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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.

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Companies

Samsung chairman to receive Samsung Electronics shares worth $1.94 bil. from mother

Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong will receive the company’s shares worth 2.6 trillion won ($1.94 billion) from his mother, former Leeum Museum of Art Director Hong Ra-hee. According to the company’s regulatory filing Tuesday, Hong will gift approximately 11.16 million shares of Samsung Electronics to Lee. The shares represent a 0.17 percent stake in the company and are worth approximately 2.6 trillion won based on Tuesday’s closing price. The gift agreement was signed Oct. 12, and the transfer is scheduled to be completed Nov. 12. Lee currently holds a 1.58 percent stake in the stake, and his holdings will increase to 1.75 percent when the transfer is completed. Hong's stake will decline from 0.99 percent to 0.82 percent. Samsung Life Insurance is Samsung Electronics' largest shareholder, with an 8.51 percent stake. Together with other Samsung affiliates, Hong, Lee, other family members and executives classified as related parties, the largest shareholder group holds 19.7 percent of the company's voting shares. The amount of gift tax is expected to be determined

Oct 13, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
Samsung chairman to receive Samsung Electronics shares worth $1.94 bil. from mother
Tech & Science

CXMT's new DRAM tech to test Korean memory makers' dominance

Concerns are growing that the technological gap between China's CXMT and Korean memory makers Samsung Electronics and SK hynix in DRAM technology has already narrowed, after the Chinese company unveiled plans to launch server memory product by the end of this year featuring a next-generation memory cell architecture that remains only on the technology road maps of the two Korean chipmakers. According to South China Morning Post and other Chinese media outlets, CXMT President Cao Kanyu said the company plans to roll out a new server DDR5 based featuring the new architecture during an industrial event in Shanghai on Saturday. The new architecture uses a design called 4F square, which reduces the space occupied by each memory cell. F refers to the minimum line width that a given DRAM manufacturing process can draw. In current processes such as 1a, 1b and 1c, F is just over 10 nanometers. 4F square means each cell occupies an area equivalent to four times F squared. The current industry standard is 6F square, meaning the new technology could theoretically reduce the area occupied by each me

Oct 13, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
CXMT's new DRAM tech to test Korean memory makers' dominance
Tech & Science

AI supply chain exposure splits Q3 outlook for Samsung, LG parts units

Exposure to the artificial intelligence (AI) supply chain is splitting the third-quarter earnings outlooks for LG Innotek and Samsung Electro-Mechanics. The former faces weaker earnings prospects because of its optics-heavy sales mix and sensitivity to foreign exchange fluctuations, while the latter is offsetting currency-related pressure with a growing contribution from multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) and semiconductor substrates. According to market tracker FnGuide on Tuesday, brokerages’ consensus estimate for LG Innotek’s third-quarter operating profit stood at 202.9 billion won ($152 million), down 32.8 percent from 302 billion won a month earlier. The revenue forecast was also lowered to 6.1 trillion won from 6.32 trillion won over the same period. The worsening earnings outlook weighed on LG Innotek shares, which plunged 15.47 percent on Monday. The biggest factor appears to be foreign exchange fluctuations, as raw materials and inventories purchased or produced when the won was weaker are being reflected in sales at a stronger won, hurting profit margins. “The sharp de

Oct 13, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
AI supply chain exposure splits Q3 outlook for Samsung, LG parts units
Companies

Samsung showcases next-generation AI memory at OCP, highlights AMD partnership

Samsung Electronics showcased next-generation memory and storage technologies at the 2026 OCP Global Summit in the United States on Monday (local time), highlighting its efforts to improve artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and expand cooperation with global technology companies. The Korean tech giant jointly demonstrated a memory expansion solution with AMD and displayed products related to AI chipmakers Groq and Nvidia at the event, where Samsung participated as a Diamond Sponsor. As AI models grow larger and AI agents handle increasingly complex tasks, demand is rising for memory capacity, faster data processing and more efficient storage. Samsung presented technologies designed to address these challenges across three areas: computing speed, memory expansion and data storage. A key highlight was the joint demonstration with AMD of a Compute Express Link (CXL)-based memory expansion solution. CXL allows processors and other computing components to share memory resources, helping AI systems access additional capacity without relying solely on memory installed directly in indi

Oct 13, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
Samsung showcases next-generation AI memory at OCP, highlights AMD partnership
Companies

Celltrion Q3 operating profit tops W500 bil. mark for 1st time

Biotech company Celltrion said Monday that its operating profit for the third quarter of 2026 is expected to surpass the 500 billion won ($374.3 million) mark for the first time, driven by robust sales in global markets. In its earnings guidance released Monday, the company forecast 1.5 trillion won in sales and 510 billion won in operating profit for the three-month period, representing year-on-year increases of 45.8 percent and 69.2 percent, respectively. Both sales and operating profit reached record quarterly highs, with operating profit surpassing 500 billion won for the first time since the company's establishment. Celltrion said its profitability has improved due to a growing share of high-margin products in its sales mix and improvements in its cost structure. Earlier this year, Celltrion set quarterly operating profit targets of more than 300 billion won for the first quarter, 400 billion won for the second and 500 billion won for the third. The company said it has exceeded its targets in each of the first three quarters, demonstrating that its profit growth has progressed as p

