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
-
Samsung wins eight Red Dot Design Awards, including two top honors SEOUL, July 14 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics said Monday it received eight awards, including two "Best of the Best" honors, in the Design Concept category at the Red Dot Design Award 2026, one of the world's major international design competitions. The company's top-winning entries were Samsung Home Appliances Accessories, a concept that uses color coding to help users identify how appliance consumables should be reused, recycled or disposed of, and Dremo & Minimo, an AI-powered children's robot concept designed to provide personalized interactions based on a child's interests and stage of development. The home appliance accessories concept has also received top honors at the iF Design Award 2026 and the IDEA Design Award 2024, making it a winner across the three major international design competitions. Samsung also received six Winner awards for AI-based design concepts, including Beauty Mirror, Panorama UX, AI Kitchen, Spatial Tab, PUCO and Fluid AI Design System. The concepts span personalized beauty care, adaptive user interfaces, AI-assisted home services, conversational 3D platforms and generative AI-powered interface design. Established in Germany in 1955, the Red Dot Design Award recognizes excellence in product design, design concepts, and brand and communication design. 2026-07-14 15:01:33 -
Samsung Elec edges out Apple as top smartphone vendor Q2 SEOUL, July 14 (AJP) -Samsung Electronics stole back the world's top smartphone vendor title in the second quarter from Apple amid the worst slump in global smartphone market in 13 years due to spike in memory costs. According to preliminary data released Monday by Counterpoint Research, Samsung captured a 24 percent share of global smartphone shipments in the April-June period, compared with Apple's 20 percent. In the first quarter, Apple briefly moved ahead with a 21 percent market share versus Samsung's 20 percent. Samsung also recorded the strongest year-on-year shipment growth among the world's top five smartphone makers, helped by resilient demand in India and the Middle East, where it kept price increases relatively modest while rolling out aggressive seasonal promotions. "Samsung held up relatively well in India and the Middle East, supported by better product availability, fewer price hikes and aggressive summer promotions that complemented flagship momentum," Counterpoint said. Apple remained the only major smartphone manufacturer not to raise handset prices during the quarter. Its shipments rose 3 percent from a year earlier, supported by continued strength of the iPhone 17 lineup, which remained the world's best-selling smartphone family. However, the company continued to struggle in China despite early promotional campaigns ahead of the country's mid-year shopping festival. The broader smartphone market, however, continued to suffer. Global smartphone shipments fell 11 percent from a year earlier, marking the weakest second-quarter performance since 2013 as shortages of DRAM and NAND flash memory intensified. Counterpoint attributed the downturn to memory suppliers prioritizing lucrative AI data center demand over consumer electronics, sending memory prices sharply higher and forcing smartphone manufacturers to raise prices, particularly for entry-level and mid-range devices. "The global memory crisis has now overtaken every other factor as the single biggest drag on the smartphone industry," said Counterpoint Senior Analyst Shilpi Jain. "What started as a components issue last year is now a full-blown demand issue. Entry and mid-tier devices, which account for the majority of global smartphone volumes, have become structurally unfeasible at previous price points." The memory shortage was further compounded by higher shipping and energy costs linked to geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, alongside slowing global economic growth and weak consumer sentiment, the research firm said. Chinese smartphone makers were hit hardest by the cost pressures. Xiaomi, OPPO and vivo all posted double-digit shipment declines as their heavy exposure to lower-priced devices left them particularly vulnerable to rising component costs. Consumers increasingly delayed purchases, opted for older-generation smartphones or extended replacement cycles. Outside the top five, Google posted the fastest growth with a 16 percent increase in shipments, driven by the Pixel 10 series, while Huawei expanded shipments by 6 percent on solid demand for its Mate 80 and Nova 15 lineups. Looking ahead, Counterpoint forecast global smartphone shipments to decline by about 14 percent this year, warning that the AI-driven memory shortage is likely to persist into 2027. 2026-07-14 10:15:12 -
