AJU PRESS ASIA FIRST NEWS AGENCY

Journalist

Kim Dong-young
Kim Dong-young김동영
ReporterSamsung Biologics, CJ CheilJedang, LG Chem, Celltrion, Naver, Krafton, Nexon, Hyundai Mobis etc. & energy, game, food, bio, petrochemical, AI
Kim Dong-young is a bilingual journalist at AJU Press (AJP), covering Korean tech, energy, and bio/pharma.
He reports from the field at events like CES and APEC, runs AJP's YouTube channels,
and is pursuing a master's at Sogang's MOT program. "I try everything in this AI era that can improve yet preserve the facts. Journalism still serves as my core."
Latest by Kim Dong-young
  • LG Energy Q2 profit slides 77% on weak EV demand
    LG Energy Q2 profit slides 77% on weak EV demand SEOUL, July 30 (AJP) - LG Energy Solution confirmed that its second-quarter operating profit tumbled 77 percent from a year earlier to 113.3 billion won ($78.6 million), as a prolonged slump in North American electric-vehicle demand continued to erode earnings at South Korea's largest battery maker. According to regulatory filings released Thursday, revenue rose 24.8 percent year-on-year to 7.56 trillion won, while the net loss came to 328.6 billion won, swinging back into the red. Still, the quarterly result marked a rebound from a first-quarter operating loss of 207.8 billion won, snapping two straight quarters of losses that stretched back to the final three months of last year. The turnaround leaned heavily on government support. The reported profit included about 241 billion won in tax credits under the Advanced Manufacturing Production Credit of the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act; excluding the subsidy, the company would have booked an operating loss of 127.7 billion won. Rising North American demand for energy-storage systems and firm cylindrical battery sales cushioned the blow, offsetting a demand chasm that has forced the temporary shutdown of the firm's Ultium Cells joint venture with General Motors in Ohio and Tennessee. Shares of LG Energy Solution traded at 320,000 won per stock at 9:53 a.m., 6.49 percent higher than the day before. 2026-07-30 09:56:34
  • Korea uses more AC, pays less than Japan
    Korea uses more AC, pays less than Japan SEOUL, July 29 (AJP) - South Korea's households crank up their air conditioners more aggressively in summer than those in most advanced economies, yet they shoulder the lowest electricity bills among major nations, industry reports say. Per-capita cooling electricity consumption reached 191.5 kilowatt-hours in 2022, about a quarter of the 766.2 kWh recorded in the United States in 2020 but well above other major economies. The figure ran 1.2 times higher than Japan's 160.2 kWh in 2024, 1.5 times Italy's level, and a striking 12 times that of Germany. The gap reflects Korea's hot, humid summers, which keep cooling units humming far longer than Europe's drier heat. Despite that heavy usage, Korean households pay the least. Applying last year's average July to August consumption of 419 kWh for a four-person household, the monthly bill came to 77,760 won ($53.4), the cheapest among the seven countries surveyed. KEPCO reached the figure by running identical usage through the tariff schedules of overseas utilities including Tokyo Electric Power, France's EDF and Southern California Edison. Elsewhere, the same electricity cost far more. Japanese households would pay 165,983 won, 2.1 times the Korean level, while Germany topped the list at 230,149 won, close to triple. The pattern held on broader measures. Korea's residential rate of $0.127 per kWh ranked 81st among 144 countries tracked by GlobalPetrolPrices, below Italy, Germany, Japan and the United States. Among OECD members, only Canada, Hungary, Mexico and Türkiye charged households less. Still, the low headline price masks a steep progressive tariff. Summer rates climb through three tiers, and once monthly usage tops 450 kWh, the basic charge jumps to 7,300 won and the bill approaches 100,000 won, meaning a stretch of heavy cooling can send costs soaring. 2026-07-29 10:18:55
  • Krafton unveils voice AI model topping Korean-language benchmarks
    Krafton unveils voice AI model topping Korean-language benchmarks SEOUL, July 29 (AJP) - South Korean game developer Krafton said it had released a voice artificial-intelligence foundation model, A.X K2 Raon-Speech, on the global platform Hugging Face, deepening its push into the technology it views as central to the future of gaming. The model, announced by Krafton on Wednesday, was developed under a government-led "sovereign AI foundation model" project overseen by the Ministry of Science and ICT, in which Krafton leads next-generation multimodal research as part of an elite team assembled by SK Telecom. It emerged as one of the results of the project's second phase. Built with about 21 billion parameters, A.X K2 Raon-Speech ranked first in overall Korean-language performance and third in English among openly released voice models below the 30-billion-parameter class, according to Krafton. The company said it evaluated