Hanlim teams up with Vietnam's CONINCO for enhanced construction management

Hanlim Architecture Group announced Tuesday that it signed a memorandum of understanding with CONINCO, a Vietnamese construction supervision company, to reinforce strategic partnerships and create new opportunities for construction management services in Vietnam and beyond. Hanlim Architecture Group Chairman Park Jin-sun, CONINCO General Director Phan Ngoc Cuong and company officials attended the signing ceremony held at the headquarters of CONINCO on July 16. Representatives from both sides dis

July 23, 2024

K-water, Naver to set up water management platform for Saudi Arabia

Korea Water Resources Corp., or K-water, is officially set to commence a water management platform in Saudi Arabia jointly with Korean internet giant Naver, for the next five years, the state-run water management agency said Tuesday. The project was announced in a statement by Naver and Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing. This official agreement builds on a partnership initially established between Naver and K-water earlier this month, aiming to penetrate t

July 23, 2024

Founder's arrest leaves Kakao's future in doubt

Kakao Corp., the operator of South Korea's top mobile messenger KakaoTalk, has been plunged into crisis, as its founder and top decision-maker Kim Beom-su was arrested on Tuesday on charges of stock price rigging linked to last year's takeover of K-pop powerhouse SM Entertainment. With a leadership vacuum and a dent to its reputation, concerns are rising over the impact of the disruption on the tech giant’s drive for corporate restructuring and growth in burgeoning technologies i

July 23, 2024

Bacardi teams up with The Shilla Seoul for Patron tequila summer package

Bacardi Korea has partnered with The Shilla Seoul for a luxury summer room package "Simply Perfect Vacation," featuring its premium tequila brand, Patron, the company announced Tuesday. As part of Bacardi Korea’s premium marketing strategy, the Simply Perfect Vacation package focuses on providing consumers with a unique experience with Patron, a premium tequila made from the finest blue weber agave from Jalisco, Mexico. With the package running throughout August, Bacardi Korea an

July 23, 2024

Celltrion’s third plant in final validation process, operation set for December

Celltrion has begun the final validation process for its third plant in Songdo, Incheon, before commencing commercial production, the South Korean biosimilar giant announced Tuesday. The validation process is a critical step before the commercial production of drugs, which involves objectively verifying and documenting that products are manufactured to meet predefined standards from drug development to production. Celltrion invested some 270 billion won ($194 million) for the third plant's

July 23, 2024

Samsung's Galaxy to feature enhanced gaming with Krafton's 'Dark and Darker Mobile'

Samsung Electronics and Krafton have partnered to optimize the forthcoming game "Dark and Darker Mobile" for the latest Galaxy series, set to be installed next month, according to the tech giant on Tuesday. The two firms have integrated advanced 3D graphics technology, Vulkan, into the game, enhancing visual realism and supporting Dolby Atmos sound effects. Key models, including the Galaxy Z Fold6, Galaxy S24 Ultra and Galaxy S23 Ultra, will feature Ray Tracing technology to deliver li

July 23, 2024

Korean Air to buy up to 50 Boeing planes for strategic fleet upgrade

Korean Air is to purchase up to 50 new widebody aircraft from Boeing in its push to enhance fleet quality and meet sustainability goals. The deal price is estimated to reach some 30 trillion won ($23 billion), according to industry sources. The company declined to confirm. The national flag carrier signed a memorandum of understanding with Boeing on Monday on the sidelines of the Farnborough International Airshow 2024, a premier aerospace trade show currently being held in the UK. Korean Air sai

July 22, 2024

Samsung Electro-Mechanics to supply advanced substrates for AMD processors

Samsung Electro-Mechanics, the electronic parts manufacturing affiliate of Samsung Electronics, announced Monday that it would supply high-performance substrates for hyper-scale data centers to AMD, the US chip design firm. According to the company, the flip chip ball grid array (FCBGA) substrate offers larger surface areas and higher layer counts for dense interconnections, which means better operational efficiency and lower energy consumption. The product will be produced at the company’

July 22, 2024

Goldman Sachs appoints veteran dealmaker to head Korea IB

Goldman Sachs has tapped Ahn Jae-hoon, a veteran dealmaker and a former vice president of SK Bioscience, to head its investment banking business in South Korea. The bank announced Monday that Ahn has been appointed as the head of its investment banking in Korea and co-country head. The positions have been vacant since the departure of David Chung in early June. Ahn will join the Wall Street bank as a managing director in mid-August from SK Bioscience, where he served as head of strategic plannin

July 22, 2024

[Herald Interview] Bacardi reshaping drinking culture in land of soju, beer

A slew of top-shelf whiskey labels are rushing to make their Korean debuts recently, fueling the growth momentum of the nation’s premium whiskey market in the coming years, according to Nick Ahn, the country manager of top spirit and wine producer Bacardi. "Just 10 years ago in Korea, soju and beer dominated social gatherings and work dinners, leaving little room for other options. But things have changed drastically," Ahn told The Korea Herald in an interview held in Seoul on Fr

July 22, 2024

Korean Air's first Boeing 787-10 to take off for Tokyo

Korean Air said Monday that it will launch the first flight of the newly acquired Boeing 787-10 (B78X) on the Incheon-Narita route on Thursday. The Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner is the largest and most advanced in the 787 series, with contributions from the nation's flag carrier in the 787 series' design and production. With a fuselage length of 68.3 meters -- approximately five meters longer than the previous 787-9 model -- the 787-10 can transport 15 percent more passengers and cargo. How

July 22, 2024

Is Samsung on track for large-scale M&A deals?