SK hynix rings in Nasdaq debut with record U.S. share sale SEOUL, July 10 (AJP) - SK hynix began trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on Friday after raising a record $26.5 billion in the largest U.S. share sale by a foreign company. The South Korean memory chipmaker's American depositary shares initially traded under the temporary ticker SKHYV before regular-way trading under SKHY. SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and SK hynix Chief Executive Kwak Noh-jung joined other senior executives at the opening bell ceremony at Nasdaq MarketSite in New York to mark the company's U.S. market debut. Speaking at the ceremony, Kwak described the United States as the "epicenter of AI" and said the listing would strengthen SK hynix's ties with customers, partners and talent driving the industry's growth. "The United States is the epicenter of AI. The customers needing AI innovation are here. The partners building the ecosystem are here. And the talent driving the industry is here. This strengthens our connection to all of them," Kwak said. The offering raised approximately $26.5 billion through the sale of 177.9 million American depositary shares priced at $149 each. Each ADS represents one-tenth of an SK hynix common share listed in Seoul. The company said the offering was the largest-ever ADR issuance and the largest U.S. share sale by a foreign company, surpassing Alibaba's roughly $25 billion U.S. offering in 2014. The offering price represented a 2.7 percent premium to the average closing price of SK hynix shares over the previous three trading sessions, an uncommon outcome for a large equity offering, which is typically priced at a discount. The proceeds will be used to finance semiconductor fabrication plants, advanced packaging facilities and manufacturing equipment as SK hynix expands production capacity to meet rapidly growing demand for AI memory. Kwak said the ADR listing would also broaden the company's global shareholder base by making it easier for international investors to access SK hynix shares. "It opens a new door to investors around the world. Our ADR listing makes that access easier, and we are pleased to welcome a broader community of global investors to join our journey," he said. The company currently leads the global HBM market, holding a 56.4 percent market share by revenue in the first quarter, according to IDC data cited in its U.S. regulatory filing. Industry officials said the successful pricing reflected strong global investor confidence in SK hynix's leadership in AI memory, particularly its position as a key supplier of HBM for Nvidia's AI accelerators. 2026-07-10 23:28:08 -
SK hynix ADR: From rescued chipmaker to Wall Street's hottest foreign listing SEOUL, July 10 (AJP) - SK hynix has gone from one of South Korea's biggest corporate rescues to Wall Street's biggest foreign share sale, raising a record $26.5 billion on Nasdaq just 14 years after SK Group acquired the struggling memory maker for roughly $3 billion. The blockbuster listing underscores how the artificial intelligence boom has transformed the once-troubled chipmaker into one of the world's most valuable semiconductor companies. The company has priced its landmark U.S. share offering at $149 per American depositary share, floating 177.9 million ADSs representing 17.79 million newly issued common shares on Friday. Each ADS represents one-tenth of an SK hynix common share traded in Seoul. The deal surpasses the roughly $25 billion raised by Alibaba Group in 2014, making it the largest U.S. equity offering by a foreign company and the biggest ADR issuance on record. Perhaps more striking than its size is its pricing. The $149 offer represents a 2.7 percent premium to the average closing price of SK hynix shares over the previous three trading sessions — an unusual outcome for a large equity offering, which is typically sold at a discount to attract investors. The premium suggests global investors were willing to pay extra for dollar-denominated exposure to the world's dominant supplier of AI memory chips. Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan acted as lead underwriters. From bailout to AI powerhouse The turnaround began with one strategic decision: an early bet on high-bandwidth memory (HBM) years before artificial intelligence turned the technology into one of the semiconductor industry's most coveted products. In 2012, SK Group acquired then-struggling Hynix Semiconductor for roughly 3.4 trillion won, rescuing what had become one of South Korea's biggest corporate casualties after years of debt restructurings following the Asian financial crisis. Fourteen years later, the company has raised nearly eight times the value of that rescue in a single U.S. share sale. At Thursday's close, SK hynix was valued at 156.6 trillion won, making SK Square's roughly 20 percent stake worth about 32 trillion won. The remarkable transformation from Samsung Electronics' longtime shadow to the world's HBM leader has been driven largely by that early technological gamble. HBM stacks multiple DRAM chips vertically to dramatically increase bandwidth while reducing power consumption, making it indispensable for graphics processors and AI accelerators. SK hynix now commands 56.4 percent of the global HBM market by revenue, according to IDC data cited in its U.S. regulatory filing, ahead of domestic rival Samsung Electronics and U.S.-based Micron Technology. Its early commitment to HBM forged an exceptionally close partnership with Nvidia, whose graphics processors dominate AI computing. During a visit to South Korea last month, Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang described SK hynix's HBM as "the best" and said the company would remain Nvidia's largest memory supplier while AI-memory shortages could persist for years. The company's shares have surged about 680 percent over the past year, despite falling roughly 25 percent during the previous two weeks amid concerns that AI-related stocks had become overheated. The stock rebounded 5.3 percent Thursday to close at 2.186 million won. Narrowing the Korea discount The ADR listing is about far more than raising capital. It is also an attempt to narrow the valuation gap that has long separated SK hynix from U.S.