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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Nvidia's Jensen Huang wraps up visit to Korea with chip deal with Samsung Elec SEOUL, June 09 (AJP) - Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang concluded his official four-day visit to South Korea Monday evening, securing a comprehensive, long-term memory and foundry supply roadmap with Samsung Electronics to power the next generation of artificial intelligence hardware. Huang wrapped up his multi-industry tour with a private meeting with Jun Young-hyun, Vice Chairman and Head of Samsung Electronics’ Device Solutions (DS) Division, at the Shilla Hotel in Seoul. The high-stakes meeting finalized a localized supply chain for high-bandwidth memory (HBM), which acts as the critical bottleneck for scaling advanced AI accelerators. Following the meeting, Vice Chairman Jun expressed strong confidence in the partnership’s trajectory. "I had a lot of good conversations with Jensen, and honestly, although we have been cooperating for a long time, I think we had the best conversation so far today," Jun told reporters. "We comfortably had many good conversations, and we discussed how we will collaborate in the short term on HBM4 and foundry cooperation." The two leaders mapped out both immediate and future supply lines. According to Jun, Samsung is prioritizing the delivery of its 6th-generation HBM4 and Server Low-Power Memory Modules (SOCAMM) to meet current demand. "In the short term, starting this year, we must sufficiently supply HBM4 and SOCAMM," Jun said. "Then, from next year, we talked a lot about long-term cooperation, such as HBM4E, the foundry business, and HBM5." Samsung has already shipped samples of its 7th-generation HBM4E to Nvidia. Beyond memory, Jun confirmed that Samsung and Nvidia are actively expanding their foundry (contract manufacturing) partnerships. "Currently, we are collaborating on autonomous driving chips required for 4-nanometer and 8-nanometer processes, and Nvidia’s accelerator chip called the Groq chip," Jun said, adding that "discussions on next-generation cooperation are also underway." The Samsung meeting served as the capstone to a broader Nvidia initiative to leverage South Korea’s "physical AI" ecosystem. During his doorstep press conference earlier that evening, Huang emphasized the necessity of massive infrastructure and robust supply chains to transition from software-based AI to physical robotics. "The next wave of AI is physical AI where AI can interact with the physical world, Robotics," Huang said, praising the country's unique manufacturing and electronics capabilities. "Korea is in a very unique position in the world of physical AI," Huang said, praising the country's unique manufacturing and electronics capabilities. "Manufacturing, heavy industries, electronics, and software in AI must unite, must fuse together into Robotics." Huang also addressed market concerns about the AI boom, firmly stating that the demand for AI infrastructure is only beginning. "Intelligence is a commodity, which mainly means intelligence plus character is not a commodity," Huang told reporters, crediting the Korean national character—the "ability to suffer" and "resilience"—as a primary driver for his investment in the country. "If you combine that with AI, incredible, incredible things. It is the reason why I'm here today." When asked about Huang’s earlier comment designating SK Hynix as Nvidia’s "largest memory partner," Jun offered a measured, results-oriented response regarding Samsung's competitive position. "We will work hard on our tasks," Jun said. "We will show it through results later." Following the private meeting and press conference, Jun joined other top Samsung semiconductor executives, including Foundry Business President Han Jin-man, at Nvidia's 'Korea AI Ecosystem' reception. The reception, attended by leaders from SK Hynix and LG Electronics, marked the official end of Huang’s visit before his departure. 2026-06-09 14:50:23 -
