The Korea Times

Firms scale back on spending

By Kim Yoo-chul, Cho Mu-hyun In times of massive uncertainties like these, cash is king and doing nothing becomes a valid investment strategy. This appears to be an article of faith for Korea’s big businesses, which are rushing to scale back on their lavish investment commitments for this year and next as Korea’s export-dependent economy continue to sustain a lashing from worsening global conditions. An official from Samsung Electronics, the undisputed kingpin of Korea Inc., told The Korea Times that the company expects to lower its investment in semiconductors next year by as much as 30 percent, or 16 trillion won, as the global demand for technology products continues to be sluggish. Samsung is also planning to spend less than initially planned on its liquid crystal display (LCD) factory currently built in South China. Its rival, LG Display, also intends to cut investments as well. SK hynix, the world’s second-largest maker of computer memory chips behind Samsung, has invested 4 trillion won in facilities and equipment this year, but its budget next year is expected

Oct 4, 2012By Kim Yoo-chul

Tech & Science

Samsung, Apple may reconcile

By Kim Yoo-chul, Cho Mu-hyun Apple has proposed a cross-licensing contract to Samsung Electronics, an official said Thursday. ``Apple offered to sign a cross-licensing deal over patents; but its requests were unacceptable,’’ the senior Samsung official said. Apple’s intellectual-property licensing director Boris Teskler, had outlined a deal to his counterpart at Samsung _ Kim Seong-woo _ in a three-page letter that was revealed this week after U.S. Judge Lucy H. Koh rejected the firms’ request to keep the documents sealed. ``Apple is willing to license its declared-essential patents to Samsung on license terms that rely on the price of baseband chips on a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) royalties basis. Apple estimates that this approach, which implements the true meaning of and requirements imposed by FRAND, will result in a $0.33 per unit in royalties for Apple patents,’’ Apple said in a letter to Judge Koh. ``I don’t doubt that Apple would have liked Samsung to accept its offer and Apple’s proposed per-unit amount may seem low,’’ Florian Mueller, a

Oct 4, 2012By Kim Yoo-chul

Tech & Science

Samsung boosts China activity

By Kim Yoo-chul Samsung Electronics has become more aggressive about strengthening its presence in China, broadening its partnership with local companies and tightening its relationship with local government officials in order to land big projects. Industry insiders believe that the company’s increased activity in the Middle Kingdom has much to do with its souring relationship with Apple, which has been throwing lawsuits back and forth with its Korean rival over the past year. Samsung officials say there is a ``broad consensus’’ in the company’s upper-management that it must make more noise in China. The company clearly wants to cement itself as a brand in China, one of the fastest growing markets for mobile Internet devices such as smartphones and tablets. China is a market where Samsung desperately wants to have Apple under its feet, not only in terms of sales, but also according to its reputation as a job creator, said one Samsung official. ``As you know, we have been very aggressive in facility investment and have been holding high-profile business meetings with

Oct 2, 2012By Kim Yoo-chul

Tech & Science

US lifts sales ban on Galaxy Tab

Samsung Electronics' legal action against iPhone under way By Kim Yoo-chul A U.S. judge lifted a ban on sales in the U.S. of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet computers Monday after finding that the product didn’t violate Apple’s patents. Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, Calif., made the decision in a case separate from the $1.05 billion jury verdict in favor of Apple against Samsung, which is subject to an appeal. Meanwhile, the Korean firm is preparing to sue its smartphone rival over the fourth-generation (4G) Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless technology used in its iPhone 5. The company has already filed a suit against Apple in the U.S. over 3G technology used in the iPhone 5. Samsung claims that Apple infringed on several of its LTE related patents when designing its latest handset. ``Samsung is mulling the possibility of suing Apple for infringing on a number of our LTE patents. Any talk that we will be shying away from the iPhone 5 simply isn’t true,’’ an executive said, asking not to be named. A Samsung spokesman declined to confirm the comments, as did App

Oct 2, 2012By Kim Yoo-chul

Samsung boosts China activity

Tech & Science

Does NHN finally have global case?

Success of mobile messenger opens new opportunities for search giant By Kim Yoo-chul, Cho Mu-hyun NHN, the country’s biggest Internet company, has been described by pundits as the biggest frog in the well. The explosion of mobile Internet is allowing the operator of local search king Naver (www.naver.com) to find new opportunities. The early success of its mobile messaging service Line has pleased company officials. Originally developed by NHN Japan, it now has over 60 million registered users. ``NHN failed to meet market expectations in profit during the first half of this year. But the bullishness of Line is strengthening the bottom line. This is inspiring,’’ said KB Investment and Securities in a recent report. KB expects Line itself to create 370 billion won in revenue in 2014, the same as NHN’s total profit in 2005. ``It’s interesting to see NHN’s cash-generating structure is expanding to mobile advertising from the previous game, search and display sectors with Line leading the way. Amid continued growth in mobile devices, NHN is seeing a second-chance for co