-listed semiconductor companies despite its technological leadership. Ahead of the offering, SK hynix traded at roughly 5.5 times estimated earnings over the next 12 months, compared with about 6.7 times for Micron, according to LSEG data cited by Reuters. The valuation gap has persisted even as SK hynix overtook rivals in HBM and secured a stronger position in Nvidia's AI supply chain. Chief Executive Kwak Noh-jung has said the Nasdaq listing would diversify the company's shareholder base and allow its market value to better reflect its growing importance in the global AI ecosystem. "The ADR listing reflects SK hynix's strategy to raise capital from global investors by leveraging its international recognition and competitiveness, rather than relying solely on the domestic market," said Kang So-hyun, a research fellow at the Korea Capital Market Institute. She added that dual listings could improve price discovery by allowing information to be reflected more efficiently between U.S. and Korean markets. Still, the company is unlikely to fully escape the so-called Korea discount as long as its primary listing remains on the Korea Exchange, where valuations continue to be weighed down by longstanding concerns over corporate governance and shareholder returns. Financing the AI expansion The proceeds will help finance one of the industry's most ambitious capacity expansion programs as AI demand continues to outpace memory supply. "The long-term outlook is positive because the listing will expand SK hynix's funding capacity at a time when the company needs to invest heavily across multiple areas," said Ahn Ki-hyun, executive director of the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association. Major projects include the company's first fabrication plant at the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster, the P&T7 advanced packaging complex in Cheongju and purchases of extreme ultraviolet lithography equipment. The broader investment plan includes approximately 31 trillion won for the Yongin fab, 19 trillion won for the Cheongju packaging facility and nearly 12 trillion won for EUV equipment through 2027. The company is also building a roughly $4 billion advanced packaging and research facility in West Lafayette, Indiana, backed by up to $458 million under the U.S. CHIPS Act. Separately, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won last week unveiled plans to invest 400 trillion won to build two semiconductor fabrication plants in southwestern Honam as part of a broader regional semiconductor initiative. Record profits, familiar risks The offering follows one of the strongest earnings booms in memory industry history. First-quarter revenue nearly tripled from a year earlier while operating profit increased more than fivefold as HBM and server DRAM sales surged. Artificial intelligence has fundamentally changed the economics of memory chips, transforming what was once among the semiconductor industry's most cyclical and commoditized businesses into one of the biggest constraints on global AI computing capacity. Yet investors remain mindful that memory has historically been defined by boom-and-bust cycles. Periods of soaring prices have repeatedly encouraged aggressive capacity expansion, only to be followed by oversupply, collapsing prices and shrinking profits. Whether the current AI supercycle proves more durable will depend on sustained investment by hyperscale cloud operators, disciplined industry capacity additions and how quickly Samsung Electronics and Micron can expand their own HBM production. The new shares will dilute existing shareholders by about 2.4 percent. Friday's debut will provide the first real test of Wall Street's appetite. If the ADSs sustain a premium to the $149 offer price, SK hynix will have strengthened its case that investors increasingly view it as a global AI infrastructure company rather than a traditional memory manufacturer. A weak debut, however, would suggest that even the AI boom cannot completely erase investor concerns over lofty valuations and the semiconductor industry's notoriously cyclical nature. 2026-07-10 16:08:02 -
Samsung union blasts bonus voucher plan SEOUL, July 10 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics' largest labor union on Friday urged lawmakers to withdraw a proposed revision to South Korea's Labor Standards Act that would allow part of workers' wages, including performance bonuses, to be paid in local gift certificates with employee consent. The Samsung Electronics chapter of the Samsung Group Super Enterprise Labor Union said the bill would undermine the long-standing principle that wages should be paid in legal tender. "The proposed amendment is a dangerous attempt that shakes the very foundation of wage payments," the union said in a statement, calling for the bill to be scrapped immediately. The proposal, introduced on Wednesday by Democratic Party lawmaker Park Min-kyu, would permit employers to pay part of an employee's wages through local gift certificates or other non-cash means if the employee explicitly agrees or if such payments are stipulated in a collective bargaining agreement. The bill has already drawn criticism from both of South Korea's umbrella labor organizations, the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), which also called for its withdrawal. The Samsung union argued that if lawmakers believe local gift certificates are effectively equivalent to cash, they should first receive part of their own salaries and allowances in such vouchers. "If local gift certificates are truly no different