Nvidia CEO reaffirms close alliance with SK hynix, unveils plans for next-Gen robotics chip SEOUL, June 8 (AJP) - Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang, who has been in Seoul since last Friday, began his day on Monday with a visit to SK Group, where he stressed Nvidia's "deepening, near-exclusive" reliance on the group for the era of artificial intelligence (AI). He praised SK hynix, an affiliate of SK Group, as a major player in global AI development and announced plans to use its memory in Nvidia's next-generation robotics processors. "I’d like to announce a long-term partnership with SK, we've been friends and partners with SK for a very long time," Huang said. "SK is the largest memory department. Without SK's partnership, today's AI would have not developed as wonderfully as it has." SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won said the two companies will jointly build future "AI factories" which includes AI data centers as well as SK hynix's fabrication plants and elevate their collaboration from a simple supplier relationship to a comprehensive, group-wide partnership to meet surging infrastructure demands. Beyond its dominance in AI data centers, Nvidia is aggressively expanding its hardware ecosystem, with Huang highlighting four new products: the Vera Rubin AI supercomputer, the Vera CPU, the RTX Spark for AI PCs, and the Jetson Thor robotics processor. He also confirmed that the tightly bound partnership will extend into this new frontier of physical AI. "We build a processor called Jetson Thor, and Jetson Thor will have SK hynix inside of it," Huang said, putting an end to speculation about hardware partners for Nvidia's push into the robotics sector. He praised South Korea's readiness for this next technological wave, citing the country's robust manufacturing sector and deep pool of AI talent. "The age of physical AI has finally arrived. And no country is prepared for robotics than Korea," he said. But it remains to be seen what impact their closer cooperation will have on other chipmakers. When asked by AJP whether the strengthened partnership with SK implies reduced reliance on other South Korean memory makers, Huang declined to answer. When asked what constitutes South Korea's strongest asset, Huang pointed to the country's comprehensive tech ecosystem, pointing out that its advancement in software and science is so deep that South Korea has become one of the leading contributors to global AI. "South Korea is world class in many factors, but South Korea has many advantages," Huang said. Highlighting South Korea’s rapid technological evolution, he added, "The basic combination creates a perfect environment for South Korea to take advantage of the AI revolution." Monday's meeting between Huang and Chey came just a day after the two mingled at a casual gathering over fried chicken and beer at a franchise restaurant in southern Seoul the previous evening. At the gathering, Huang enthusiastically praised an SK hynix high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chip as "the best," a public endorsement that highlights the formidable alliance between the two and signals potential impacts on the wider semiconductor supply chain. Meanwhile, their growing alliance appears to remain robust, as SK hynix's revenue linked to Nvidia reached about 7.78 trillion won (US$5.66 billion) in the first quarter alone, cementing SK hynix as Nvidia's largest single memory supplier, according to the latest financial data. The high-profile alliance with SK hynix stood in stark contrast to the absence of its rival, Samsung Electronics. Samsung chief Lee Jae-yong, who was on an overseas trip, was unable to attend last night’s reunion gathering, following a similar event last fall. But still Huang is unlikely to overlook the world's largest memory chipmaker. When asked by AJP about plans to meet Samsung's chief and executives, he said, "I'm looking forward to meeting YH tomorrow," referring to Jun Young-hyun, the newly appointed head of Samsung's semiconductor division. According to multiple industry sources, Huang and Jun are reportedly scheduled to have a private meeting at The Hotel Shilla in central Seoul before Huang's departure. 2026-06-08 16:41:26 -
Nvidia's Huang, SK's Chey solidify AI partnership over chicken and 'somaek' in Seoul SEOUL, June 07 (AJP) - Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won (Tony Chey) held a highly public, casual dinner meeting over fried chicken and beer in Seoul on Sunday, a gathering that highlighted the close ties between the AI chip giant and the world's leading high-bandwidth memory (HBM) maker. Arriving at a Kkanbu Chicken branch in southern Seoul's Gangnam district at 6:46 p.m., Huang wore a Doosan Bears baseball uniform—having just thrown the ceremonial first pitch at a local game—alongside his wife, Lori Huang, who sported the same jersey. Chey arrived ten minutes later, exchanging high-fives with Huang before settling at a central table. The executives were joined by key SK leaders, including SK Hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung, SK Telecom CEO Chung Jae-heon, and SKT AI CIC Head Chung Seok-geun, as well as Nvidia Senior Director Madison Huang and her fiancé. The