholder, China-headquartered Halo Microelectronics, attempted to replace the company’s leadership and appoint Chinese nationals as new board members. Halo became the company’s largest shareholder in August and now holds a 34.32 percent stake.
The Tencent logo is displayed at the company's headquarters in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China, July 10, 2024. AFP-Yonhap
Korean game giant Nexon was also recently mired in rumors that Chinese tech giant Tencent had approached the company’s owner family for a potential takeover. Although Tencent later denied the claims, the speculation raised concerns in the industry over the possibility of one of Korea’s leading game developers falling into Chinese hands.
Some interpret the recent moves as Chinese investments in Korea, but concerns remain over whether domestic industries can withstand the influx and maintain their sovereignty.
Since 2023, Chinese commerce platforms such as AliExpress and Temu have been quickly expanding their presence in Korea, not only through low pricing but also by sidestepping regulations. AliExpress and Temu were Korea’s second- and fourth-biggest shopping apps in February, while the monthly average users are decreasing for domestic rivals such as 11street and Gmarket, according to data from Wiseapp.
“Chinese tech firms are expanding their presence across infrastructure, services and retail sales through store openings and investments,” an industry official said. “It is time to consider measures to avoid repeating the same scenario that took place in the e-commerce sector.”