from legal currency, lawmakers who sponsored the bill should apply the measure to their own salaries and allowances before imposing it on workers' wages," the union said. The union's criticism comes as South Korea's semiconductor industry is already pushing back against political proposals that it says could weaken corporate competitiveness, including discussions surrounding a potential windfall-profit levy on chipmakers. Employees at Samsung Electronics and SK hynix have recently circulated a petition urging the National Assembly to halt consideration of any excess-profit recovery measures targeting the semiconductor industry and to withdraw policies they argue could undermine the sector's global competitiveness. According to market estimates, Samsung Electronics' Device Solutions division and SK hynix are expected to post record operating profits this year, potentially resulting in substantial performance bonuses for employees early next year. Analysts estimate Samsung's chip division could generate around 40 trillion won ($29 billion) in operating profit this year, while SK hynix is forecast to earn roughly 30 trillion won, although estimates vary by brokerage. 2026-07-10 13:56:38 -
SK hynix ADR oversubscribed by 7 times, Chey to ring opening bell SEOUL, July 09 (AJP) - SK hynix's American depositary receipt (ADR) offering attracted demand exceeding seven times the shares on offer ahead of pricing, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. The offering drew interest from global long-term institutional investors, technology-focused funds, sovereign wealth funds and Asia-focused investment firms, according to the report. Orders totaled about $171.5 billion, based on subscription demand. The company is expected to raise about $24.5 billion if the offering is priced based on SK hynix's Thursday closing share price, down from earlier estimates of around $29 billion following a decline in the chipmaker's stock. At that level, the deal would rank as the second-largest U.S. listing by a foreign company after Alibaba's $25 billion initial public offering. SK hynix shares were up 7.23 percent at 2.226 million won as of 9:42 a.m. Seoul time on Thursday as investors reacted to reports of strong demand for the company's ADR offering. Bookrunners closed the order book at 4 p.m. New York time on Tuesday, with the final offering price expected to be determined later on Wednesday. SK hynix shares have fallen about 30.5 percent since reaching a record high of 2.987 million won on June 25, reflecting broader concerns over the semiconductor sector. Rival Micron Technology has also retreated during the same period. Bloomberg previously reported that investors including Baillie Gifford, Coatue Management and Situational Awareness Partners had indicated interest in purchasing up to $7 billion worth of the ADRs. The transaction is being led by Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, with nine additional securities firms participating. The ADRs are scheduled to begin trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker SKHYV on July 10 before transitioning to regular settlement trading on July 13. SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and SK hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung will take part in the listing ceremony on Friday. 2026-07-09 09:25:18 -
Musinsa establishes Taiwan unit to expand direct presence overseas SEOUL, July 08 (AJP) - Musinsa has established a Taiwan subsidiary to spearhead its expansion in the local market, marking the company's latest overseas growth initiative, the company said Tuesday. The Taiwan unit was established on July 7 and will oversee the company's local operations and market expansion efforts. Musinsa said it plans to build a dedicated local team and expand its offline presence with a focus on its private-label casual apparel brand, Musinsa Standard. The company aims to open around 15 Musinsa Standard stores in Taiwan over the next five years as part of its expansion strategy. Musinsa cited growing consumer demand for Korean fashion in Taiwan. According to the company, sales from Taiwan through its global online store more than doubled on average each year between 2023 and 2025. Taiwanese visitors also ranked among the three largest groups of overseas shoppers at Musinsa Store and Musinsa Standard locations in South Korea last year. The move marks Musinsa's latest overseas expansion following the establishment of operations in Japan and China. The company operates fashion platforms including Musinsa, 29CM, Musinsa Empty and Soldout, while also managing its Musinsa Standard apparel brand. 2026-07-08 16:08:32 -
LG Electronics deploys industrial heat pump system at Korean paper mill SEOUL, July 08 (AJP) - LG Electronics said Wednesday it has completed the installation of a large-scale industrial heat pump system at a paper mill in South Korea, marking the commercial deployment of a high-temperature heat pump developed under a government-backed carbon neutrality project. The company said the system was supplied to paper manufacturer Ajin P&P in Daegu and entered commercial operation earlier this month. The project forms part of a national research and development program launched in 2023 by South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, involving LG Electronics and 14 other industry and academic participants. According to LG Electronics, the industrial heat pump delivers outlet temperatures of 108 degrees Celsius, with a maximum of 118 degrees, compared with about 90 degrees for conventional industrial