Aju Press - Asia News Hub

Journalist

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

Retail investors flee sliding Seoul market for Wall Street SEOUL, August 30 (AJP) - South Korean retail investors' net buying of U.S. equities outpaced their purchases on the domestic main board in the first two months of the second half, as a slump in Seoul shares drove capital abroad. Net purchases of U.S. stocks by individual investors reached $7.05 billion between July 1 and Aug. 27, according to the Korea Securities Depository, exceeding the 8.75 trillion won ($6.35 billion) they bought on the benchmark KOSPI over roughly the same period and running to about six times their 1.57 trillion won of net buying on the tech heavy KOSDAQ. The two-month total surpassed 70 percent of the $9.87 billion these investors had bought across the entire first half, after net purchases of $4.64 billion in July were followed by a further $2.40 billion in August. The exodus tracked a sharp reversal in Korean shares, which peaked at a record 9,114.55 on June 22 before tumbling toward the 6,000 line through July, even as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes ground steadily higher and offered a more compelling draw. Leveraged semiconductor bets dominated the buying as the most-purchased security was the Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X Shares, or SOXL, drawing $3.01 billion — more than 40 percent of all U.S. stock purchases over the period. Trailing SOXL were the American depositary receipts of SK hynix at $815 million, Alphabet at $647 million and SpaceX at $515 million, while investors dumped shares of Nvidia, Palantir, Micron and Microsoft. Domestic idle capital thinned in step, as investor deposits parked for trading tumbled more than 33 trillion won to 98.92 trillion won on Aug. 26 from 132.47 trillion won on June 29, with much of the drained liquidity widely believed to have flowed into the U.S. market. AJP Takeaways • South Korean retail investors' net buying of U.S. equities reached $7.05 billion between July 1 and Aug. 27, 2026, exceeding their 8.75 trillion won of net purchases on the benchmark KOSPI and running to about six times their 1.57 trillion won on the KOSDAQ, according to the Korea Securities Depository. • The two-month total surpassed 70 percent of the $9.87 billion these investors bought across the entire first half of 2026. • The Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X Shares, or SOXL, drew $3.01 billion, more than 40 percent of all U.S. stock purchases in the period. 2026-08-30 10:37:54
Korea's convenience stores sharpen food rivalry SEOUL, August 30 (AJP) - South Korea's three biggest convenience store chains are sharpening their food rivalry, rolling out products tuned to increasingly granular consumer tastes as shoppers weigh texture, drink preferences and health alongside the traditional draws of price and convenience. GS25, E-mart24 and 7-Eleven are each leaning on sales data to expand categories where demand has already proven itself, from chewy frozen treats to cafe-style tea drinks and seasonal rice bowls. GS25's two chewy ice cream bars sold about 4 million units in roughly three months, GS Retail said, while E-mart24's average daily tea beverage sales per store rose 17.4 percent in the first seven months of the year from a year earlier. 7-Eleven, whose bibimbap sales climbed 25 percent this year, is grooming rice bowls made with seasonal ingredients into a core strategic line. E-mart24, meanwhile, launched a 350-milliliter ready-to-drink royal milk tea on Aug. 28 under its in-house cafe brand Seongsu 310, priced at 1,600 won ($1.16) — well below the 4,000 to 6,000 won charged at typical cafes and cheaper than rival convenience store versions in the 2,000-won range. 7-Eleven is elevating bibimbap into a signature lunchbox category, betting that its blend of assorted vegetables and easy preparation will win over a widening base of customers. Sales among foreign tourists rose 40 percent last year and a further 15 percent this year, and the chain will roll out a seasonal series with singer Sung Si-kyung starting Wednesday. AJP Takeaways • South Korea's three largest convenience store operators — GS25, E-mart24 and 7-Eleven — are competing on food products tailored to more specific consumer tastes such as texture, tea drinks and seasonal ingredients, rather than price and convenience alone. • GS25's chewy ice cream bars sold about 4 million units in roughly three months, E-mart24's per-store daily tea beverage sales rose 17.4 percent in the first seven months of the year from a year earlier, and 7-Eleven's bibimbap sales climbed 25 percent this year. • E-mart24 launched a 1,600-won ($1.16) ready-to-drink royal milk tea under its Seongsu 310 brand, while 7-Eleven will introduce a seasonal bibimbap series with singer Sung Si-kyung to broaden its customer base. 2026-08-30 10:01:43