the model across six areas — from speech recognition and synthesis to tool-calling — using 46 benchmarks spanning Korean and English. The model pairs a compact language model based on SK Telecom's A.X K2 with a speech encoder and codec that Krafton trained in-house, allowing it to interpret a speaker's voice and answer in fluent, natural-sounding speech. Conventional voice systems, which convert speech to text and back again, often strip away emotion and intonation along the way; Krafton said its model preserves those cues to craft more lifelike replies. The release builds on Raon, the AI brand Krafton launched in April with four open-source models, refining the earlier speech model's training approach with the company's own encoder and codec. "A.X K2 Raon-Speech is the fruit of Krafton's steady research into and refinement of AI foundation technology," said Lee Kang-wook, the company's chief AI officer, adding that the firm would keep advancing the foundations needed to build new gaming experiences, including AI-driven characters that understand a player's voice and respond in kind. 2026-07-29 09:34:13
  • Celltrion to unveil obesity, cancer drug data as it pushes beyond biosimilars
    Celltrion to unveil obesity, cancer drug data as it pushes beyond biosimilars SEOUL, July 29 (AJP) - Celltrion announced it would release preclinical data for its next-generation obesity candidate this year and begin disclosing early clinical results for its antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) programs from the first half of 2027, as the South Korean drugmaker moves to widen its footing beyond biosimilars into novel therapies. The company, which built its name replicating blockbuster biologics, is now betting that the antibody expertise and global clinical, manufacturing and regulatory muscle honed over years of biosimilar work can accelerate its push into higher-value original drugs. First in line is CT-G32, a quadruple-action obesity candidate that Celltrion is advancing as a potential first-in-class therapy. The drugmaker is running GLP toxicology tests in 252 rats and 48 monkeys to nail down safe dosing, with results due at an academic conference in November and an Investigational New Drug application slated for February 2027. Should approval proceed smoothly, the first patients would be dosed in the second quarter of next year. Earlier preclinical work showed CT-G32 outperformed a rival triple-target agonist on weight loss while sparing lean muscle mass, the company said. Celltrion is simultaneously advancing four ADC and multi-antibody candidates that have entered patient dosing, two of which will wrap up their Phase 1 part-one studies this year, with topline readouts to follow through the first half of 2027. Two of the programs, CT-P70 and CT-P71, have already secured U.S. Food and Drug Administration fast-track status, targeting hard-to-treat cancers from non-small-cell lung to breast and prostate. The company is developing about 25 novel candidates in all and expects its roster of clinical-stage programs to more than triple from this year's levels by 2028, funneling the steady cash thrown off by its biosimilar franchise into research. "The unveiling of preclinical data for our next-generation obesity treatment late this year, followed by key clinical results for our cancer ADC candidates in the first half of next year, will mark a pivotal turning point where the market can gauge our drug-development capabilities and pipeline potential," said a Celltrion spokesperson. 2026-07-29 08:56:16
  • US enlists South Korea, allies in 6G push to counter China
    US enlists South Korea, allies in 6G push to counter China SEOUL, July 28 (AJP) - The Trump administration launched a global partnership on sixth-generation wireless technology, rallying 25 governments including South Korea in a bid to shape the next era of telecommunications and blunt China's growing influence over the field. The initiative announced Monday (local time), dubbed the "Call to Action for 6G Leadership and Security," drew endorsements from major economies such as Japan, Britain, Germany and France, alongside Albania, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Honduras, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, the Philippines, Romania and Sweden. The participating governments pledged to deepen cooperation over the coming 12 months and beyond, vowing to bolster the security, interoperability and resilience of next-generation networks. They agreed to designate government points of contact, pool technical resources and lay the groundwork for commercial deployment, while endorsing trustworthy artificial intelligence as central to secure 6G development. " Today’s action recognizes that 6G will be dramatically different from 5G, and that advancing U.S. and allied leadership requires a dramatically different playbook," said Arielle Roth, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Administrator. The coalition gives shape to goals President Donald Trump set out last December in a policy