Oct 2, 2012By Kim Yoo-chul

Tech & Science

Samsung inks deal with STMicro for foundry biz

By Kim Yoo-chul Samsung Electronics said Friday it has formed a business alliance with a Swiss semiconductor solutions firm to promote their foundry business The world's largest memory chipmaker said that it will cooperate with STMicroelectronics to develop 32- and 28-nanometer processing technology from this month. It’s the first time for Samsung to announce strategic tie-up with a top-notch semiconductor manufacturer in the logic chip business, which Samsung officials say is a ``milestone’’ for the Korean technology giant. Logic chip refers to microprocessor or a computer processor on a microchip. STMicroelectronics, headquartered in Geneva, is the seventh largest in the world. Under the partnership, Samsung will produce logic chips by using an advanced high-K metal gate technology. ``We welcome the partnership. Samsung has been maintaining constructive partnership with STMicro. Samsung has so far been jointly developing 32- and 28-nano logic chip technologies via the International Semiconductor Development Alliance (ISDA),’’ said Samsung spokesman Ken Noh. The fi

Sep 28, 2012By Kim Yoo-chul

Tech & Science

LG sues Samsung over high-tech screens

By Kim Yoo-chul The wave of intellectual property disputes sweeping the technology industry has now hit the liquid crystal display (LCD) sector, in which Korea’s Samsung Group and LG Display have been cementing a duopoly. LG Display, the runner-up LCD maker, filed a lawsuit against Samsung Electronics and Samsung Display Thursday over supposed infringement of its patents for organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screens and will seek injunctions on Samsung smart-phones and tablets using the disputed technologies. Samsung Display, which specializes in small-sized LCDs used on mobile devices, said it plans to countersue. In its court papers submitted to the Seoul Central District Court, LG Display alleged that Samsung infringed seven patents in five of its mobile Internet devices ― the Galaxy S3, Galaxy S2, Galaxy S2 HD, Galaxy Note and Galaxy Tab 7.7. LG Display’s pursuit of legal action was a hit back at Samsung, which earlier this month filed a similar claim against its rival for stealing technology involving large-sized OLED screens used for televisions. ``It’s too

Sep 27, 2012By Kim Yoo-chul

Tech & Science

Samsung, Google to powwow on Apple

Company raises handset sale target to 400 million By Kim Yoo-chul Samsung Electronics said Wednesday that it will hold a top-level meeting with its biggest software business partner Google today. Samsung, which is the representative of Google’s Android community in an ongoing fight with Apple, is pulling Google into its battle to seek royalties for patents. ``I will meet Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt on Thursday in Seoul,’’ said Samsung mobile chief Shin Jong-kyun at a launch event to unveil Samsung’s Galaxy Note 2 held at the company’s main office in downtown Seoul. Shin declined to give details, but stressed that strategic meetings with major carriers in the United States are set for next week. Samsung has already been in talks for the development of modified products aimed at escaping from Apple’s design-related patents. The Google representative arrived in Seoul late Tuesday and Schmidt will hold a news conference with local and overseas media at Google Korea headquarters, downtown Seoul, today, to roll out its Nexus 7 tablet, here. Lois Kim, th

Sep 26, 2012By Kim Yoo-chul

Tech & Science

Lee Jay-yong to meet Mexican billionaire

By Kim Yoo-chul Samsung Group heir-apparent Lee Jay-yong will meet Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim in Mexico next week. ``Samsung Electronics Chief Operating Officer Lee departed from Incheon International Airport early Wednesday. During his 10-day trip to the United States and Mexico, he will meet Samsung clients, inspect Samsung factories in those countries and meet the Mexican billionaire,’’ said a Samsung spokesman. Slim is the chairman and CEO of telecommunications firms Telmex and America Movil. He is currently the richest person in the world. ``Lee and Slim will discuss fixed- and wireless-related telecom businesses in North and South American regions,’’ said the spokesman. Slim previously met with Samsung Electronics Chairman and group owner Lee Kun-hee in April this year, on a visit to Korea, according to Samsung. Lee also plans to meet top executives of major American carriers including Verizon Wireless, AT&T and Sprint Nextel. Samsung officials say the COO is expected to ask them to carry more of the company’s mobile devices. Samsung mobile chief Shin Jon

Sep 26, 2012By Kim Yoo-chul

Tech & Science

LG to sell more commercial air conditioners

By Kim Yoo-chul LG Electronics said Tuesday it will be earning $10 billion won in revenue from selling commercial air conditioners alone by 2020, with a significant part of the growth coming from developing economies. The company has been carving out a strong position in air conditioners and cooling systems used in buildings, although it trails Western brands in the household market. Demand for commercial air conditioners is dependent on the health of the overall economic climate, which means that the decline in construction sector activity has been hurting LG’s business in the domestic market. The financial crisis in Europe and a slowing China are also challenges for LG, but the company is confident that it can compensate by expanding its presence in developing nations. “Economic troubles in Europe, which is LG’s biggest market, clearly hurt, while the economic slowdown in China and Korea is also dragging us down. Despite these difficulties, we have been maintaining our pace in growth and we remain positive about our mid- to long term business prospects,” said Lee Kam-

Sep 25, 2012By Kim Yoo-chul

Kim Yoo-chul

Read more

Firms scale back on spending

Samsung, Apple may reconcile

Samsung boosts China activity

US lifts sales ban on Galaxy Tab

Does NHN finally have global case?

Samsung inks deal with STMicro for foundry biz

LG sues Samsung over high-tech screens

Samsung, Google to powwow on Apple

Lee Jay-yong to meet Mexican billionaire

LG to sell more commercial air conditioners

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