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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

SK chairman calls for full-fledged AI transformation

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won urged executives and employees to pursue full-fledged efforts toward artificial intelligence (AI) transformation in order to seize the current opportunity stemming from the strong alignment between the group’s business portfolio and the AI value chain, the conglomerate said Sunday. Chey made the remarks during the 2026 Icheon Forum, an annual seminar attended by SK employees and outside experts, held from Thursday through Saturday. “Now is the time to launch our AI transformation effort at full speed across every corner of our businesses,” Chey said. “For this, we must first have to clearly define our business and determine what and how we can innovate through AI.” He stressed the importance of AI transformation in improving SK Group’s operation capability, urging the use of AI agents across the organization. “More than 90 percent of our employees are already using AI, but we now need AI that goes beyond individual use and genuinely helps the team by turning those efforts into organizationwide performance," he said. Chey said SK Group is now wi

Jun 14, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
SK chairman calls for full-fledged AI transformation
Companies

PHOTO Congressional Baseball Game for Charity in US

Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) Chairman Ryu Jin, on screen, delivers opening remarks at the Congressional Baseball Game for Charity at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., Wednesday (local time). FKI participated in the game as a sponsor and sent a delegation of executives from major Korean investors in the United States, including Samsung Electronics, SK Group, Hyundai Motor Group, LG, POSCO Group, HD Hyundai, LS and KBI Group. Courtesy of FKI

Jun 11, 2026By Nam Hyun-woophoto
[PHOTO] Congressional Baseball Game for Charity in US
Companies

SK to build AI data center in Japan amid gov’t push for domestic investment

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won's recent moves in Japan have raised fresh questions about whether the group's investment strategy runs counter to the government's push for major technology firms to expand investment in Korea's regional economies. In an interview with the Nihon Keizai Shimbun published on Thursday, Chey said SK is planning to build an artificial intelligence (AI) factory in Japan “in a timeline between 2028 and 2029.” He also said SK hynix could review plans to establish overseas production bases if additional memory fabrication capacity is required in the future. Describing Japan as “a very strong candidate,” Chey noted that the country has a well-established semiconductor ecosystem with a high concentration of equipment and materials companies. The remarks came at a time when the Lee Jae Myung administration is intensifying efforts to attract major technology investments to regional areas, particularly the Honam region — encompassing Gwangju and the South and North Jeolla provinces — a traditional stronghold of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK). A da

Jun 11, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
SK to build AI data center in Japan amid gov’t push for domestic investment
Tech & Science

Samsung Electronics to introduce ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude in operations

Samsung Electronics will introduce the world's top three generative artificial intelligence (AI) services across its operations as the company seeks to accelerate AI transformation beyond relying solely on in-house AI models and services. The company said Thursday its appliance-making Device Experience (DX) Division will officially allow employees to use ChatGPT, Gemini Enterprise and Claude across their operations from Friday. Samsung Electronics said it decided to introduce the AI services to give employees greater flexibility in selecting tools best suited to their work, rather than limiting them to a specific platform. It added that the move is aimed at accelerating AI transformation by creating an environment in which all employees can leverage the most effective tools. “This is not simply about introducing AI as a workplace tool. It marks the starting point for fundamentally transforming the way we work and execute,” Samsung Electronics co-CEO and Head of DX Division Roh Tae-moon said. "By strengthening execution capabilities across the organization, we aim to elevate the DX D

Jun 11, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
Samsung Electronics to introduce ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude in operations
Tech & Science

SES AI eyes robotics boom with 'vibe research' tool for battery materials

The battery industry is bracing for a paradigm shift as the rise of physical artificial intelligence (AI) boosts demand beyond traditional applications such as electric vehicles (EVs) and energy storage systems (ESS) to include drones, humanoid robots and other robotic systems. The transition forces battery makers to invest more heavily in developing new materials and capabilities for delivering the power output, safety and durability required for next-generation robotics. SES AI, a Boston-based battery firm, believes “vibe research” will be at the center of this new paradigm. The AI-driven approach allows researchers to guide and orchestrate materials discovery through simple prompts, dramatically shortening battery development cycles “from years to weeks” while reducing research costs through the company’s Molecular Universe platform. During an interview with The Korea Times, SES AI founder and CEO Qichao Hu emphasized that the race to produce humanoid robot batteries will be about how quickly companies can discover and commercialize new materials, as humanoid robots are exp

Jun 11, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
SES AI eyes robotics boom with 'vibe research' tool for battery materials
Companies

