Journalist
Candice Kim김혜준
candicekim1121@ajupress.com
ReporterSamsung Electronics, SK hynix, LG Electronics, Olive Young, Musinsa & Semiconductor, K-Beauty
Candice Kim is a dedicated business and technology reporter specializing in the intersection of high-tech innovation and fast-paced consumer trends. Her core beats span the semiconductor, IT, cosmetics, and retail sectors, where she provides in-depth coverage of industry titans including Samsung Electronics, SK hynix, and LG Electronics, alongside leading consumer brands like Olive Young and Musinsa. Whether analyzing complex silicon supply chains or tracking the latest shifts in beauty and fashion retail, Candice is committed to delivering sharp, accurate reporting that keeps readers informed on the forces shaping today's most dynamic markets.
"Connecting the dots from silicon chips to consumer shifts."
Latest by Candice Kim
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Samsung Electronics' market cap surpasses 2 quadrillion won SEOUL, June 1 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics on Monday became the first South Korean company to top 2 quadrillion won in market capitalization, driven by surging investor enthusiasm over the ongoing AI-driven chip boom. Shares of the tech giant surged 10.25 percent to 349,500 won as of 1:40 p.m. on the benchmark KOSPI, hitting an intraday high and pushing its market capitalization to 2,041.8 trillion won (US$1.51 trillion). Samsung first crossed the 2 quadrillion won mark at around 11:40 a.m., when shares were up 9.31 percent at 346,500 won. The rally then gathered pace through the afternoon, adding more than 16 trillion won to its valuation in just two hours. The surge widened Samsung's lead over closest rival SK Hynix, whose shares rose 1.67 percent to 2,372,000 won, valuing the company at 1,693.38 trillion won (US$1.25 trillion) and leaving it roughly 348 trillion won (US$258 billion) behind Samsung. 2026-06-01 14:25:46 -
Samsung Display unveils full gaming OLED lineup at COMPUTEX 2026 SEOUL, June 01 (AJP) - Samsung Display Co. announced Monday it is showcasing a comprehensive lineup of 16 gaming-optimized OLED and QD-OLED displays at the COMPUTEX 2026 exhibition, held in Taipei, Taiwan, from June 2-5. The products range from 8.8-inch panels for handheld gaming PCs to 49-inch QD-OLED monitors. A key product debut is a QD-OLED monitor that simultaneously achieves 4K resolution and a 360Hz high refresh rate, a specification the company claims is an industry first for self-emissive monitors. The company is also unveiling its 'Ultra Slim' laptop OLED panel, which reduces module thickness by more than 20 percent compared to its current mass-produced panels while maintaining performance metrics like black expression and rapid response times. The company will also highlight its 'QD-OLED Penta Tandem™' technology, which applies a five-layer blue OLED stack and new organic materials to enhance panel efficiency, lifespan, and luminance. To showcase performance, Samsung Display is running hands-on comparison zones in collaboration with global game developers and publishers, including KRAFTON, Pearl Abyss, Electronic Arts (EA), and NEOWIZ. Dongil Son, Executive Vice President and Head of Large Display Business and IT Business Team at Samsung Display, noted that the technological shift in the high-end gaming display market has "completely shifted from LCD to self-emissive displays." He added that Samsung Display will focus on introducing technologies that improve gaming immersion and drive "innovation in user experiences." 2026-06-01 14:18:12 -
CJ Olive Young's first U.S. store in Pasadena draws large crowds SEOUL, June 01 (AJP) - CJ Olive Young, South Korea's largest beauty retailer, successfully launched its first U.S. brick-and-mortar store in Pasadena, California. According to the company on Monday, it plans to open a second store in Los Angeles this month, located at the Westfield Century City shopping mall. The Pasadena store opening drew significant consumer and media attention. Wait lines began forming the day before the opening on Friday, with a line of approximately 400 meters stretching across four blocks of Colorado Boulevard. Major local broadcasters, including KTLA and ABC, provided live and aerial coverage of the event. Major U.S. media outlets, including CNN and the Wall Street Journal, also visited and covered the opening. Despite limiting entry to around 200 people at a time for customer safety and convenience, the store recorded over 1,000 transactions on the first day, demonstrating high local consumer interest. Skincare products, including sun care, mask packs, and cleansers, accounted for over 60 percent of total sales, followed by makeup categories such as lip products and cushions, indicating local interest in K-beauty color cosmetics. Sales across K-wellness categories, which included hair care, body care, beauty accessories, and food items like bagel chips, sauces, and health foods, suggested that Olive Young’s K-beauty and lifestyle curation strategy resonated with local consumers. The personalized services offered, such as the 'Skin Scan' zone for skin diagnosis and 'THE BEAUTY LAB' for basic K-beauty skincare lessons, also attracted consumer attention, particularly since these consultations are provided free of charge. Social media activity was also high, with over 1,000 pieces of content uploaded to platforms like TikTok and Instagram from May 28 to 30, accumulating over 8 million views. Olive Young CEO Lee Sun-jung said that the Pasadena store "demonstrates the blueprint of the global platform Olive Young pursues" and will serve as a "new milestone for the co-growth ecosystem" of domestic small and medium-sized indie brands on the global stage. Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo welcomed the company's arrival, noting that Olive Young’s investment is expected to "create new jobs and economic vitality" and "increase the city’s diversity and global competitiveness". The upcoming Century City location is situated in a key commercial area with high traffic from young professionals, high-income consumers, and international tourists. Olive Young stated that while the Pasadena store focused on customers interested in K-culture and experiential shopping, the Century City branch will aim to broaden its reach to a wider premium consumer base and global customers. Market research firm Circana reported that K-beauty held about a 6 percent share of the U.S. mass beauty market in the first quarter of 2026, which Olive Young views as an indicator of future growth potential. The company plans to gradually expand its U.S. presence, beginning with the West Coast, to implement an omnichannel strategy that links online and offline operations. Olive Young ultimately aims to evolve into a 'local beauty retailer' in the U.S., expanding its offerings to encompass lifestyle products, including wellness and food. 2026-06-01 10:53:07 -
Korea's memory giants hit new ceiling ahead of visit by their biggest client SEOUL, May 29 (AJP) - South Korea's memory-chip giants climbed to fresh records Friday as investors turned euphoric ahead of next week's visit by their biggest customer, Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang, fueling hopes of deeper AI partnerships and new orders for next-generation memory chips. The world's most valuable company's CEO Jensen Huang is set to visit South Korea next week, a trip expected to transform his high-profile camaraderie with the country's conglomerate chiefs into broader business alliances that could reshape parts of the domestic technology sector. According to industry sources, Huang will travel to Seoul following his keynote address at the GTC Taipei 2026 AI conference, which runs from June 1 to 4. The upcoming visit, occurring just seven months after his widely publicized "Gganbu" gathering with South Korean business leaders, signals Nvidia's intent to expand its footprint beyond its existing semiconductor supply chain into broader industrial ecosystems spanning physical AI, cloud infrastructure and industrial automation. Investors wasted little time positioning for that possibility. Samsung Electronics rose 5.5 percent to a record closing high of 316,000 won, lifting its market capitalization to 1,853.3 trillion won ($1.35 trillion), while SK hynix climbed 2.23 percent to an all-time high of 2.34 million won, bringing its market value to 1,662.7 trillion won. Together, the two memory giants were worth more than 3,500 trillion won, accounting for nearly half of the KOSPI's total market capitalization and underscoring how deeply South Korea's stock market has become tied to the global artificial intelligence boom. Market watchers expect Huang to hold a series of strategic meetings with major South Korean business leaders, including LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo and executives from internet giant Naver. Discussions with LG are expected to center on physical AI collaboration, potentially involving affiliates such as LG AI Research, LG Innotek and LG Uplus, combining hardware sensing technologies with AI software capabilities for next-generation industrial applications. The visit also coincides with a critical moment in the race for high-bandwidth memory, a key component powering Nvidia's AI accelerators. Earlier Friday, Samsung Electronics announced shipments of the industry's first 12-layer HBM4E memory samples. Huang is reportedly coordinating a meeting with Jun Young-hyun, head of Samsung's Device Solutions division, a discussion that could directly influence the qualification process and supply timeline for Samsung's next-generation HBM products. Any sign of progress would be closely watched by investors seeking evidence that Samsung is narrowing the gap with SK hynix, Nvidia's primary supplier of HBM chips and one of the biggest beneficiaries of the AI spending frenzy. The industry is also betting on the possibility of a second "Gganbu Meeting" involving Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won. Chey is scheduled to meet Huang separately at Computex 2026 in Taiwan before the