Google-backed study finds Korean workers use AI more adeptly SEOUL, August 27 (AJP) - South Korean workers apply artificial intelligence with a sophistication about 1.7 times the global average, a report commissioned by Google Korea found, as employers increasingly treat fluency with the technology as a hiring priority. Google Korea released the findings on Thursday, drawing on a study by global consultancy Public First titled "Growth and Innovation in Korea Driven by AI." The report also concluded that training-driven productivity gains reach as much as 4.7 million won ($3,404) per worker each year. Forty percent of surveyed workers said companies now favor applicants who can demonstrate AI skills, and 35 percent named command of AI-based tools as the single most sought-after capability, ahead of adaptability and communication skills. Workers who advanced from basic prompts to refined ones after training cut their task time threefold, the report found, while 82 percent of respondents expected AI competence to become important or essential to their jobs within five years. Appetite for learning ran high on both sides of the classroom. Nearly three in four Koreans said they wanted to build AI skills, and more than eight in 10 parents rated safe, effective AI use as at least as important as core subjects such as math and English for their children. Google also pointed to its own economic footprint, citing Public First estimates that its products generated about 21 trillion won in domestic economic value and supported 130,000 jobs in 2025, of which 13 trillion won came from small and medium-sized enterprises. AJP Takeaways • A Google Korea-commissioned study by Public First, released Aug. 27, 2026, found South Korean workers use AI about 1.7 times more skillfully than the global average, with employers increasingly prioritizing AI fluency in hiring. • Forty percent of surveyed workers said companies favor AI-capable applicants, 35 percent ranked AI-tool proficiency as the top hiring criterion, and training raised annual productivity per worker by up to 4.7 million won. • Google Korea said it would expand AI training, including its "AI Olim" program and a new certificate course run with South Korea's Ministry of Employment and Labor, citing 21 trillion won in domestic economic value from its products in 2025. 2026-08-27 15:44:24
Top-income Koreans earn more cash, while real wages slide SEOUL, August 27 (AJP) - South Korea's richest households pocketed much larger income gains in cash terms than those at the bottom in the second quarter, widening the absolute income gap even as workers suffered a third straight month of falling inflation-adjusted wages. Average monthly household income rose 4.5 percent from a year earlier to 5.30 million won in the April-June period, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics' quarterly household survey released Thursday. After adjusting for inflation, household income increased a much smaller 1.5 percent. Labor income, which accounts for the largest share of household earnings, rose only 0.8 percent to 3.22 million won, while transfer income surged 20.4 percent to 931,000 won. Public transfers alone jumped 27.6 percent. The headline increase also concealed a striking difference in the amount of additional income flowing to households at opposite ends of the income ladder. Average monthly income for households in the richest 20 percent rose to 11.15 million won from 10.74 million won a year earlier, an increase of about 407,000 won. Income for the poorest 20 percent climbed to 1.28 million won from 1.19 million won, an increase of about 89,000 won. The richest households therefore gained more than four times as much additional monthly income in won terms as the poorest households. The absolute gap between the two groups widened by about 318,000 won to 9.87 million won from 9.55 million won a year earlier. Income at the bottom rose at a faster percentage rate of 7.5 percent, compared with 3.8 percent for the top quintile, helped substantially by transfer payments, or government handout. The government's broader distribution indicator also pointed to an improvement rather than deterioration. The ratio of equivalized disposable income of the top 20 percent to the bottom 20 percent fell to 4.97 in the second quarter from 5.45 a year earlier. For workers dependent primarily on wages, however, purchasing power continued to deteriorate. South Korean workers saw their inflation-adjusted wages decline for a third consecutive month in June as stubbornly high prices erased modest pay gains, according to a separate Ministry of Employment and Labor survey released Thursday. Real monthly wages for workers at businesses with at least one regular employee slipped 0.1 percent from a year earlier to 3.41 million won in June. The three-month slide was the longest since real wages declined for five consecutive months from April through August 2023. The squeeze was more pronounced over the full second quarter. Real wages fell 0.8 percent to 3.37 million won even though nominal wages increased 2.1 percent to 4.04 million won. Consumer prices rose 3.0 percent over the same period, outpacing the increase in pay. The two sets of government data illustrate the divergence between rising headline household income and the weaker experience of workers relying on