gathering quickly morphed into an impromptu fan event. Huang and Chey moved around the restaurant, signing autographs for citizens—including a child wearing a custom t-shirt featuring the two executives' faces—and posing for photos. The group shared fried chicken and toasted with "somaek," a popular Korean cocktail of soju and beer. Taking the lively atmosphere to the streets, Huang stepped outside to hand out boxes of fried chicken to reporters and citizens. Chey and the SK executives followed suit, distributing traditional sweet rice beverage (sikhye) and a promotional snack playfully modeled after HBM chips. "I want more HBM!" Huang joked to the crowd as Chey distributed the HBM-themed snacks. Despite the heavyweight corporate lineup, the executives downplayed any immediate strategic discussions. "It wasn't an atmosphere for business talk today; we just engaged in small talk," SK Hynix CEO Kwak said. "We talked about which chicken was delicious." Kwak reportedly picked up the tab for the evening's gathering. The choice of venue was deeply personal for the two leaders. According to Chey, Huang strongly insisted they visit the fried chicken franchise together because Huang had been disappointed that Chey was absent from a similar informal gathering at the same chain last year. "It's not me who was disappointed, it was Jensen," Chey told reporters regarding last year's absence. Following Sunday's casual diplomacy, the executives will shift to official business. Huang is scheduled to visit the SK Seorin Building in central Seoul on Monday morning for further discussions with Chey. On Monday evening, Huang will host the "Korea AI Ecosystem Reception" at the Shilla Hotel to meet with domestic AI partners and enterprises. 2026-06-07 21:22:11 -
Buzz builds ahead of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's Seoul visit SEOUL, June 2 (AJP) - Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is visiting Seoul this week, and his trip is already generating buzz across local industries and financial markets, with major deals expected across areas including memory chips and artificial intelligence (AI). The excitement follows Huang's announcements Monday at Nvidia's developer conference in Taipei, where he said that the company's next-generation AI chips have entered mass production. "Now in full production - HBM4 memory from Micron, SK hynix and Samsung, the Vera Rubin computer," Huang said, confirming that South Korean memory chipmakers are a key part of Nvidia's supply chain. Huang also pointed out Nvidia's wider partnerships in the region, saying, "Here's Naver Cloud from Korea, Bank of Korea, Hyundai, so many other companies." That had an immediate impact on the South Korean stock market, with Samsung Electronics surging 10 percent and crossing the 350,000 won mark for the first time ever during intraday trading earlier in the week. South Korea's largest internet portal Naver also jumped 16 percent, while LG Electronics, whose executives are scheduled to meet with Huang, surged sharply for a third consecutive trading session. Industry observers say Huang's meetings with key business leaders here could go beyond routine business talks, potentially reshaping the global AI supply chain. In the semiconductor sector, SK hynix maintains its stronghold as a core supplier of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for Nvidia's AI accelerators. For Samsung Electronics, the visit marks a critical juncture to evaluate its HBM competitiveness and explore further collaboration in foundry operations. The agenda is also expected to focus heavily on physical AI. LG Group chairman Koo Kwang-mo is expected to discuss expanding partnerships in robotics, smart homes, and on-device AI. Talks with Hyundai Motor Group chairman Chung Eui-sun are expected to cover autonomous driving, software-defined vehicles and robotics. There are also high expectations around Naver in the area of sovereign AI, with Huang potentially visiting the company's robot-friendly 1784 headquarters. Doosan Group's robotics and smart factory divisions are also expected to benefit, while Doosan Enerbility is seen as a key player in meeting the growing power demands of AI data centers. Huang is scheduled to arrive at Incheon International Airport on Thursday evening, before meeting with heads of South Korea's largest conglomerates and tech experts the following day including Chung, Koo, SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won, Naver's Lee Hae-jin, and Doosan Group chairman Park Jeong-won. But Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Jae-yong is reportedly likely to miss the gathering this time due to an overseas business trip. Beyond formal meetings, an informal gathering is also expected on Friday evening. Huang is expected to join major tech leaders for samgyeopsal or pork belly with soju at a restaurant in Seoul's hip district of Seongsu-dong, in what analysts say could be an intimate dinner that may strengthen personal ties across the global AI industry. 2026-06-02 17:06:12 -