Nvidia chief's arrival in Seoul, marking their fourth encounter in seven months and highlighting the increasingly strategic relationship between Nvidia and South Korea's corporate elite. Analysts say such high-level networking carries growing economic significance in a technology industry where supply chains, product development and market access increasingly depend on close cooperation among a handful of global leaders. "In a global supply chain where mutual cooperation is essential rather than a single company's monopoly, building closer relationships naturally leads to increased exchanges and stronger partnerships," said Kang Sung-jin, a professor of economics at Korea University. "It gives a positive signal to investors that these companies will cooperate and support one another," Kang added. "These meetings go beyond simple socializing and help reinforce confidence in future business opportunities." 2026-05-29 16:35:41 -
Samsung Electronics ships industry's first 12-layer HBM4E memory samples SEOUL, May 29 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics has begun shipping samples of its 12-layer HBM4E memory chips to global customers. According to the company on Friday, this is the semiconductor industry's first 12-layer HBM4E sample to be shipped. The new memory component delivers a stable pin speed of 14 gigabits-per-second (Gbps) and is capable of scaling up to 16 Gbps. This marks a performance increase of more than 20 percent compared to Samsung's previous generation of HBM4 chips. Additionally, the 12-layer HBM4E provides a memory bandwidth of up to 3.6 terabytes-per-second (TB/s) per stack. In terms of capacity, the 12-layer HBM4E offers 48 gigabytes (GB), which represents a capacity increase of over 30 percent from the previous generation. Samsung plans to further expand this lineup to include 32GB 8-layer and 64GB 16-layer configurations to meet varying customer requirements. The HBM4E utilizes Samsung's sixth-generation 10-nanometer-class (1c) DRAM process paired with a 4-nanometer logic base die manufactured by Samsung Foundry. The company reported that optimized packaging and low-power design technologies have improved the chips' energy efficiency by 16 percent. Furthermore, thermal resistance characteristics have been improved by more than 14 percent compared to the prior generation, aiding in heat dissipation for data centers running intensive workloads. The release of these samples follows Samsung's mass production and commercial shipment of HBM4 chips, which began earlier this year in February. The previous HBM4 model reached speeds of 11.7 Gbps during system in package (SiP) tests last December. "Following the successful mass production of HBM4, Samsung has once again demonstrated its distinct technological edge with HBM4E," said Sang Joon Hwang, Executive Vice President and Head of Memory Development at Samsung Electronics. "Through our advanced manufacturing capabilities and preemptive infrastructure investments, we will continue to drive the growth of the global AI memory market." 2026-05-29 10:20:50 -
AJP Focus: The perils of chip boom SEOUL, May 28 (AJP) -The world is at the threshold of the artificial-intelligence revolution, and at the heart of that revolution sits the semiconductor — with Korea at the heart of the semiconductor. Only a few years ago memory prices had collapsed, inventories had swollen, and Samsung Electronics and SK hynix were enduring a brutal downturn alongside the rest of the slowing global economy. Then the AI era rewrote the board almost overnight. The generative-AI surge that followed ChatGPT sent data-center and AI-server investment soaring, and machines built to think like humans demanded a different order of memory altogether — faster, denser, and unlike anything ordinary DRAM could deliver. That demand has a name: high-bandwidth memory, or HBM. The AI industry today orbits Nvidia, yet inside Nvidia's beating heart sits Korean memory. If America supplies the platforms and the software of the age, Korea supplies its memory. Small wonder the market now speaks of a semiconductor supercycle unlike any in four decades. And yet this is precisely the moment for cold clarity, because prosperity has always clouded human judgment. Korea has a habit of treating whichever industry happens to be surging as if it were the country's permanent destiny — heavy and chemical industries in the 1970s, shipbuilding and steel in the 1980s, IT and chips in the 1990s, real estate and construction in the 2000s, and more recently the fevers around platforms and batteries. Each time, a single sector was mistaken for the fate of the whole nation. But the history of industry has always been a history of cycles. Booms breed overinvestment; overinvestment breeds oversupply; oversupply ends in collapsing prices and painful restructuring. That is the cold, repeating logic of industrial capitalism, and semiconductors are no exception. In the 1980s, Japanese chipmakers nearly owned the memory market, and the world declared the future Japanese. Then bubbles burst, structures