their paychecks. Much of the household-income increase came from transfers rather than wages, while inflation continued to erode the purchasing power of earned income. On the upside, household spending rose 3.0 percent from a year earlier to 3.99 million won per month in the second quarter. Consumer spending increased 3.4 percent in nominal terms but only 0.4 percent after adjusting for inflation. Higher borrowing costs continued to weigh on household budgets. Interest expenses climbed 12.1 percent from a year earlier, the household survey showed. AJP Takeaways South Korea's richest 20 percent gained about 407,000 won in monthly household income from a year earlier, versus about 89,000 won for the poorest 20 percent, widening the absolute top-bottom income gap to roughly 9.87 million won. The relative income picture was less unequal: bottom-quintile income rose 7.5 percent versus 3.8 percent for the top quintile, while the official equivalized disposable-income quintile ratio narrowed to 4.97 from 5.45. Workers' real wages fell for a third consecutive month in June and dropped 0.8 percent in the second quarter as 3.0 percent inflation outpaced a 2.1 percent rise in nominal pay. 2026-08-27 15:07:05
S. Korea finds no formaldehyde in Chinese cabbage kimchi SEOUL, August 27 (AJP) - South Korea's food safety regulator found no formaldehyde in any of 82 cabbage kimchi and cabbage samples pulled from the market, easing concerns that Chinese farms had used the carcinogen on their crops. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said Thursday it tested 50 samples of cabbage kimchi, 29 of napa cabbage and three of salted cabbage after reports that formaldehyde, a Group 1 carcinogen, had been applied to cabbage cultivation in China. The ministry said it screened products from every Chinese cabbage manufacturer and packaging firm distributing in South Korea. Through the Korea Agency of HACCP Accreditation and Services stationed in China, it also traced the sourcing regions of 55 Chinese kimchi makers exporting to the country, finding none had bought cabbage from Kangbao county in Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, where the tainted produce originated. All 55 manufacturers hold Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) certification, the ministry said, noting that since October 2024 only kimchi produced by HACCP-certified facilities may be imported. "Since strengthening inspections of Chinese cabbage on the 24th, we have been rigorously managing import safety, including testing for formaldehyde at the customs clearance stage," a ministry official said. Formaldehyde, classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer, is used in disinfection and tissue preservation. The alarm followed revelations that farmers in some rural parts of China had used the chemical to keep cabbage fresh, prompting Beijing's central government to order a special probe. AJP Takeaways • South Korea sourced the overwhelming majority of its commercial kimchi cabbage from China, giving any contamination scare outsized weight for the domestic food-service and restaurant supply chain. • All 82 tested samples — 50 cabbage kimchi, 29 napa cabbage and three salted cabbage — returned negative for formaldehyde, and none of 55 exporting makers sourced from the affected Kangbao county. • Beijing has ordered its own special investigation, with any findings potentially prompting tighter customs screening or a temporary import review in Korea. 2026-08-27 14:02:24
Kakao union vows to block spin-off at December vote SEOUL, August 26 (AJP) - Kakao's labor union will campaign to defeat the technology group's planned split at a December shareholder meeting, arguing the restructuring lacks concrete reform and job-security measures. The union, a chapter of the Korean Chemical, Textile and Food Workers' Union, declared its opposition at a press conference held Wednesday following a rally to authorize a strike at Kakao Bank. Kakao's board resolved on Aug. 21 to divide the company into Kakao AI, a new entity housing its artificial-intelligence platform business, and Kakao X, a surviving holding company overseeing investments and subsidiaries. "A perception is widespread that the company's claim of enhanced corporate value simply will not hold up in practice," said Suh Seung-wook, head of the Kakao union chapter. Suh said a credible reform plan addressing Kakao's existing problems should precede any split, adding that the current blueprint offers no concrete safeguards. He stressed the union was not opposing the division outright but rejecting one pursued without a proper diagnosis of its causes or remedies. The spin-off is subject to a special resolution at the extraordinary general meeting slated for Dec. 17, and the union intends to court major and minority shareholders to vote it down. Suh said that excluding the controlling shareholder's stake of about 24 percent, opposition from more than a third of attending shareholders would sink the motion. The union would first press the National Pension Service to cast its shares against it. The National Pension Service