Oct 12, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
Celltrion Q3 operating profit tops W500 bil. mark for 1st time
Tech & Science

AI pioneer sees Korea's role in developing world model

Developing industrial artificial intelligence (AI) requires "world AI" capable of understanding the physical world, and Korea has an increasingly important role to play in this field, according to Yann LeCun, widely regarded as one of the four leading figures in the global AI academia. LeCun and a number of other leading experts shared their views during the Global AI Leaders Seoul Dialogue, an event organized ahead of the fifth International Industrial AI Conference, scheduled for Tuesday in Tokyo. LeCun is a leading AI scientist, a recipient of the 2018 Turing Award, founder of AMI Labs and former chief AI scientist and vice president at Meta. He is known for pioneering convolutional neural networks, which revolutionized image recognition. He also serves as chief science adviser to Project Tapestry, an AI Alliance-led initiative to develop a large-scale AI model through federated learning, which allows AI models to learn from data stored across different countries or companies without requiring the data to be transferred to a central server. Christopher Nguyen, CEO of Aitomatic and chi

Oct 12, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
AI pioneer sees Korea's role in developing world model
Companies

Esports team DRX seeks to broaden territory into digital entertainment

The esports industry continues to expand, drawing large audiences across game titles and appealing to an increasingly diverse range of people. The Business Research Company expects the global market to grow at an average annual rate of about 20 percent, from $3.02 billion in 2025 to $7.71 billion in 2030. However, few esports team operators have managed to turn that popularity into profits, as player salaries continue to rise while revenues from competition, such as prize money and league revenue sharing, remain volatile. DRX has remained profitable since 2024, helped by a diversified portfolio across multiple esports titles and a stable revenue base built through its advertising agency subsidiary. During an interview with The Korea Times, CEO Yang “Can” Sun-il said he is seeking to transform DRX into a broader digital entertainment company, expanding beyond esports through intellectual property (IP) and its esports academy, particularly in Southeast Asia. “K-culture has certainly become much more sophisticated and valuable than it was 10 years ago,” Yang said. “If you go to co

Oct 11, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
Esports team DRX seeks to broaden territory into digital entertainment
Companies

Hanmi Pharm's obesity treatment Eppe wins domestic approval

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on Thursday approved Hanmi Pharmaceutical's Eppe, Korea's first domestically developed glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1)-based obesity treatment. Eppe is the 45th novel drug developed in Korea and the country's first domestically developed GLP-1-based obesity drug. It has been approved in five doses: 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 milligrams. According to the ministry, the injectable drug is intended for chronic weight management in adults with obesity or for those who are overweight and do not have diabetes, as an adjunct to a reduced-calorie diet and exercise. The drug was initially licensed out to global pharmaceutical company Sanofi in 2015 as a diabetes treatment, but the rights were returned in 2020. Hanmi Pharm then decided to develop the drug as its own obesity treatment. Eppe was initially expected to become Korea's 44th domestically developed new drug, but became the 45th after an eye treatment jointly developed by Aju Pharm and GL Pharm Tech received approval on Sept. 8. Eppe is set to compete with leading GLP-1-based obesity treatments such as Wegovy and

Oct 8, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
Hanmi Pharm's obesity treatment Eppe wins domestic approval
Companies

Solidigm IPO rumor puts hynix chairman back under scrutiny

Controversy has resurfaced over SK hynix’s reported efforts to list its NAND flash memory subsidiary Solidigm in the U.S., after reports said the company had selected lead managers for an initial public offering (IPO), despite repeatedly maintaining that “nothing has been confirmed.” In an effort to protect retail investors, Korean financial regulators have introduced rules that prohibit parent-subsidiary listings in the domestic market in principle while allowing exceptions under certain conditions. However, because Solidigm is seeking an overseas listing, the case has raised questions over whether SK hynix could face regulatory penalties if it fails to comply with shareholder protection requirements. Bloomberg reported Thursday that Solidigm has selected Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley as lead underwriters for its planned IPO in the U.S. next year. The offering, if pursued, is expected to raise approximately $10 billion and value the NAND flash memory maker at up to $100 billion. Solidigm's parent company, memory chip giant SK hynix, has maintained that no decision has been mad

Oct 8, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
Solidigm IPO rumor puts hynix chairman back under scrutiny
Companies

Samsung Electronics 1st Korean firm to top $80 bil. in quarterly operating profit

Samsung Electronics on Thursday estimated 107.4 trillion won ($80.28 billion) in operating profit for the third quarter, becoming the first Korean company to surpass 100 trillion won in quarterly operating profit. In a regulatory filing, the company said its third-quarter operating profit and revenue are each estimated at 107.4 trillion won and 195 trillion won, respectively. If the figures are finalized when the company announces its full earnings results on Oct. 29, they would represent year-on-year increases of 782.5 percent in operating profit and 126.6 percent in sales. Beside Samsung, no other company in the world expect for Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil company Aramco has posted a quarterly operating profit exceeding that amount. Aramco reported $86.5 billion in operating profit in the second quarter of 2022. The operating profit surpassed brokerages’ consensus estimate of 106.64 trillion won, though sales fell slightly short of the 200.64 trillion won forecast. The earnings are particularly significant as they exceeded expectations despite concerns that the Korean won's sharp

Oct 8, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
Samsung Electronics 1st Korean firm to top $80 bil. in quarterly operating profit
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