my timesThe Korea Times
namhw

Nam Hyun-woo

Korea Times Business Reporter

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.

Go to Email

Read more

Companies

LG Electronics posts solid Q2 earnings despite challenging market

LG Electronics on Thursday reported an operating profit of 1.58 trillion won ($1.10 billion) and revenue of 23.8 trillion won ($16.56 billion) in the second quarter, both record highs for an April-June period despite persistent challenges in its business environment. The company said in its regulatory filing that the second-quarter operating profit grew 147 percent from a year earlier, while sales improved 14.9 percent during the same period. The company attributed the strong performance to the continued growth of its home appliance business, despite unfavorable external conditions such as the conflict in the Middle East. It added that major sporting events and continued growth in its vehicle solutions business also contributed to higher overall sales. Operating profit more than doubled as the share of high-value-added products increased and cost competitiveness improved across the business, while tariff refunds on exports to the United States made last year were recognized as one-off gains. Its Home Appliance Solution division posted 7.08 trillion won in sales and 685.9 billion won in o

Jul 30, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
LG Electronics posts solid Q2 earnings despite challenging market
Companies

KT collects foreign customer feedback for better service

KT held an event to collect feedback from foreign customers as part of its efforts to improve services for international residents in Korea. According to the mobile carrier, 14 customers from Vietnam, Indonesia, Russia, the Philippines, Mongolia, Cambodia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Malaysia attended the event held Wednesday at the Seoul Foreign Resident Center in Yeongdeungpo District, Seoul. The event was part of the company's customer engagement program, with executives meeting directly with consumers to hear their feedback and identify areas for improvement. It marked the fourth session of the program, following events with young customers in April, senior customers in May and residents of remote islands and mountainous regions in June. During the event, participants shared their experiences and suggestions as foreign residents, including mobile plan subscriptions, customer support and in-store assistance. A Russian customer said the registration process can be difficult because Russian names often exceed Korean character limits when transliterated. The customer also called for im

Jul 30, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
KT collects foreign customer feedback for better service
Companies

Samsung Electronics to break ground on 2nd fab in Taylor within this year

Samsung Electronics said Thursday it will break ground on the second foundry fab in Taylor, Texas, by the end of this year, citing growing global demand for advanced semiconductor manufacturing. It also dismissed market concerns over a potential memory chip glut, saying the long lead time required to expand manufacturing capacity makes a sharp increase in supply before 2028 unlikely. Samsung Electronics shared its outlook on semiconductor business during its second-quarter earnings call on Thursday, during which it announced 89.5 trillion won ($62 billion) in record-breaking operating profit. The figure represents an 1,814 percent growth from a year earlier, and the revenue for the April-June period reached 171.5 trillion won, up 130 percent year-on-year. Both revenue and operating profit set new quarterly records, making Samsung Electronics the world’s most profitable company. The chip-making Device Solutions division alone posted 127.5 trillion won in sales, up 357 percent from a year earlier, while operating profit surged more than 220-fold to 89.2 trillion won. The record results we

Jul 30, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
Samsung Electronics to break ground on 2nd fab in Taylor within this year
Tech & Science

NASA seeks Korea's role in Moon Base project

NASA is seeking Korea’s participation in the sector of communications, landers and robotics in its Moon Base program, the program’s chief said Wednesday. “During Apollo, it was a United States effort, but to build the moon base and even to get back to the moon, we don’t plan to do it alone,” NASA Moon Base Program Manager Carlos Garcia-Galan said during a press briefing in Seoul. “We hope to go hand-in-hand with our international partners and create a team that can achieve the near-impossible. … South Korea is one of the players that we’re hoping will engage with us in this incredible endeavor.” The Moon Base program is part of Artemis, NASA's international lunar exploration initiative aimed at landing humans on the moon. The agency initially planned to establish Gateway, a space station in lunar orbit, but has since shifted its focus to building a permanent base on the lunar surface. Under the revised road map, NASA aims to deploy more than 4,000 kilograms of cargo to the lunar surface by 2028, introduce permanent infrastructure and pressurized rovers by 2032, and conn

Jul 29, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
NASA seeks Korea's role in Moon Base project
Companies

PHOTO Korea-Brazil biopharmaceutical partnership

SK Biopharmaceuticals CEO Lee Dong-hoon, third from left, poses with Eurofarma Global CEO Marco Billi, fourth from left, after signing a memorandum of understanding on marketing cooperation for SK Biopharmaceuticals' partial-onset seizure treatment Cenobamate during the Korea-Brazil Business Roundtable held on the occasion of President Lee Jae Myung's visit to Sao Paulo, Tuesday (local time). From left are Federation of Korean Industries Chairman Ryu Jin, Minister of Trade, Industry and Resources Kim Jung-kwan, Lee, Billi, Brazil's Minister of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services Marcio Elias Rosa and ApexBrasil President Laudemir Muller. Courtesy of SK Biopharmaceuticals

Jul 29, 2026By Nam Hyun-woophoto
[PHOTO] Korea-Brazil biopharmaceutical partnership
Companies