currently holds 5.4 percent of total shares for Kakao, the second largest shareholder. The union also demanded joint bargaining across all affiliates to secure group-wide employment stability, and handed management a common set of demands covering management reform, job security and a revamped compensation system. While a recent tentative wage agreement at Kakao's headquarters narrows the immediate scope for industrial action, the union left the door open to walkouts should the company refuse joint bargaining. Kakao said the spin-off marked a significant change for its workforce and that it would continue to gather employee views and communicate with the union, while dismissing industry speculation that founder Kim Beom-su was involved, casting the move instead as a reckoning with a "post-Kim Beom-su" structure. AJP Takeaways • Kakao's labor union said on Aug. 26, 2026 it will campaign to defeat the company's planned corporate split at an extraordinary shareholder meeting on Dec. 17, citing insufficient reform and job-security measures. • Kakao's board resolved on Aug. 21, 2026 to divide the group into Kakao AI, a new artificial-intelligence platform company, and Kakao X, a surviving investment and subsidiary holding entity, effective Jan. 1, 2027 • The union plans to lobby the National Pension Service and minority shareholders to block the special resolution, and has demanded group-wide joint bargaining while leaving open the possibility of industrial action. 2026-08-26 16:23:10
Westinghouse stake report exposes US-Korea nuclear divide SEOUL, August 26 (AJP) - U.S. President Donald Trump has hardly been shy about expressing displeasure over the slow progress in Seoul's execution of its pledged $350 billion investment commitment, and the latest pressure involves the nuclear reactor business. Seoul has denied a report that Washington proposed jointly acquiring an equity stake in Westinghouse Electric, even as the Trump administration presses to draw Korean capital and construction muscle into a sweeping revival of American nuclear power. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Tuesday that the claim that the two countries would co-invest to buy into the U.S. reactor maker "is not true." It pushed back against reports that the Pennsylvania-based company could become part of the allies' strategic investment program. State nuclear operator Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) also kept its distance. "We have nothing to say about this matter," a company spokesperson said. Even if Korea were to participate in such a venture, the spokesperson said, it would not necessarily mean abandoning the homegrown APR1400 reactor model used at the Barakah nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates, South Korea's first nuclear export project. "It would be a structure where KEPCO leads and KHNP takes part," the spokesperson added, referring to Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO), the state utility and KHNP's parent company. KEPCO separately declined to comment. Investors nevertheless welcomed the prospect of deeper Korean participation in America's nuclear expansion, sending shares of nuclear-related companies sharply higher. Shares of Korea Electrical Power Industrial Development ended Wednesday 12.72 percent higher at 13,270 won ($9). KEPCO E&C rose 13.63 percent to 123,400 won and KEPCO gained 6.42 percent to 34,800 won, well above the main KOSPI's gain of 0.97 percent. Business dailies in Seoul reported this week that the ministry and KEPCO had received a U.S. proposal and were weighing possible investment structures and financing, with part of South Korea's pledged U.S. investment cited as a potential source of funds. The reports come as Washington seeks to revive a domestic nuclear industry that has struggled to build large reactors at scale even as electricity demand surges from artificial intelligence data centers and advanced manufacturing. Westinghouse is controlled by Brookfield alongside Canadian uranium producer Cameco, which owns 49 percent. The U.S. government struck a strategic partnership with Brookfield and Cameco last October aimed at supporting at least $80 billion in new Westinghouse reactor construction in the United States. The arrangement gives Washington a path to a substantial financial interest in Westinghouse if the reactor program proceeds. Once specified investment conditions are met, the U.S. government would receive a participation interest tied to Westinghouse cash distributions. Washington could also require an initial public offering if the interest has vested and Westinghouse is expected to command a valuation of at least $30 billion by January 2029, with the participation interest convertible into a warrant under the agreement's formula. The structure gives the Trump administration a direct financial incentive to accelerate Westinghouse reactor deployment. Korea could supply something Washington has found harder to reproduce – the capacity to build large nuclear plants at scale. One industry insider who asked not to be named said U.S. utilities remain reluctant to shoulder