Business - The Korea Times

Samsung's non-memory business on track for recovery amid Galaxy S26 launch

Samsung Electronics’ non-memory semiconductor business is showing signs of a fast recovery, as its Exynos 2600 mobile application processor (AP) and high-bandwidth memory 4 (HBM4), produced using its foundry process, appear to be gaining traction in the market. In particular, the Exynos 2600 is set to be featured in the upcoming Galaxy S26 series, raising expectations that Samsung’s foundry and System Large-Scale Integration (LSI) units will accelerate efforts to overcome their long-standing losses. According to semiconductor industry officials, the capacity utilization rate of Samsung’s advanced foundry lines recently reached 80 percent, far exceeding last year’s level, which remained below 50 percent. Playing the most critical role in the improvement is Exynos 2600, which is designed by the company’s System LSI unit and fabricated by its Foundry unit. For the upcoming Galaxy S26 series, which will be revealed during Galaxy Unpacked 2026 in San Francisco on Wednesday (local time), Samsung will feature Exynos 2600 for S26 and S26+ models along with Qualcomm APs. Qualcomm CEO Cri

Feb 24, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo

Samsung's non-memory business on track for recovery amid Galaxy S26 launch

Samsung SDS flags top 5 cybersecurity threats for 2026

Samsung SDS has published its report on the five major cybersecurity risks for 2026, Monday, based on an analysis of major cyber incidents in Korea and abroad over the past year. The company forecasted that the five most critical risks expected to dominate corporate security agendas this year are artificial intelligence (AI)-driven cyberattacks, ransomware, cloud vulnerabilities, phishing and data security breaches. The report, based on surveys of 667 IT and security professionals, outlined that the rapid adoption of generative AI — particularly AI agents autonomously executing tasks — could result in excessive access privileges, unauthorized operations and data leaks. It advised businesses to implement AI guardrails, such as real-time oversight, automated blocking and human approval systems for high-risk commands such as modifying sensitive data or executing payments. “AI and AI agents will amplify emerging threats, from meticulous phishing attempts to data leaks and attacks targeting AI-powered environments,” said Chang Yong-min, Samsung SDS head of security business unit. “Tr

Feb 23, 2026By Lee Gyu-lee

Samsung SDS flags top 5 cybersecurity threats for 2026

Kakao Mobility signs mobility solution export deal with Saudi Arabia

Kakao Mobility said Monday it has signed a paid proof-of-concept (PoC) agreement to supply its integrated mobility solution to Saudi Arabia’s massive smart city development in Diriyah, marking the first major application of the company's technology overseas. The company signed a memorandum of understanding with Diriyah Company, the developer behind the 90 trillion won ($62.5 billion) project, in May last year to co-develop next-generation mobility services. The latest agreement is for a paid pilot project aimed at verifying its feasibility and effectiveness before full-scale implementation. Under the new agreement, Kakao Mobility will deploy a full package of its technology and operating model, from digitizing local parking infrastructure to adapting the Kakao T user interface and backend systems. The company will supply its system across three major zones of the Diriyah project with roughly 5,000 parking spaces. If the PoC is successful, they will explore expanding the solution across Diriyah’s broader mobility network with parking capacity for over 60,000 vehicles. “This agreemen

Feb 23, 2026By Lee Gyu-lee

Kakao Mobility signs mobility solution export deal with Saudi Arabia

Korean telecom firms to showcase AI-based mobile tech at upcoming MWC 2026

Korea's three major mobile carriers are set to showcase their latest artificial intelligence (AI) technologies at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2026 in Spain next month, the companies said Monday. The four-day event will open in Barcelona on March 2 under the theme "The IQ Era," highlighting innovations in mobile and AI technologies from global tech leaders. SK Telecom will operate a 992-square-meter booth at Fira Barcelona Gran Via, the event's main venue, presenting its full-stack AI capabilities spanning infrastructure, models and services under the banner of "AI for Infinite Possibilities." The company will conduct a live demonstration of A.X K1, its hyperscale AI model proposed for Seoul's government-led sovereign AI foundation model project. KT will present its AI technologies at a pavilion modeled after Gwanghwamun Square, the historic public plaza in central Seoul, symbolizing the convergence of technology and culture. In its AI transformation (AX) section, KT will introduce Agentic Fabric, a corporate AI-based operating system designed to enhance productivity. Other solutions,

Feb 23, 2026By Yonhap

Korean telecom firms to showcase AI-based mobile tech at upcoming MWC 2026

Hyundai Motor eyes investment in southwestern Saemangeum for AI, hydrogen mobility

Hyundai Motor Group is preparing to announce a multitrillion-won investment plan in reclaimed land in North Jeolla Province to foster growth in areas of artificial intelligence (AI), hydrogen and robotics, industry sources said Monday. According to the sources, the group is expected to soon sign a memorandum of understanding with the industry and climate ministries, as well as the North Jeolla provincial government, on investing several trillions of won in the Saemangeum reclaimed land in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province . The area was created under a state project aimed at developing a total of 409 square kilometers of reclaimed land by 2050, equivalent to around two-thirds of the capital city of Seoul. Details are still under discussion, but AI, hydrogen and robotics, key areas of Hyundai's future growth strategy, are being considered as areas of investment, according to the informed sources. The reported plan is part of Hyundai Motor's previously announced domestic spending initiative. In November, the group said it would invest a total of 125.2 trillion won ($86.9 billion) in Korea thro

