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Lee Gyu-lee

Korea Times Business Reporter

Lee Gyu-lee is a business writer at The Korea Times, focusing primarily on IT & telecommunications, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA. Prior to this, she has covered a wide range of cultural news, from film, television and K-pop to lifestyle and fashion.

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Tech & Science

SK Telecom to unveil hyperscale AI language model

SK Telecom will unveil a hyperscale artificial intelligence (AI) model with more than 500 billion parameters at a presentation for the government-led national AI foundation model project on Tuesday. The company said Sunday the SK Telecom consortium, comprising eight organizations including the telecom operator, Krafton, Rebellions, Seoul National University and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, has developed A.X K1, which will be Korea’s first AI language model with a total of 519 billion parameters. Parameters are learned values that a model uses to analyze data and widely regarded as an indicator of the model’s scale or size. During inference, A.X K1 activates about 33 billion parameters, allowing it to maintain high performance while optimizing computational efficiency. This design enables the model to operate flexibly from heavy-duty training to lightweight task execution. “Developing Korea’s first 500-billion-parameter scale model marks a new turning point for the country’s ambition to join the global top tier of AI leaders amid fierce international compe

Dec 28, 2025By Lee Gyu-lee
SK Telecom to unveil hyperscale AI language model
Others

Top 10 Economic News Stories of 2025 A year marked by tariff truce, KOSPI 4,000 era

Korea’s economy was shaped by major external shocks and policy pivots in 2025. After months of stalled talks, Korea and the United States agreed on a deal cutting U.S. tariffs on key Korean exports to 15 percent, easing pressure on exporters. At the same time, the won weakened sharply, hovering near levels last seen during the 1998 Asian financial crisis. The government also pushed ahead with structural reforms, including separating budget functions from the finance ministry and revising the Commercial Act to strengthen shareholder rights. Financial markets were a study in contrasts. The "KOSPI 4,000 era” began as trading reached new heights, fueled by an AI-driven semiconductor supercycle. However, the rally was heavily concentrated in large-cap stocks, leaving concerns over volatility and overseas profit-taking unresolved. The real economy saw uneven sectoral performance. Korea’s battery industry was forced into restructuring due to a prolonged global EV slowdown, while consumer goods such as instant noodles and cosmetics posted record export growth on the back of K-content popul

Dec 25, 2025By Jun Ji-hye and Lee Gyu-lee
[Top 10 Economic News Stories of 2025] A year marked by tariff truce, KOSPI 4,000 era
Tech & Science

AI studio CEO emphasizes human creativity as core of AI video production

As generative artificial intelligence (AI) video tools race ahead, Kim Young-ki, CEO and director of Seoul-based AI studio The Ape Squad, is betting on a counterintuitive thesis: The more powerful AI becomes, the more indispensable human directors will be. For the CEO, who also has an extensive background in traditional ad production, AI is not a shortcut to cheaper content through replacing creative labor. Rather, he views it is a tool that allows directors to implement their creative intent with greater fidelity than traditional live-action shoots. “I actually put in more of my own time when directing AI videos than when directing live-action,” Kim said during an interview with The Korea Times at the studio's offices in Gangnam District, Seoul. “With AI work, I have to be involved in every single step personally, handling many parts one by one … That made us think a lot about where to find the right balance, how much is reduced and what we gain in return.” The Ape Squad started as an AI-related R&D team at Kim’s live-action ad studio Space Monster Content. It spun off to b

Dec 25, 2025By Lee Gyu-lee
AI studio CEO emphasizes human creativity as core of AI video production
Tech & Science

Samsung SDS becomes Korea’s 1st reseller of OpenAI’s ChatGPT Enterprise

Samsung SDS has signed a reseller agreement with OpenAI, becoming the first company in Korea to provide and technically support ChatGPT Enterprise for local clients. The company announced on Tuesday that the two companies have inked a partnership for Samsung SDS to deliver end-to-end support for enterprises adopting the ChatGPT product. ChatGPT Enterprise offers enterprise-grade security and privacy protection, faster performance with unlimited higher-speed GPT‑4 access and the ability to handle longer inputs. It also provides features tailored for business use, including an expanded context window, advanced data analytics and a wide range of customization options. “Through this agreement, we expect to lead innovation in artificial intelligence (AI) transformation for enterprise customers by being the first to offer OpenAI’s AI services to domestic corporate clients,” said Lee Ho-joon, the company’s cloud service business division leader. “We plan to supply ChatGPT Enterprise to a wide range of businesses across diverse industries.” The company will provide comprehensive su

Dec 23, 2025By Lee Gyu-lee
Samsung SDS becomes Korea’s 1st reseller of OpenAI’s ChatGPT Enterprise
Tech & Science

Samsung Electronics executives named 2026 IEEE Fellows

Two executives at Samsung Electronics have been named as Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Fellows by the world’s largest professional organization spanning electrical engineering, electronics, computing and telecommunications. The company announced on Monday that Song Kee-bong, senior vice president and head of its System Large-Scale Integration (LSI) R&D center in the United States, and Han Jin-woo, vice president and head of the dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) technology development team at its semiconductor research center, have received the honor. The Fellow designation recognizes individuals with more than a decade of professional experience who have made outstanding contributions in fields such as telecommunications and semiconductors, significantly advancing industry and society. It is the highest grade of membership conferred by IEEE, awarded to fewer than 0.1 percent of its members each year. Song joined Samsung’s U.S. R&D center after working at several global big tech firms, and now oversees the company’s system LSI research operations, focus