paper, "Winning the 6G Race," which cast next-generation networks as a pillar of American national security, foreign policy and economic prosperity. Roth had first hinted at the plan in March, warning against embracing an existing model " built around censorship, surveillance and control" — a pointed jab at Chinese vendors such as Huawei and ZTE, whose equipment Washington has flagged as a security risk since Trump's first term. Political news outlet Politico said the alliance is designed to sharpen diplomatic coordination among allies ahead of next year's World Radiocommunication Conference in Shanghai, where 6G standards will be negotiated, and to keep China in check. Known formally as IMT-2030, 6G aims for theoretical peak speeds of about 1 terabit per second — roughly 50 times faster than current 5G — and latency as low as a ten-thousandth of a second. The first detailed specifications are expected around March 2029, with commercial rollout anticipated near 2030. 2026-07-28 14:19:07
  • Why Nvidia needs Korea as much as Korea needs Nvidia
    Why Nvidia needs Korea as much as Korea needs Nvidia SEOUL, July 27 (AJP) - When Jensen Huang toured Seoul last month, Nvidia's chief executive said he had found a full five-layer AI cake in South Korea. Over the weekend, he stayed true to that discovery, emerging as both the biggest customer and investor in that cake. Nvidia placed itself at the center of South Korea's all-out AI push as Huang headlined the government-hosted AI summit in San Francisco before joining President Lee Jae Myung and Korea's business leaders for a relaxed waterfront dinner over beer and fish and chips, replacing Seoul's trademark chimaek but preserving the easy camaraderie that has come to define Huang's relationship with Korea. At first glance, Korea's chip ecosystem was the centerpiece. Samsung Electronics and SK hynix dominate advanced memory, while the country combines world-class telecommunications, electronics manufacturing, automobiles, robotics and industrial production into one of the world's most complete AI supply chains. But beneath the celebratory mood lay an anxiety confronting the world's AI champion. Nvidia's growth rests on a simple equation: more data centers mean more graphics processing units sold, more high-bandwidth memory installed and more networking equipment deployed. That equation is increasingly running into a wall in the United States. The constraint is no longer chips or capital. It is electricity. Power has become the scarce resource in the AI race. Utility interconnection queues in major U.S. markets stretch for years, community opposition has slowed new projects, and transformers and other heavy electrical equipment remain in short supply. Even developers with financing and Nvidia GPUs in hand often cannot connect new facilities to the grid. Research by Sightline Climate estimates that 30 percent to 50 percent of large data-center projects expected globally this year could face delays because of power shortages, equipment bottlenecks and permitting hurdles. For Nvidia, every delayed data center represents GPUs that cannot be shipped, networking systems that cannot be installed and memory chips that remain unsold. A bottleneck in Virginia or Texas eventually shows up in demand forecasts in Santa Clara. Korea as Nvidia's second growth engine That is where South Korea enters—not as a beneficiary of Nvidia's expansion, but as an alternative engine of demand that America's grid cannot yet accommodate. President Lee Jae Myung has launched one of the world's most ambitious AI infrastructure drives, combining hyperscale AI data centers, sovereign AI models and industrial AI deployment under three national mega projects. The plan calls for roughly 18.4 gigawatts of AI data-center capacity by 2035. SK Group is expected to develop around 15 gigawatts, GS Group 2.4 gigawatts and Naver about 1 gigawatt, representing one of the largest coordinated AI infrastructure programs outside the United States. Layered on top is Seoul's sovereign AI initiative, encouraging Korean companies to build large language models optimized for the Korean language, domestic regulations and industrial applications. For Nvidia, those projects provide exactly what U.S. infrastructure constraints increasingly threaten: sustained demand. "South Korea has all the ingredients to become a global AI powerhouse—world-class networks and data centers, leadership in chip technology and vast industrial scale," Huang said. "Together with SK Telecom and SK hynix, we are building a new generation of AI factories that will power Korea's next wave of growth." Partnerships built for mutual gain The agreements announced during Lee's Silicon Valley visit illustrate why Nvidia's relationship with Korea extends well beyond supplier and customer. SK Group and Nvidia unveiled a strategic AI initiative valued at more than $500 billion. SK Telecom plans to build AI factories totaling up to two gigawatts using Nvidia's next-generation Vera Rubin computing platform while sourcing HBM4 memory from