Samsung Electronics unveils HBM5 roadmap, new cooling tech at Computex SEOUL, June 02 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics on Tuesday showcased a mock-up of its next-generation High Bandwidth Memory 5 (HBM5) chips and introduced a new thermal management technology at the Computex exhibition in Taipei. The South Korean tech giant is moving to secure its position in the expanding artificial intelligence (AI) memory sector, following its recent mass production of HBM4 and sample shipments of HBM4E chips. Song Jae-hyuk, Chief Technology Officer of Samsung’s Device Solutions (DS) division, stated at the event that turnkey solutions spanning memory, foundry, logic, and packaging are becoming increasingly critical as AI infrastructure demands higher performance and density. To address overheating issues in advanced AI systems, Samsung introduced its Heat Path Block (HPB) technology for HBM5. The HPB design lowers thermal resistance and improves operational stability by creating additional heat dissipation paths, specifically targeting the physical layer (PHY) of the chip. Samsung noted that it has already implemented and verified the HPB technology in its HBM4E chips to ensure structural and package reliability. The company plans to fully integrate HPB into its upcoming HBM5 lineup, which will also feature a 2-nanometer base die. During the exhibition, Samsung also displayed its HBM4E wafers and chipsets. The HBM4E integrates a 1c-nanometer DRAM core die with Samsung’s own 4-nanometer foundry base die. Having commenced sample shipments on May 29, the HBM4E operates at a pin speed of 14 Gbps, with the capacity to reach up to 16 Gbps, delivering a maximum bandwidth of 4 Terabytes per second (TB/s). Market research firm Omdia projects the global HBM market will more than triple from approximately $58.9 billion in 2026 to $198.3 billion by 2029. Samsung also highlighted its supply chain role for Nvidia Corp's next-generation Vera Rubin AI platform. A Vera Rubin system equipped with Samsung memory was displayed at the pavilion. According to the company, it is currently the only vendor capable of supplying a comprehensive portfolio for the platform, including HBM4, LPCAMM2/SOCAMM2, and PM1763 storage solutions. Samsung's HBM4 chips, which entered mass production in February, achieve a performance rate of 11.7 Gbps, with peak speeds reaching 13 Gbps. "We plan to continuously strengthen our next-generation memory competitiveness through ongoing collaborations with global partners, including Nvidia," Song said. 2026-06-02 16:52:26 -
NVIDIA, Samsung Display team up to showcase GeForce RTX 50 performance on OLEDs SEOUL, June 02 (AJP) - Samsung Display has partnered with global AI computing leader NVIDIA to showcase a premium OLED gaming experience at COMPUTEX 2026, Asia's largest IT exhibition, which opened today at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center. The collaboration features a visual experience zone where visitors can experience vivid game graphics on Samsung OLED and QD-OLED displays optimized for the latest NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs. The demonstration utilizes PCs equipped with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX™ 5080, including ASUS' latest ROG Zephyrus G16 laptop and MSI's MPG 322UR QD-OLED X24 monitor, both featuring Samsung Display panels. The experience highlights Capcom's sci-fi action-adventure game PRAGMATA™. The experience is centered on the visual capabilities of the GeForce RTX 50 Series. These GPUs bring realistic graphics to life through path tracing, which calculates light movement in scenes precisely, and NVIDIA DLSS 4.5, an AI-based performance and image enhancement technology. These features are crucial for rendering demanding visuals like light reflecting off metallic surfaces and the deep darkness of outer space, which are characteristics of PRAGMATA™. Youngseok Kim, Vice President and Head of Samsung Display IT Sales, said that differences in display performance become more apparent as real-time light reflection, shadow rendering, and HDR effects become more sophisticated in the latest GPU-powered environments. “Samsung OLED and QD-OLED are displays that best translate