SK hynix shatters Q2 earnings record amid AI peak concerns

SK hynix shattered its quarterly earnings record in the second quarter, just three months after setting its previous high. Still, its shares extended losses Wednesday as the record results failed to meet elevated market expectations, adding to concerns that the artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure investment boom may be losing momentum — a claim the Korean chipmaker dismissed. During its earnings call, SK hynix said its second-quarter operating profit soared 557.2 percent from a year earlier to 60.54 trillion won ($41.6 billion). Revenue for the quarter reached 79.32 trillion won, up 256.8 percent year-on-year. Both revenue and operating profit set new records, surpassing the previous highs of 52.58 trillion won in revenue and 37.6 trillion won in operating profit. Its operating margin reached 76 percent. However, the results fell short of brokerages' consensus estimates of 83.94 trillion won in revenue and 63.99 trillion won in operating profit. The company attributed its strong performance to continued demand driven by expanding AI infrastructure investments, with higher prices

Jul 29, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
SK hynix shatters Q2 earnings record amid AI peak concerns
Companies

Decision on stalled sale of SK Siltron likely to come this week

Talks between SK Group and Doosan Group over the sale of a controlling stake in SK Siltron are expected to conclude this week, seven months after Doosan Corp. was selected as the preferred bidder. According to industry officials on Tuesday, SK Inc. is considering putting the sale of its 70.6 percent stake in silicon wafer maker SK Siltron on the agenda for its board meeting on Friday. As part of its portfolio reorganization, SK Group selected Doosan Corp. as the preferred bidder for the stake in December last year. The two sides were initially anticipated to reach a sale and purchase agreement within the first half of this year, but both repeatedly said in regulatory filings that a definitive agreement had not yet been finalized. At the time, SK Siltron was valued at around 5 trillion won ($3.4 billion). This year, however, the value of silicon wafers has increased as a result of the semiconductor upcycle, with the company's valuation now estimated at around 7 trillion won, prompting SK to put the agreement on hold. SK Siltron is the world's third-largest silicon wafer maker by revenue,

Jul 28, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
Decision on stalled sale of SK Siltron likely to come this week
Companies

US bill targets foreign officials over alleged discrimination against American firms

A bill that could bar foreign officials accused of discriminating against American companies from entering the United States has been introduced, carrying potential implications for Korea-U.S. relations by citing the Korean government's investigation into e-commerce platform Coupang over its massive customer data breach as a key example. U.S. Rep. Michael Baumgartner on Thursday (local time) filed the bill, or the proposed No Racketeers on Our Shores Act, which seeks to impose an entry ban for foreign officials “who weaponize the government to discriminate against American companies.” According to a fact sheet on the bill, it would amend the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act to deny entry to, or deport, foreign government officials who engage in economic discrimination against American individuals or companies. It targets officials who use government authority to impose investigations, fines, taxes, licensing decisions or other regulatory measures on American businesses more harshly than on similarly situated domestic or non-U.S. companies. Baumgartner cited Coupang’s case as a

Jul 28, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
US bill targets foreign officials over alleged discrimination against American firms
Companies

LG Innotek, TDK partner on physical AI sensing

LG Innotek has formed a strategic partnership with Japan's TDK to jointly develop next-generation vision and tactile sensing modules for humanoid robots and other physical artificial intelligence (AI) applications, the companies said Monday. The partnership will combine LG Innotek's optical and ultra-precision module design technologies with TDK's broad portfolio of sensor technologies to develop a range of physical AI solutions, including next-generation vision sensing modules and tactile sensing modules. The companies will jointly develop next-generation vision sensing modules by integrating LG Innotek's vision sensing technology with TDK's inertial measurement units, position sensors and microphones. Compared with existing products that primarily rely on visual information, the new modules will also process motion, orientation and audio data to significantly improve robots' recognition capabilities. LG Innotek plans to launch the next-generation vision sensing module equipped with inertial sensors in 2027. The companies will also jointly develop tactile sensing modules that function a

Jul 28, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
LG Innotek, TDK partner on physical AI sensing
Tech & Science

AMD, science ministry team up to set up AI R&D center in Korea

The Ministry of Science and ICT has teamed up with U.S. chip giant AMD to set up an artificial intelligence (AI) research center in Korea, as well as expanding infrastructure for heterogeneous AI computing. According to the ministry, Monday, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyung-hoon and AMD Chair and CEO Lisa Su signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on bilateral cooperation in the AI semiconductor ecosystem during AMD Advancing AI 2026 in San Francisco, Thursday. Under the MOU, AMD will begin preparations to establish an “AI Center of Excellence” in Korea, which will serve as a collaboration hub supporting technology cooperation among Korean companies, universities and research institutes, AI semiconductor software development, computing technology validation and joint research based on AMD's computing resources and software capabilities. The two sides also agreed to pursue the development and demonstration of a heterogeneous AI computing infrastructure combining AMD's central processing units (CPUs) and graphics processing units (GPUs) with domestica

Jul 27, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
AMD, science ministry team up to set up AI R&D center in Korea
previous page
1516171819
next page

Top 5 stories

Korea Times
About Us
Introduction
History
Contact Us
Products & Services
Subscribe
E-paper
RSS Service
Content Sales
Site Map
Policy
Code of Ethics
Ombudsman
Privacy Policy
Youth Protection Policy
Terms of Service
Copyright Policy
Family Site
Hankookilbo
Dongwha Group
FacebookXYoutubeInstagram
CEO & Publisher: Oh Young-jinDigital News Email: webmaster@koreatimes.co.krTel: 02-724-2114Online newspaper registration No: 서울,아52844Date of registration: 2020.02.05Masthead: The Korea TimesCopyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.