shifted, and American pressure bore down, and Japan's lead unraveled. Korea inherited that crown — Samsung rising to dominance, SK Hynix to world rank — but never on a smooth road. The industry survived countless slumps, price crashes, and financial crises. That survival is exactly why this moment matters most: the boom is the dangerous hour. The dispute now roiling Korean society looks like a quarrel over wages, but it runs far deeper. Labor, management, politicians, and the financial markets are colliding over how to divide record profits. Workers say the record was built on their devotion; shareholders insist the earnings of a listed company belong, first, to its owners; politicians invoke a third logic entirely — that chips are a national strategic asset. The trouble is that all three claims have begun to collide, because the semiconductor has quietly stopped being a mere industry. It is at once an export engine, a security asset, the gravitational center of the stock market, and the vessel of the country's youthful ambition. At some point it began to be treated as if it were the nation itself. That is where the danger I would call the "semiconductor disease" begins. Economists speak of the Dutch Disease — the way one overpowering sector can warp an entire economy out of balance, named for how a natural-gas boom hollowed out Dutch manufacturing. Korea now faces its own variant. The Korean stock market has, in effect, become the semiconductor market: when Samsung and SK hynix rise, the whole index rises; when chips wobble, the whole economy shakes. Over the long run that is not a healthy structure. Once a nation leans this heavily on a single sector, that sector's cycle becomes the nation's fate. Why hardware is not enough The deeper issue is the nature of the AI era itself. People speak as if AI will grow forever, but technology has never moved that way. The dot-com bubble, the LCD industry, solar power, batteries — each rode its own vast cycle. AI, too, will meet oversupply, price wars, shifting standards, geopolitical risk, and China's pursuit. The China variable is decisive. Even under American sanctions, Beijing is pouring national resources into building a self-sufficient chip ecosystem. A technology gap still exists — but the surest way to lose an industrial war is to underestimate how fast a rival is closing it. Japan chased America; Korea chased Japan; China now chases Korea. This battlefield has no permanent victor. Nor will the contest stay confined to memory. The competition ahead will be an ecosystem war binding chips to energy, software to cloud, data centers to robotics, AI platforms to defense and quantum computing. Korea holds the world's finest memory technology, but memory alone cannot guarantee the future. The real winner of the AI age will not be whoever makes the best chip; it will be whoever commands the whole ecosystem. America's strength is not Nvidia alone but OpenAI and Microsoft, Google and Amazon, Meta and Tesla — platform, cloud, data center, and software woven into one fabric. Korea remains far too hardware-centric. So the question Korea must truly wrestle with is not how to split this year's profits. It is how to prepare next-generation AI architecture, breakthroughs in power efficiency, AI software and data sovereignty, talent, a place in the reordered global supply chain, industrial diversification, and an energy strategy. Power, above all, is decisive: AI data centers devour electricity, which is why America's tech giants now scramble for nuclear, LNG, and renewables. Chip competitiveness will increasingly mean energy competitiveness. Three great transitions are moving at once — the AI revolution, the U.S.–China contest for supremacy, and the remaking of energy and supply chains — and the semiconductor sits where all three axes meet. America sees chips as a matter of security, China as a matter of survival, Europe as a cause worth vast subsidy. The semiconductor has become a strategic asset of modern civilization. Which is all the more reason to stay cold-eyed. The crisis begins the moment one grows drunk on the boom. 居安思危 — in times of peace, think of danger. Korea's chip industry sits at the very summit of the world; paradoxically, that may be its most perilous moment. History has never long tolerated the arrogant victor. The industries that survive are never the ones intoxicated by today's boom, but the ones that prepared for tomorrow's crisis. What is needed now is not applause but a clear strategy. Labor must think in terms of long-term competitiveness; companies must build the future ecosystem rather than chase quarterly results; government must weigh the whole structure of national industry above political popularity. Above all, balance. The semiconductor is Korea's core strategic industry — but it must not become a "semiconductor disease" that swallows the nation whole. The AI era has only just begun, and Korea stands in the middle of a vast historical turn. The countries that endure are not those drunk on present success but those preparing for future crisis. Let the chip be a source of national pride — and let Korea, at the same time, prepare for a future that reaches beyond it. That is the true national strategy, and the condition of survival in the age of AI. 2026-05-28 14:00:29 -