SK hynix. The first facility is expected to come online in 2027. The economics are compelling. Servers—primarily GPUs and memory—account for roughly 60 percent of the capital cost of a large AI data center. Every hyperscale AI factory therefore lifts Nvidia's processor sales while simultaneously expanding demand for SK hynix's advanced memory. "In the AI era, competitiveness depends not just on how effectively AI is utilized, but on how much intelligence we can produce," SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won said. "We will help Korea evolve from an AI adopter into a global AI innovation hub." Hyundai Motor Group is pursuing another dimension of the partnership. Rather than simply buying chips, Hyundai plans to integrate Nvidia's Blackwell GPUs and Drive platform across autonomous vehicles, robotics and smart factories, turning Korea into a proving ground for physical AI. Naver, meanwhile, has paired Nvidia with global infrastructure investor Brookfield to expand its Sejong AI factory to 200 megawatts by 2028, supported by approximately 100,000 Vera Rubin GPUs. "Nvidia's planned strategic investment and our infrastructure supply agreement with Brookfield have propelled Naver's vision for the AI factory business into a robust execution phase," Naver founder and Chairman Lee Hae-jin said. "Leveraging our partnerships with global technology leaders, we will strengthen Korea's sovereign AI ecosystem and enhance the country's AI competitiveness." Together, the projects reveal Nvidia's broader strategy. Rather than relying overwhelmingly on U.S. hyperscalers, the company is cultivating national AI champions capable of building infrastructure at scale. Korea has become the most advanced example of that model. A golden era—if the lights stay on The week's grandest announcements came from conference stages, but its defining image came around a dinner table overlooking San Francisco Bay. Lee greeted Huang by joking that he had seen reports of the Nvidia chief enjoying chimaek during his Seoul visit and wished he had joined him. Huang laughed and replied that everyone in Korea seemed to love AI—from fried chicken restaurants to barbecue houses. He noted that Nvidia and Korea had worked together for more than 25 years, first through PC gaming and now through artificial intelligence. "From AI chips and physical AI to AI infrastructure, Korea has achieved remarkable results over the past year," Huang told Lee. "This is truly the beginning of Korea's golden era." Lee's response was brief. He hoped it was only the beginning. Whether that golden era arrives on schedule will depend on more than the chips Nvidia is eager to sell. Korea needs Nvidia's processors, software ecosystem and AI leadership to accelerate its ambitions. Nvidia, meanwhile, increasingly needs Korea's memory leadership, industrial manufacturing, coordinated investment and, above all, the electrical capacity to deploy the computing power that America's own grid is struggling to absorb. The relationship is no longer one-sided. Korea may have every layer of Huang's AI cake. Nvidia is helping bake it—but it also needs somewhere to serve it. 2026-07-27 13:57:40
  • South Korea breaks ground on $791 million light source facility
    South Korea breaks ground on $791 million light source facility SEOUL, July 27 (AJP) - South Korea broke ground on a 1.16 trillion won ($791.5 million) fourth-generation synchrotron radiation facility, a flagship research complex the government hopes will free domestic scientists and industry from reliance on overseas laboratories. The Korea Light Source, or KLS, is being built on a site in Ochang, North Chungcheong Province, and is targeted for completion by the end of 2029, the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Basic Science Institute said Monday. Once operational, the accelerator will hurl electrons to near light speed to generate brilliant beams capable of probing the structure of matter at the atomic scale, underpinning research in strategic fields such as semiconductors, batteries, new drugs and advanced materials. It will be about 100 times brighter than the country's existing third-generation source in Pohang. The project has not been without setbacks. Its completion date slipped from an original 2027 target after a contract with the POSCO E&C consortium was delayed, and construction bids were left unfilled several times before the deal was finally signed. "Now that the KLS has entered full-scale construction, we will put safety first and thoroughly manage every stage of the work," said Koo Hyuk-chae, first vice minister of science and ICT. "We will do our utmost to ensure a successful build so that researchers and industry can make use of world-class research infrastructure." When finished, the facility will make South Korea the world's sixth country to operate a fourth-generation circular light source. 2026-07-27 10:52:02
  • Celltrion confirms record quarterly profit above preliminary estimate