Samsung Electronics is seen ramping up its merger and acquisition efforts to secure a stronger footing in the rising technology sectors, including artificial intelligence. The South Korean tech giant, leading in mobile devices and semiconductors, announced Thursday its acquisition of Oxford Semantic Technologies, a UK-based startup specializing in knowledge graph technology. It is the first time the company makes such an investment via Samsung Research, its research and development hub. The deal

July 21, 2024

MG Non-Life Insurance fails to find new owner, again

MG Non-Life Insurance's third attempt to find a new owner has failed amid concerns over its financial stability. Samjong KPMG, the lead advisor for the insurer's sale, conducted the final bidding on Friday, but no participants showed up, according to sources in the financial sector. Local private equity fund Dayli Partners and US-based JC Flowers were likely contenders, having participated in the preliminary bidding. However, neither showed up for the final round. Under current law, on

July 21, 2024

10 Korean companies on recovery from Microsoft IT outage

Following the mass global tech outage linked to Microsoft that disrupted critical public services and grounded planes, 10 companies affected in Korea have restored their operations or are on their way to recovery, said industry officials on Sunday. A faulty update from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike was released worldwide to Microsoft's Windows operating systems on Friday, resulting in “blue screen of death” crashes and systems being knocked offline in airports, hospitals and

July 21, 2024

Will estranged heir’s olive branch end decadelong sibling feud at Hyosung?

Earlier this month, Cho Hyun-moon, the second son of late Hyosung Group Chairman Cho Suck-rai, held a surprise press conference to announce his intention to donate his entire inheritance, worth about 100 billion won ($72 million), to a public foundation. Cho, a former Hyosung executive, has remained estranged from the founding family since he was engaged in a high-profile succession battle with his brothers – Cho Hyun-joon, the eldest, and Cho Hyun-sang, the youngest, in 2014. Currently, t

July 21, 2024

Brite Energy Partners scoops W100b investment from BlackRock

South Korean independent renewable energy producer Brite Energy Partners said Sunday that it has secured a fresh investment worth 100 billion won ($72 million) from its largest shareholder BlackRock. This funding, provided through BlackRock’s climate infrastructure business, is the fourth investment since BlackRock first backed BEP in August 2021. With the new capital, BEP plans to expand its solar portfolio to over 1 gigawatt, widen its electric vehicle fast-charging network and secure ba

July 21, 2024

Building AI data centers immediate task for Korea: SK chief

South Korea should work on establishing more artificial intelligence infrastructure to attract global tech firms, otherwise it could be in danger of AI dependence on other countries, said SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, who doubles as chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “Among the things that Korea must proactively do in its AI strategy is creating a lot of AI-related infrastructure, starting with AI data centers,” Chey told reporters during a press conference F

July 21, 2024

AmCham hosts policy gathering with privacy watchdog

The American Chamber of Commerce in Korea announced Thursday that it had hosted a policy gathering with Ko Hak-soo, chairperson of the Personal Information Protection Commission, to explore strategies for privacy protection in the era of artificial intelligence. For a second consecutive year, Ko met with an AmCham delegation of global companies to discuss the commission’s strategic responses to AI technologies. Highlighting the PIPC’s policy agenda, aimed at fostering an AI era that

July 18, 2024

S. Korea to seal $17b nuclear plant deal with Czech Republic by 2025

South Korea is close to securing a landmark contract to build nuclear power plants in the Czech Republic in a deal valued at approximately $17.3 billion, with finalization expected by March 2025. On Thursday, Minister of Trade, Industry, and Energy Ahn Duk-geun held a press briefing to confirm the Czech government’s selection of Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power as the preferred bidder. "The Czech government announced last night that it has chosen KHNP as the preferred bidder for the

July 18, 2024

Mom’s Touch takes unique marketing strategy to drive Japan sales

South Korean franchise Mom's Touch announced on Wednesday a series of collaborative marketing initiatives at its recently opened store in Tokyo, partnering with various industries, from Samsung’s Galaxy brand to Samyang’s Buldak ramyeon. Since its opening in April, the Shibuya store in Tokyo has attracted 100,000 cumulative customers and generated 100 million yen ($0.7 million) in sales within 40 days. As part of the move to further boost sales, the store offers free burger-to

July 17, 2024