AJP Watch: Samsung puts on charm offensive after avoiding strike despite internal rift SEOUL, May 27 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics went on a multitrillion-won spending blitz Wednesday, pledging 5 trillion won ($3.6 billion) over the next five years to nurture talent and support suppliers on the very day it averted a historic strike by agreeing to hand out over 40 trillion won in rewards tied to this year’s blockbuster earnings and soaring share prices. Management and labor formally signed the 2026 wage agreement after union members approved the deal by 73.7 percent, with turnout reaching 95.5 percent, ending months of escalating tensions that had threatened Samsung’s first large-scale strike. Following the signing ceremony in Giheung, Gyeonggi Province, Samsung executives issued a rare joint statement apologizing for the labor unrest and unveiling a 5 trillion won support package for smaller suppliers, AI talent development and inclusive financing programs. The extravaganza, however, appeared hastily assembled to paper over the deep internal fractures exposed during the negotiations. At the center of the conflict was a widening disparity in performance bonuses between the highly profitable Device Solutions (DS) semiconductor division and the Device eXperience (DX) division, which oversees mobile and consumer electronics businesses. The deal mostly rewards chipmakers – up to 600 million won through special boon-tied bonus, while non-memory workers get 6 million at best. An estimated 74,000 of the chip division is expected to collect the special bonus, costing the company over 40 trillion won – most of what the company has earned in the first quarter. Samsung Electronics earned 57.2 trillion in operating profit in the first quarter, of which 53.7 trillion won came from the chip division. After 93.1 percent of unionized workers approved strike action in March, tensions peaked in April with large-scale rallies demanding the removal of bonus caps. A tentative agreement was reached late on May 20, only hours before a planned general strike. But the relief quickly gave way to another round of infighting. A surge of disgruntled DX employees joined the minority Samsung Electronics Co. Union (SECU), swelling its membership to around 12,000. The representative majority union then stripped SECU members of voting rights on May 21, prompting the smaller union to seek a court injunction Tuesday. Management experts say preventing future labor crises will require Samsung to fundamentally overhaul its compensation structure, replacing opaque and ad hoc bonus decisions with transparent and predictable standards. Hwang Yong-sik, a business administration professor at Sejong University, said the essence of a performance-based reward system lies in predictability and motivation. “The necessity of predictability is to ensure employees are motivated, immersed in their work and driven to produce results. That is the true purpose and essence of a performance bonus system,” Hwang told AJP. Addressing calls from some employees to structurally separate Samsung’s divisions to resolve bonus inequities, Hwang dismissed the idea as unnecessary for a diversified conglomerate. “There is no need to physically separate the organization to achieve equality,” he said. “As long as the company sets clear standards that bonuses are paid according to each business unit’s performance — meaning if the DX division generates strong operating profits in the future, it receives corresponding rewards — there should be no major issues.” While Samsung has stepped back from the brink of a strike, the bigger challenge now lies in repairing trust within an increasingly divided workforce and building a compensation framework capable of sustaining cohesion during the intensifying global AI and semiconductor race. 2026-05-27 17:36:05 -
Suspect arrested after stabbing two LG Electronics employees in Seoul SEOUL, May 27 (AJP) - A subcontractor employee was arrested after stabbing two LG Electronics workers in the Magok district of Seoul, police and company officials said. The suspect, who is not a direct employee of LG, turned himself in to police shortly after the attack and was placed under emergency arrest. The two injured LG employees were transported to a local hospital. An LG spokesperson confirmed that their injuries are non-life-threatening. Authorities have taken the suspect into custody and are currently investigating the motive behind the stabbing. 2026-05-27 13:30:49 -