    Celltrion confirms record quarterly profit above preliminary estimate SEOUL, July 27 (AJP) - Celltrion confirmed record second-quarter earnings on Monday that came in above its own preliminary estimate, as newer, higher-margin biosimilars and faster cost improvements outpaced the company's initial reckoning. Final audited revenue rose 45 percent from a year earlier to 1.39 trillion won ($953 million), while operating profit jumped 86.3 percent to 451.8 billion won, the biosimilar maker said in a regulatory filing. Both figures topped the preliminary numbers released on July 3, by about 93.7 billion won and 21.8 billion won respectively. Sales of newer products soared 76 percent year-on-year, lifting their share of total biologics revenue to 65 percent, up from the 60 percent-plus cited in the preliminary report. The company, which has launched 11 biosimilars globally, aims to build an 18-product portfolio by 2030, adding cancer and autoimmune treatments. It reaffirmed full-year targets of 5.3 trillion won in sales and 1.8 trillion won in operating profit, and said it now expects to exceed them. "This quarter confirmed our cash-generating power and business competitiveness, having achieved an operating margin above 30 percent even after absorbing R&D investment for future growth," said a Celltrion spokesperson, adding the company would keep reinvesting biosimilar cash flow into new drugs. Shares of Celltrion traded at 182,900 won per stock on 9:44 a.m., 2.96 percent higher than the previous session. 2026-07-27 09:44:54
  • Korean leaders meet Nvidia at San Francisco AI summit
    Korean leaders meet Nvidia at San Francisco AI summit SEOUL, July 24 (AJP) - President Lee Jae Myung and a delegation of South Korea's leading executives and researchers are meeting Nvidia and its ecosystem partners at an AI summit in San Francisco this week to map out the country's push into artificial intelligence, the chipmaker said. The gathering builds on Nvidia founder and chief executive Jensen Huang's visit to Seoul last month, advancing what the company describes as a full-stack drive to widen Korea's AI infrastructure and expertise as the country angles to become a global hub for AI innovation. Huang is scheduled to meet Lee on the sidelines of the summit, alongside separate sessions with Korean and American business leaders. Lee departed Seoul for San Francisco on Friday at the start of a multi-nation overseas trip. On the eve of the summit, Huang hosted SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and teams from SK hynix, SK Telecom and Nvidia for dinner in Woodside, California — a warm-weather welcome to Silicon Valley for the visiting Korean executives. The two companies, longtime partners, said in June they would broaden their collaboration to jointly develop memory for Nvidia platforms spanning AI infrastructure, personal AI and physical AI. SK Telecom separately unveiled plans that month to build AI infrastructure supporting Korean innovation in physical AI and robotics. Nvidia and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) also announced a joint AI research lab in Seoul dedicated to agentic AI, the first such laboratory between a Korean university and a global technology company. 2026-07-24 16:03:16
  • Hyundai Mobis posts record Q2 profit
    Hyundai Mobis posts record Q2 profit SEOUL, July 24 (AJP) - Hyundai Mobis announced that its second-quarter operating profit climbed 12.1 percent from a year earlier to 975.2 billion won ($665.7 million), as brisk sales of high-margin electronics components and a resilient after-sales parts business carried the auto parts maker. According to preliminary regulatory filings released Friday, revenue rose 2.4 percent to 16.32 trillion won, while net profit advanced 13.5 percent to 1.06 trillion won. Measured against the first quarter, the gains were sharper still — operating profit jumped 21.5 percent and net profit 20.1 percent. A richer product mix and company-wide cost discipline drove the improvement, Hyundai Mobis said. Electrification revenue slipped modestly on lower output at some automaker customers and memory chip costs remained a burden, but stronger sales to overseas carmakers and expanded shipments of high-value electronics parts more than offset the drag. The supplier spent 950.8 billion won on research and development in the first half, about 44 percent of its 2.16 trillion won annual plan, and booked $740 million in orders from global clients. "Some orders were delayed in the first half due to customers' strategy changes and a slowdown in the electrification market, but we plan to focus on securing first-time orders with new products and new customers to raise the quality of our order book," said a Hyundai Mobis spokesperson. The company declared an interim dividend of 1,500 won per share, with a record date of Aug. 10. It bought back about 910,000 shares worth 500 billion won between May and July, all of which are scheduled to be cancelled in August. Shares of Hyundai Mobis traded at 494,500 won per share at 10:35 a.m., down by 5.73 percent from the previous session. 2026-07-24 10:40:46