the financing and construction risks of a new wave of large reactors, giving Washington an incentive to bring Korean capital into the equation. "The utilities find it burdensome to launch new projects, so the idea is that we put up the seed money," the insider said. Under such a structure, Korean companies could help finance and build the reactors and, depending on the equity terms, secure a lasting share of the returns generated by the projects. Whether that pays off for Seoul would depend heavily on the size of Korea's stake and how deeply Korean suppliers are allowed into the supply chain. Some industry experts argue that an equity investment would give Korea little strategic value that it does not already possess. Westinghouse absorbed Combustion Engineering, the U.S. company whose pressurized-water technology Korea licensed decades ago as it developed its own nuclear reactor program. One expert argued that decades of technology transfer and domestic development mean an equity investment would offer Korea relatively little additional technical know-how. "We already received all the technical data — we simply don't hold the property rights to it," the expert said. "There is nothing new to gain." The concern is that Korea could provide capital and construction expertise without gaining corresponding control over intellectual property or project leadership. If Washington also acquires a financial interest in Westinghouse, the expert said, U.S. influence over the company could further complicate Korea's ability to use and export its own technology freely, potentially leaving Seoul "to put up the money and end up subordinate to the United States." A Westinghouse stake would not necessarily open the overseas nuclear markets Korea most wants to penetrate. KEPCO, KHNP and Westinghouse reached a global settlement in January 2025 ending a bruising intellectual-property dispute over Korean reactor exports. The detailed terms remain confidential. Korean media have reported that the agreement restricts KEPCO and KHNP from independently pursuing certain projects in North America and Europe. Neither side has publicly disclosed the detailed geographic or commercial restrictions. Experts said buying into Westinghouse would not automatically remove obligations contained in the existing settlement. That uncertainty sits at the heart of Seoul's calculation. Westinghouse has formidable strength in reactor design, licensing and intellectual property, but the United States has struggled to reproduce the construction capacity needed to deliver large nuclear projects on time and at predictable cost. Korea's record runs in the opposite direction. KEPCO and KHNP delivered the four-reactor Barakah project in the United Arab Emirates, establishing South Korea as one of the few democratic countries with recent experience building a large nuclear complex from the ground up. Korea's flagship APR1400 also received U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission design certification in 2019. Washington therefore has reason to court both Korean money and Korean execution. The U.S. Commerce Department, which helped broker the broader Westinghouse framework, said it "continues to progress the President's agenda of promoting new Nuclear Power projects, including through the Japanese and Korean trade deals," adding that it was "in discussions with all relevant parties." Even if discussions advance, the two sides could remain divided over who leads the projects and which reactor is built. Washington's nuclear expansion is centered on Westinghouse's 1.1-gigawatt AP1000, including reactors aimed at meeting rising electricity demand from AI data centers and other power-intensive industries. Seoul has its own interest in expanding the global footprint of the larger APR1400 and preserving a leading role for KHNP and the Korean nuclear supply chain. Korea's misgiving is that a U.S.-designed and U.S.-led structure could leave it shouldering a significant share of the financing and construction risk while Westinghouse retains control over reactor technology and project leadership. The potential upside is access to what could become one of the world's largest nuclear construction markets and a long pipeline of orders for Korean engineering, equipment and construction companies. The trade-off therefore goes well beyond the price of a Westinghouse stake. Washington needs capital and construction capacity to turn its nuclear revival from policy into actual reactors. Seoul must decide how much of both it is willing to commit if Korean companies remain supporting players rather than equal partners. AJP Takeaways • South Korea denied reports that Washington proposed a joint investment in Westinghouse, but the controversy exposes deeper differences over financing, reactor technology and project leadership. • The United States needs Korean capital and construction expertise to accelerate its nuclear revival, while Seoul wants sufficient control and commercial returns before taking on large financing and execution risks. • A Westinghouse stake would not automatically expand KEPCO and KHNP's freedom in overseas markets because the detailed terms of their confidential 2025 settlement with Westinghouse remain in force. 2026-08-26 15:05:57