Dec 22, 2025By Lee Gyu-lee
Samsung Electronics executives named 2026 IEEE Fellows
Companies

Petrochemical firms step up last-minute restructuring push

Petrochemical companies have finalized their self-restructuring plans, paving the way for the government to proceed with a sweeping overhaul of the struggling industry. Submitted by the government’s Friday deadline, the plans outline intensive restructuring measures, including asset sales and the formation of joint ventures among interested firms, as the companies seek to cope with a prolonged global oversupply of petrochemicals. The ministry and 10 leading petrochemical firms have agreed to cut total domestic ethylene production by about 2.7 million to 3.7 million tons a year. Companies that miss the timetable risk being excluded from future financial and policy support, adding urgency to the current round of negotiations. In the Yeosu and Daesan industrial complexes, companies finalized their proposals just hours before the cutoff, signaling progress on critical capacity cuts. In Yeosu, Yeochun NCC and Lotte Chemical agreed to jointly submit a restructuring plan. The plan includes the permanent shutdown of Yeochun NCC’s third ethylene unit with an annual capacity of 470,000 tons, w

Dec 19, 2025By Lee Gyu-lee
Petrochemical firms step up last-minute restructuring push
Tech & Science

Kakao open-sources Kanana-2 model optimized for agentic AI

Kakao has released Kanana-2, its most advanced in-house large language model (LLM) featuring enhanced performance and better efficiency, as open source and optimized for agentic artificial intelligence (AI) systems. The company announced that it has open-sourced three new models: Base, Instruct and Thinking. The Instruct model is characterized by an improved ability to comply with instructions through post-training. The Thinking model specializes in reasoning. This marks the first time that Kakao has open-sourced its reasoning model while also giving full public access to model weights for developers who wish to fine-tune them with their own datasets. Since unveiling its proprietary Kanana lineup last year, the company has steadily expanded its open-source offerings from lightweight models to Kanana-1.5, which was built for complex problem solving. Kanana-2 represents the company’s latest leap forward in research, delivering major improvements in performance and efficiency with an emphasis on building AI that can understand user intent and act proactively. “Innovative AI services ulti

Dec 19, 2025By Lee Gyu-lee
Kakao open-sources Kanana-2 model optimized for agentic AI
Companies

TikTok continues to see exponential global demand for K-brands with K-content boom on platform

With Korean brands seeing unprecedented sales momentum on TikTok as K-content continues to fuel global demand, the platform is doubling down on Korea as a priority market, pledging heavier investment in new products and business solutions to help local sellers reach global consumers. “The exponential growth we have seen from key (Korean) brands who set up shops, especially in the U.S. and Southeast Asia, the level of its growth, has never been seen before at all in the industry,” Matty Lin, TikTok Korea’s global business solutions general manager, said during a media event in Gangnam District, Seoul, on Thursday. "Korea is a priority market for us as a company and we're highly committed to continue investing heavily in this market domestically but also globally, supporting all the key sellers.” The company shared its achievements for the year during the event, underscoring that the platform’s unique blend of content, commerce and creators is driving unprecedented global demand for Korean brands amid the boom in K-content. TikTok Korea Head of Operations Jung Jae-hoon shared tha

Dec 18, 2025By Lee Gyu-lee
TikTok continues to see exponential global demand for K-brands with K-content boom on platform
Tech & Science

SK hynix secures Intel certification for 256GB DDR5

SK hynix announced Thursday that it has become the first in the industry to complete the Intel Data Center Certified process for its 256-gigabyte Double Data Rate 5 (DDR5) Registered Dual In-Line Memory Module (RDIMM). The high-capacity server memory is based on 32GB fifth-generation 10-nanometer-class (1b) dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and is designed for the Intel Xeon 6 platform. RDIMM is a type of memory for servers and workstations that includes an additional register or buffer chip to help the memory controller communicate more efficiently with the DRAM chips. “We are now able to respond more swiftly to customer needs, solidifying our leadership in the server DDR5 DRAM market. As a full-stack AI (artificial intelligence) memory creator, we will actively address the growing demand for high-performance, low-power and high-capacity memory solutions to further enhance customer satisfaction,” said Lee Sang-kwon, head of SK hynix’s DRAM Product Planning & Enablement. The 256GB DDR5 RDIMM went through extensive testing and rigorous validation at Intel’s Advanced Data Center

Dec 18, 2025By Lee Gyu-lee
SK hynix secures Intel certification for 256GB DDR5
Companies

LG Innotek unveils next-gen under-display driver camera

LG Innotek said Thursday it has developed a next-generation under-display camera (UDC) module that can be mounted behind a vehicle’s instrument cluster to monitor the driver. The UDC is a core component of the driver monitoring system (DMS), which combines in-vehicle cameras and software to detect the driver’s condition — such as forward attention — in real time. Developed through about a year of joint research with LG Display, the new module addresses a longstanding challenge of UDC technology: image quality degradation caused by the display covering the camera lens. The auto parts company said the product applies its proprietary artificial intelligence-based image restoration software to recover lost visual information, achieving image quality that is more than 99 percent equivalent to footage captured without a display obstructing the lens. Unlike conventional DMS cameras that protrude from dashboards or steering wheels, the new UDC module is completely hidden behind the instrument cluster. The company said this design enhances interior aesthetics and increases design flexibil

Dec 18, 2025By Lee Gyu-lee
LG Innotek unveils next-gen under-display driver camera
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