Samsung Live: Union approves wage deal, averting immediate strike SEOUL, May 27 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics’ representative union approved a tentative wage agreement Wednesday, averting an immediate strike at the world’s largest memory chipmaker and easing concerns over potential disruption to AI supply chains and South Korea’s stock market. Electronic voting ran from May 22 to 10 a.m. Wednesday for the 57,302 eligible members. The deal, reached urgently on May 20 just a day before the planned strike deadline, passed with 73.7 percent in favor. It includes an average 6.2 percent wage increase and a newly created special performance bonus. The agreement, however, still faces a legal hurdle. A day before the voting deadline, the Samsung Electronics Co. Union (SECU), a minority union representing mainly the Device eXperience (DX) division, filed for an injunction, accusing the majority union of abruptly stripping its 12,000 members of voting rights. If the court grants the injunction or a later lawsuit invalidates the vote over procedural flaws, Samsung management could be forced to restart negotiations from scratch. As of 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Samsung Electronics shares have hit new heights, surging 6.7 percent to 319,000 won ($212). 2026-05-27 10:31:38 -
AJP Watch: Union divide and distrust deepen ahead of Samsung Elec vote SEOUL, May 26 (AJP) - The AI windfall powering record earnings and soaring stock prices is increasingly turning into a curse in disguise for Samsung Electronics, as wage negotiations meant to share the rewards of the semiconductor boom instead expose widening internal disparities and threaten the company’s long-cultivated “One Samsung” ethos. Just days before a crucial ratification vote on the tentative wage agreement, divisions between labor groups escalated into open legal conflict Tuesday, deepening uncertainty over whether the deal can stabilize the company’s fractured labor landscape. The Samsung Electronics Co. Union (SECU), a minority union representing primarily employees in the Device eXperience (DX) division — the segment overseeing smartphones and home appliances — filed for an injunction to halt the ongoing vote, arguing that the representative union unfairly stripped thousands of its members of voting rights shortly before the deadline. At the heart of the dispute lies mounting anger over what many employees see as an increasingly skewed compensation structure under the AI-driven semiconductor boom. The proposed agreement would allow some employees in the semiconductor-focused Device Solutions (DS) division to receive compensation packages approaching 600 million won ($438,000), while some research and development staff in non-chip divisions reportedly receive bonuses as low as 6 million won. The staggering disparity has intensified resentment across divisions and accelerated a sharp realignment inside Samsung’s union structure. The current legal standoff unfolded through a rapid and chaotic sequence of events last week that SECU claims exposed serious procedural inconsistencies. According to union officials, the representative union initially invited SECU members to participate in the tentative agreement vote through official emails sent May 20 and May 21. Around the same period, however, SECU experienced a sudden influx of roughly 10,000 new members, swelling its total eligible voting base to approximately 12,000 employees. But shortly after the expansion, the representative union abruptly notified SECU on the evening of May 21 that its members would no longer be granted voting rights. Koo Jeong-hwan, secretary general of SECU, alleged the move reflected fears that the rapidly enlarged minority union could significantly influence the outcome and potentially derail approval of the wage pact. “That itself is a procedural violation,” Koo told AJP. “This situation is really serious.” He argued that denying employees the right to vote represented both an abuse of authority and a breach of basic labor principles. The dispute illustrates how the AI boom is reshaping not only Samsung’s earnings profile but also its internal corporate order. For decades, Samsung maintained a tightly controlled organizational culture built around cohesion, hierarchy and collective identity. But the explosion in AI-related profits within the semiconductor business is increasingly fragmenting that structure into competing constituencies divided by business lines, compensation gaps and perceptions of unequal recognition. The tentative wage deal itself had initially been viewed as a breakthrough after management narrowly avoided an unprecedented strike that threatened to disrupt the global memory chip supply chain. Instead, the agreement now risks becoming a catalyst for broader distrust across the company. Koo warned that if the vote proceeds without resolving procedural disputes, Samsung could face prolonged legal and operational uncertainty even if the agreement is formally approved. “If the vote is invalidated later, all voting matters from this point would become void and need to be conducted again,” he said. As the Wednesday deadline approaches, the court’s decision on the injunction could determine not only the fate of this year’s wage agreement, but also how Samsung navigates a far more fragmented labor environment in the AI era. 2026-05-26 17:09:52