Seoul to cut power bills for chip and datacenter host regions SEOUL, August 26 (AJP) - South Korea's industrial users will pay electricity rates that differ by region, with bills in the southern provinces tapped to host data centers and chip clusters falling by as much as 10 percent under a plan to draw advanced manufacturing away from the overcrowded capital area. The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment and Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) presented the regional pricing scheme at a Wednesday public hearing in western Seoul, dividing the country into four broad zones with a new "regional adjustment charge" folded into industrial tariffs. Under the plan, southern regions would see industrial rates fall by 13 to 18 won ($0.009 to $0.013) per kilowatt-hour, or about 7 to 10 percent against last year's average industrial selling price of 181.9 won. The central zone of Chungcheong and Gangwon would drop 5 to 8 percent, and the northern capital area 3 to 8 percent. The power differentiation comes as Seoul presses aggressively with its so-called Three Megaprojects envisioning to create chip, physical AI and datacenter belt beyond the capital region. Honam and the southwest are being positioned as Korea’s second memory semiconductor production base. Chungcheong is being developed as a hub for HBM, advanced packaging, displays, batteries, and bio manufacturing. Yeongnam and Daegyeong are being assigned to host bases for physical AI, robotics, materials, components, equipment, power semiconductors, and manufacturing conversion. AI data centers are intended to connect these regional clusters into a national compute network. Rates in the southern capital area, including southern Seoul and southern Gyeonggi, would stay essentially unchanged, with the adjustment charge set between zero and a one-won cut. The government aims to break a one-directional structure in which power generated outside the capital is funneled through the grid into Seoul and its surroundings. About 40 percent of the electricity produced in South Korea is consumed in the capital area, which drew 40.6 percent of national power sales last year. That strain is set to deepen as a semiconductor cluster rises in Yongin, south of Seoul, where Samsung Electronics and SK hynix fabrication plants are expected to require 14 gigawatts by 2041, roughly the output of 10 large nuclear reactors. Currently, the capital area's power self-sufficiency stands at about 66 percent. The plan has drawn concern that rates could differ across a single road, stoking friction between neighboring districts, and that basing cuts on self-sufficiency rewards areas already benefiting from nearby plants. Officials in cities such as Daegu warned that lowering rates for power-rich regions "could amount to double benefits that undermine fairness between regions," according to a March review report to the National Assembly. Even the deepest discounts would leave industrial rates above China's, raising doubts about the plan's effectiveness while adding to the burden on KEPCO, which forecasts about 2.8 trillion won in forgone revenue. To offset that, the government will introduce location based marginal pricing on wholesale power, buying more cheaply from generators outside the capital. The government and KEPCO plan to complete the procedures for the regional pricing scheme within the year. AJP Takeaways • South Korea's Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment and Korea Electric Power Corportaion unveiled a regional electricity pricing plan that would cut industrial power rates by up to about 10 percent in southern regions while leaving the southern capital area essentially unchanged. • Southern industrial rates would fall 13 to 18 won per kilowatt-hour, measured against an average industrial selling price of 181.9 won per kilowatt-hour. • The plan aims to ease the capital area's concentration of power demand, which accounted for 40.6 percent of national electricity sales last year, though even discounted rates would remain above China's and cost KEPCO about 2.8 trillion won ($2.02 billion) in forgone revenue. 2026-08-26 14:45:55
Rebellions supplies AI chip racks to UK cluster SEOUL, August 26 (AJP) - Rebellions' neural processing units will power part of a UK government-backed AI research cluster, the South Korean chip maker's first entry into Europe's sovereign AI infrastructure market, under a supply deal for more than 100 computing racks disclosed Wednesday. The racks will run through a partnership with Callosum, a London-based AI compute startup that last week raised about $100 million in seed funding led by Atomico, with backing from the UK's Sovereign AI Fund. "The partnership with Callosum allows our chips to work alongside other specialized hardware, with different components handling different parts of an AI workload," said Rebellions Chief Executive Park Sung-hyun. Callosum was the fund's first disclosed equity investment. Founded