Feb 23, 2026By Yonhap

Hyundai Motor eyes investment in southwestern Saemangeum for AI, hydrogen mobility

Materials innovation key to keeping up with chip progress, says Merck executive VP

The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) services is making the manufacturing process for memory chips increasingly complex and challenging. As the conventional race to shrink transistors and pack more components densely in silicon circuits reaches its limits, chipmakers are scrambling to come up with new ways to enhance computing speed. In the process, architectures that place memory closer to graphics processing units or stack memory directly on top of them are gaining traction. Known as advanced packaging, this is driving the importance of innovation in materials, according to Katherine Dei Cas, Merck’s executive vice president and head of delivery systems and services and specialty gases. “Materials innovation is going to become increasingly important as the industry is changing from having stacked high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and really getting to what we call 3D densification or heterogeneous integration,” Dei Cas told The Korea Times during an interview on the sidelines of SEMICON Korea 2026 in Seoul on Feb. 11. “Bringing different chips and their functionality

Feb 23, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo

Materials innovation key to keeping up with chip progress, says Merck executive VP

SK Telecom to showcase AI capabilities at MWC 2026

SK Telecom will be showcasing its end-to-end artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities at this year’s MWC tech trade show, set to be held from March 2 through 5 in Barcelona, Spain. Under the theme “AI for Infinite Possibilities,” the company plans to spotlight its expertise in AI data center operations and innovations in network and marketing AI, promoting its track record of securing Korea’s largest AI data center project in Ulsan and deploying a high-performance graphics processing unit (GPU) cluster. The booth will feature AI Data Center Infrastructure Manager, a platform that integrates diverse data generated across data centers into a unified system to enable real-time monitoring. It will also display GPU-as-a-service (GPUaaS) solutions including high-performance cloud platform Petasus AI Cloud, GPU resource optimization solution AI Cloud Manager and real-time monitoring system GAIA. The company will introduce its next-generation AI Inference Factory, a solution that integrates hardware, computing infrastructure and software into a single stack optimized for inference-cent

Feb 22, 2026By Lee Gyu-lee

SK Telecom to showcase AI capabilities at MWC 2026

ContributionIt is not biotech, it is 'techbio'

Startup representatives researching biotechnology say they have transitioned from "biotech" to "techbio." While it sounds like a simple play on words, the shift highlights a critical reality for the industry: Biological research is now entirely dependent on heavy hardware. Biological data operates on an unprecedented scale. Analyzing biological tissue measuring just 2 centimeters by 2 centimeters generates data in the petabytes (PB), equivalent to one quadrillion bytes. Consuming 1 PB is equivalent to watching a 1-gigabyte high-definition movie continuously for 13 years, or filling 1,024 1-terabyte hard drives. The sheer volume creates a severe logistical problem; the CEO of one biotechnology startup has said that transferring several PB of data to a cloud center via the internet takes four days. For urgent international collaborations, researchers face a frustrating reality. They must physically pack storage drives into their luggage and board airplanes. In the digital age, this physical transport — often called a "sneakernet" — remains faster than internet transmission for the lif

Feb 20, 2026By Choi Youn-jin

Motif-led consortium joins national AI foundation model project

The Ministry of Science and ICT said Friday it has selected a consortium led by Motif Technologies as an additional participant in the government-led project to develop homegrown artificial intelligence (AI) foundation models. The newly admitted team — which includes the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology — will join the three previously shortlisted consortia led by SK Telecom, LG AI Research and Upstage. Last month, the ministry advanced those three teams to the second round after eliminating two others led by Naver Cloud and NC AI in the first-stage evaluation. The initial assessment examined benchmark performance, expert review and user experience, with technological originality serving as a key requirement. The ministry said Naver Cloud failed to meet the criteria for developing a fully independent model architecture trained from scratch, while NC AI also did not advance. Upon announcing the results, the government said it would recruit one additional consortium to fill the fourth slot, as only three teams had qualified despite the original plan to advance four. An

Feb 20, 2026By Lee Gyu-lee

Motif-led consortium joins national AI foundation model project

Samsung expected to lead high-performance tier in Nvidia’s dual-binning strategy

Samsung Electronics is expected to gain an edge in supplying high-performance high-bandwidth memory 4 (HBM4) to Nvidia, as the U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) giant is expected to adopt a two-tier binning strategy under which it will release AI accelerators in both high-performance and standard versions. According to industry officials, Thursday, Nvidia is considering securing HBM4 chips for its upcoming Vera Rubin platform by binning the memory into two tiers, allowing it find a balance between stable supply and top-tier products. While Nvidia has been highlighting the performance of Vera Rubin platform, the current supply bottleneck in the memory chip industry is casting uncertainties over securing sufficient volumes highest-performance chips. Given the higher cost burden, it is difficult to fill all volumes exclusively with the highest-performance chips. To address this, Nvidia is expected to apply HBM4 chips with data processing speeds of 11.7 gigabits per second (Gbps) or higher to its flagship accelerators, while using 10 Gbps-class chips for standard-tier products, the official

Feb 19, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo

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