heat pumps. The system also provides cooling capacity of up to 1,040 refrigeration tons (RT). The company said the system is designed for industrial processes requiring high-temperature heat, including paper drying, food sterilization, and applications in the chemical and refining industries. Instead of burning fossil fuels, the heat pump uses electricity and recovered waste heat to generate thermal energy. LG Electronics said the system incorporates its oil-free magnetic bearing technology and uses R-1233zd refrigerant, which has a global warming potential (GWP) of 1. The company said it is expanding its industrial heat pump business in overseas markets. It previously supplied an industrial water-source heat pump to Seoul's COEX convention center and district heating heat pumps to Danish energy company Ørsted, while pursuing additional projects in North America and Europe. 2026-07-08 10:38:56 -
Samsung starts mass production of enterprise SSD expected for Nvidia's Vera Rubin AI platform SEOUL, July 08 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics has begun mass production of its PCIe 6.0-based enterprise solid-state drive, the PM1763, designed for artificial intelligence servers, the company said Wednesday. The product is expected to be used in Nvidia’s next-generation Vera Rubin AI platform, according to officials. The new enterprise SSD combines Samsung’s ninth-generation V-NAND with a 4-nanometer controller and will be available in 4-terabyte, 8TB and 16TB capacities, according to the company. The 16TB model delivers sequential read speeds of up to 28,400 megabytes per second and sequential write speeds of up to 21,900 MB/s, roughly doubling the performance of its predecessor, the PM1753. Samsung said the drive is designed for AI servers using direct-to-chip (D2C) liquid cooling, in which a cold plate is attached directly to components to dissipate heat under high workloads. The PM1763 improves power efficiency by more than 1.8 times compared with the previous generation. The new model also incorporates post-quantum cryptography (PQC) and the TEE Device Interface Security Protocol (TDISP), a PCI-SIG standard intended to protect data paths in virtualized computing environments. Enterprise SSDs are gaining importance in AI data centers as faster storage is needed to reduce bottlenecks between processors, accelerators and memory. Samsung said the PM1763 has completed customer validation for next-generation AI platforms. 2026-07-08 10:11:25 -
Samsung Elec shines above peers with Q2, but spooks investors SEOUL, July 07 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics on Tuesday estimated second-quarter operating profit of 89.4 trillion won ($58.4 billion) on revenue of 171 trillion won, a bar-raising figure that, instead of sparking excitement, triggered panicky profit-taking on fears the AI heyday may have peaked. The guidance beat market consensus of around 85 trillion won, while revenue slightly fell short. Compared with the previous quarter, revenue rose 27.7 percent and operating profit increased 56.2 percent. From a year earlier, revenue climbed 129.3 percent, while operating profit surged 1,810.3 percent. The tech giant, whose business spans from chips to finished appliances, has been on a record earnings streak for a third consecutive quarter, with the latest three-month performance nearly doubling its full-year earnings for 2025. Based on first-quarter results, chips are expected to have accounted for the bulk of the profit in the April-June period. Samsung discloses the breakdown when it releases its final earnings later this month. The preliminary headline figures nonetheless underscore the extraordinary profitability created by the AI memory boom, with strong demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM), DRAM and NAND continuing to outstrip supply across the semiconductor industry. Analysts have said Samsung has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of rising memory prices and expanding AI infrastructure investment. Including the 17 trillion won in provisions for employee performance bonuses under the company's recently agreed compensation plan for its Device Solutions (DS) division, second-quarter operating profit could have neared 100 trillion won. A company official confirmed it booked around 17 trillion won as a one-time expense in the second-quarter accounts. By the headline figure, Samsung has set a new standard for itself and among its global peers. Samsung's reported operating profit also exceeded the $53.5 billion in operating income reported by Nvidia for its latest fiscal quarter ended April 26, making Samsung's latest quarterly operating profit larger than the AI chip leader's most recently reported result. Nvidia and Samsung report under different fiscal calendars, however, meaning the figures are not directly comparable. Samsung's quarterly operating profit was also substantially higher than the latest reported operating income of other major technology companies, including Alphabet ($39.7 billion) and Microsoft ($38.4 billion), underscoring the scale of the current AI-driven memory upcycle. While those companies benefit primarily from cloud computing, software and AI services, Samsung's earnings have been propelled by a sharp rise in memory chip prices amid tight global supply. Although AI chip demand is projected to remain strong at least through next year, investors feared they may have already seen the earnings peak, sending the stock down nearly 7 percent to close below the 300,000-won mark Tuesday. 2026-07-07 16:39:33