in 2025 by two Cambridge University neuroscientists, Callosum develops software that routes AI workloads to the chips and models best suited to each task. Rebellions will join as Callosum's lead partner in Asia. The two companies are jointly designing a reference architecture that positions Rebellions' NPUs as inference-only hardware within Callosum's heterogeneous computing platform, allowing customers to deploy NPU-based infrastructure without separate optimization work. Rebellions said the initial supply of more than 100 racks would mark the first phase of the project, with further shipments expected in later stages as it seeks to accelerate its push into sovereign AI markets across Britain and Europe. The European breakthrough comes at a pivotal time for Rebellions, one of South Korea's most closely watched unlisted semiconductor companies. Founded in 2020 and based in Bundang, south of Seoul, Rebellions develops data-center AI accelerators designed primarily for inference, the process of running trained AI models to generate answers and other outputs. The company has raised roughly $850 million from investors including SK hynix, Samsung Ventures and Arm, as well as the South Korean government, and was most recently valued at around $2.3 billion. Rebellions has been preparing for an eventual stock-market listing rather than publicly pursuing a sale. Chief Financial Officer Shin Sung-kyue said last year that an initial public offering remained the company's "master plan." The company raised more than $400 million in a pre-IPO financing round in March, when it also introduced two rack-scale AI infrastructure products, RebelRack and RebelPod. It confirmed its CEO Park has met with Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang at Nvidia's Santa Clara headquarters last week without disclosing the details. AJP Takeaways • Rebellions will supply more than 100 NPU computing racks to a UK government-backed AI research cluster, its first entry into Europe's sovereign AI infrastructure market. • The racks run through Callosum, a London startup that raised about $100 million led by Atomico and was the first disclosed investment of the UK's Sovereign AI Fund. • Rebellions' ATOM NPUs pair with Callosum's vendor-neutral routing layer, positioning the Korean chipmaker against Nvidia's dominance in inference hardware. 2026-08-26 11:54:28
South Korea offered 10 energy infrastructure projects by US SEOUL, August 26 (AJP) - The United States has invited South Korean companies to join a range of investment-development projects to build energy infrastructure and fertilizer plants on American soil, South Korea's transport ministry said. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said Wednesday it would host about 40 executives from construction firms and trading houses on Thursday at a briefing to showcase the opportunities and gauge each company's appetite for taking part. The U.S. Department of Energy first floated the proposal in January, during a visit to Washington by Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Kim Yun-duk. One project, a lithium and boron plant in Nevada, has since taken concrete shape, with First Vice Minister Kim Yi-tak signing a memorandum of understanding on participation during a July trip to the United States. The ministry said it would present about 10 projects proposed by Washington through high-level talks between the two governments. All are large-scale, long-running ventures drawing in a mix of stakeholders under an investment-development model. Rather than a central government awarding contracts to firms, the arrangement sees the two states jointly source projects and match companies to them — a novel form of government-to-government cooperation, the ministry said. The proposals include a $1.9 billion potassium chloride plant in Michigan and a $2 billion compressed-air energy storage facility in California. Seoul plans to link interested firms with lead developers, financial institutions and public agencies, marshalling a "Team Korea" to press their case abroad. In June, the ministry and its partners, alongside Samsung Heavy Industries, clinched a 4 trillion won ($2.89 billion) floating LNG plant project in Louisiana under the same banner. "Swiftly connecting cooperative projects unearthed through inter-governmental diplomacy to our companies is the key to translating our support missions into visible results," said Kim Seok-ki, director general for construction policy at the ministry, pledging to weave in strategic financing to sharpen firms' chances of winning orders. AJP Takeaways • The U.S. has invited South Korean firms to join about 10 energy infrastructure and fertilizer projects on American soil, South Korea's transport ministry said on August 26, 2026. • The projects, sourced government-to-government rather than through tenders, include a $1.9 billion potassium chloride plant in Michigan and a $2 billion compressed-air energy storage facility in California. • A Nevada lithium-boron plant reached a memorandum of understanding in July 2026, the first of the projects to do so. 2026-08-26 11:31:25