KEF chairman urges cooperative labor relations in AI transformation at ILO

Korea Enterprises Federation Chairman Sohn Kyung-shik urged cooperative relations between labor and management in businesses’ artificial intelligence (AI) transformation during his speech at the 114th Session of the International Labour Conference hosted by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Geneva Wednesday. Sohn attended the ILO session in Geneva as Korea’s representative of employers. Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Young-hoon and Federation of Korean Trade Unions President Kim Dong-myeong also participated as representatives of the government and labor, respectively. Sohn said AI is driving a profound transformation of socioeconomic structures and the way people live and work, stressing the need to create an environment that fosters entrepreneurship and innovation. "Every country must swiftly reform outdated laws and institutions that no longer fit the demands of the times," he said. "In Korea's case, it is urgent to make labor market regulations, such as strong protections for regular workers and a standardized working-hour system, more flexible." Sohn noted tha

Jun 10, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
KEF chairman urges cooperative labor relations in AI transformation at ILO
Tech & Science

Samsung mulls new chip packaging plant in Gwangju

Samsung Electronics is doing a feasibility study on establishing a semiconductor packaging plant in the southwestern city of Gwangju, government and industry officials said Wednesday, noting that plans will likely be announced during a presidential meeting later this month. According to officials, Samsung Electronics is now reviewing its investment plan for the new semiconductor packaging plant to address growing memory chip demands and in response to President Lee Jae Myung's push for more balanced regional development. If the plan is finalized, the facility is expected to be responsible for advanced semiconductor packaging for Samsung Electronics' latest chips, including high-bandwidth memory (HBM). Packaging, which comes after the fabrication process in semiconductor manufacturing, was traditionally regarded as a lower-value, less technologically demanding stage, compared with front-end wafer processing, where ultrafine circuits are etched onto wafers using highly sophisticated equipment. However, as artificial intelligence semiconductors become increasingly advanced, the ability to

Jun 10, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
Samsung mulls new chip packaging plant in Gwangju
Companies

FORUM Integration into local ecosystem key to Korean biz's global sustainability: panelists

Korea's top business leaders from Hanwha, SK and other major companies highlighted deeper integration into local ecosystems as a key factor in helping Korean firms evolve from export-driven businesses to sustainable global players, sharing their experiences and success stories at The Korea Times Forum "Made in Korea: Global and AI enablement," co-hosted by GR Korea on Tuesday. During Session 1 of the forum, Hanwha Ocean Head of Management Support Office Jung In-sub, SK Group Head of Research Park Suk-jung, PTC Korea General Manager Alex Kim and S4 Capital Chairman Sir Martin Sorrell each discussed strategies to help Korean firms deepen their presence in overseas markets. The discussion was moderated by American Chamber of Commerce in Korea Chairman James Kim. “When Hanwha Ocean was launched in 2023, we believed the biggest risk facing the company was the cyclical nature of the shipbuilding industry,” Jung said. “As we considered how to overcome that challenge, we saw an opportunity in the weakening competitiveness of the U.S. shipbuilding sector and decided to enter the market. In

Jun 9, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
[FORUM] Integration into local ecosystem key to Korean biz's global sustainability: panelists
Tech & Science

Nvidia broadens ties with Korean firms during CEO's Seoul swing

Nvidia has expanded its artificial intelligence (AI) partnerships with a broad range of Korean businesses during CEO Jensen Huang's whirlwind meetings with top business leaders in Seoul, laying the foundations for wide-ranging cooperation encompassing joint chip development, data center infrastructure and physical AI initiatives. On Monday alone, Huang met SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo, Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun, Naver Chairman of the Board Lee Hae-jin, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Jun Young-hyun, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyung-hoon and a slew of other key figures in Korea's tech industries. During a reception titled "Nvidia Korea AI Ecosystem Reception," Huang met Bae to discuss the U.S. company's supply of the latest AI accelerators to Korea, including Vera Rubin and B300 graphics processing units. "We have discussed receiving around 7,000 B300s and fewer than 3,000 Vera Rubins, and we hope to finalize the agreement within this year," Bae said. "We expect to secure the B300 supply, but Vera R

Jun 8, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
Nvidia broadens ties with Korean firms during CEO's Seoul swing
Tech & Science

SK, Nvidia form ‘long-term’ partnership for chip design, AI infrastructure

SK Group and Nvidia on Monday announced a “long-term” partnership for artificial intelligence (AI), which includes co-developing chips for AI accelerators and expanding AI infrastructure including semiconductor fabs and data centers. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won said their partnership involves “jointly designing AI road maps,” adding that the cooperation will extend beyond SK hynix's chip supply business to encompass a broader range of SK Group's AI initiatives, including those led by SK Telecom. “Today we're announcing a partnership with SK that has many elements,” Huang said during a media interview at SK Group's headquarters in central Seoul. “We are securing a long-term agreement. We are co-designing our road maps together so that Nvidia's architecture and SK hynix's memory technology can advance together, allowing us to achieve the highest performance and the greatest value for the market.” Chey also said the partnership has evolved from a memory-focused relationship centered on SK hynix into a broader collaboration spanning the rest of

Jun 8, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
SK, Nvidia form ‘long-term’ partnership for chip design, AI infrastructure
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