advanced GPU performance into the viewing experience,” Kim said. Samsung Display emphasized that its self-emissive OLED and QD-OLED panels are optimized to fully express these high-performance graphics. These displays offer clear picture quality, even in dark scenes, through a high contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1 and perfect black expression. Furthermore, OLED panels offer faster response times than conventional LCDs, allowing them to clearly render hundreds of frames per second with reduced motion blur. The zone allows visitors to compare the same game running on OLED and LCD displays to see which technology most faithfully reproduces the performance of the GeForce RTX 50 Series. 2026-06-02 09:53:37 -
SK Group chairman attends GTC Taipei to solidify Nvidia partnership, discuss customized AI memory SEOUL, June 1 (AJP) - SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won attended the GTC Taipei 2026 keynote on Monday, reinforcing the South Korean conglomerate's ongoing artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure partnership with Nvidia. Accompanied by SK hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung, Chey observed Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's presentation, which outlined the U.S. chipmaker's "Vera Rubin" mass production roadmap and future AI platforms. This marks the third major engagement between the two executives this year, following meetings in Silicon Valley in February and at GTC San Jose in March. During his visit to Taiwan, Chey is scheduled to meet with industry partners to discuss SK hynix's strategy for next-generation AI memory. SK hynix, a primary supplier of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) chips, is shifting its focus from supplying standard products to co-developing customized HBM (cHBM) solutions tailored to specific client architectures. To address the growing processing demands of advanced AI systems, SK hynix also plans to introduce new memory technologies in the future, including High Bandwidth Flash (HBF) and 3D Stacked DRAM on Logic. 2026-06-01 17:35:53 -
Samsung's shipment of HBM4E samples seen as strategic move ahead of Jensen Huang's Seoul visit SEOUL, June 1 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics' shipment last week of next-generation High Bandwidth Memory 4E (HBM4E) samples is widely seen as a strategic overture to Nvidia, just ahead of chief executive Jensen Huang's visit to South Korea, multiple experts said. In a timed move, Samsung announced last Friday that it has begun shipping the industry's first 12-layer HBM4E samples to global customers. The rollout comes just days before Huang's upcoming visit to Seoul, following his appearance at the weeklong Computex trade show in Taipei, which wraps up on Friday. The Nvidia CEO is expected to meet South Korean technology companies including Naver and LG, during his stay. "I think there is something to the idea that this is a signal timed to Huang's scheduled visit to Seoul," Kim Duk-ki, a professor at Sejong University's Department of Semiconductor Systems Engineering, told AJP on Monday. "It is not bad from Nvidia's perspective at all, as it would encourage competition." Kim said Nvidia stands to benefit from Samsung competing more aggressively with SK hynix, which has dominated HBM supply to the chip designer. As demand for AI infrastructure grows, global tech firms have been scrambling to secure sufficient memory supplies. "Nvidia has every reason to want a competitive dynamic between suppliers," Kim said. "Stable volume is the priority, and competition helps ensure that." The new 12-layer HBM4E component uses Samsung's sixth-generation 10-nanometer-class (1c) DRAM process paired with a 4-nanometer logic base die, boosting performance by more than 20 percent compared with previous-generation HBM4 chips. On the technical side, Kim noted that data movement — rather than computation — consumes the most energy in AI workloads, making memory bandwidth and efficiency a critical bottleneck. HBM addresses this by stacking multiple memory dies to dramatically increase data throughput, driving the exponential growth in demand. "The growth in memory demand has been exponential and continues to accelerate," Kim said. "Samsung is utilizing this window to aggressively position itself for the next-generation supply chain." Huang's Seoul itinerary, later this week or early next week, is also expected to include meetings with South Korean tech executives to discuss hardware supply chains and broader AI partnerships. 2026-06-01 15:59:12 -
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