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

NHN Q2 operating profit surges 164% on payment, tech growth SEOUL, August 11 (AJP) - South Korean internet firm NHN announced that its second-quarter operating profit jumped 164 percent from a year earlier, powered by robust demand across its payment, cloud and gaming businesses. According to regulatory filings released Tuesday, operating profit reached 57.9 billion won ($40.9 million) on a consolidated basis, while revenue climbed 25.3 percent to 757.9 billion won. Net profit rose 159 percent to 29.1 billion won. Payments, NHN's largest segment through its Payco and KCP units, generated 394 billion won, up 27.3 percent on the year, as KCP handled about 17 trillion won in transactions and captured a 30 percent share of the domestic payment-gateway market. Technology revenue, including AI cloud services, surged 52.9 percent to 159.8 billion won, lifted by an 85 percent jump at NHN Cloud after supply of Nvidia DGX B200 graphics processors from its Seoul-area data center began contributing to sales. Gaming revenue grew 21.5 percent to 139.6 billion won, buoyed by eased regulations on web-board games and offline tournaments, though total operating costs rose 20.1 percent to 700 billion won on higher fees and performance-based bonuses. "This was the first quarter in which those gains showed up as profit," Chief Executive Chung U-jin said, adding NHN would carry the momentum into the second half as it aggressively expands AI infrastructure and pursues a new stablecoin payments venture. Shares of NHN traded at 47,450 won per stock on 10:20 a.m., 13.65 percent higher than the day before. AJP Takeaways • NHN's second-quarter operating profit surged 164 percent year-on-year to 57.9 billion won, with revenue up 25.3 percent to 757.9 billion won, as its payment, cloud and gaming units all posted double-digit growth. • Payments remained the core engine, with the Payco and KCP units bringing in 394 billion won and KCP securing a 30 percent share of the domestic payment-gateway market on about 17 trillion won in transactions. • Technology revenue jumped 52.9 percent, led by an 85 percent surge at NHN Cloud tied to Nvidia DGX B200 GPU supply, signaling the company's growing bet on AI infrastructure alongside a planned stablecoin payments venture. 2026-08-11 10:25:37
World-OKTA opens AI startup course ahead of Shenzhen finals SEOUL, August 10 (AJP) - The World Federation of Overseas Korean Traders Associations, known as World-OKTA, is recruiting participants for a four-day online course on agentic AI, the classroom stage of a startup competition that culminates in Shenzhen this autumn. The training runs from Aug. 18 to Aug. 21 on Zoom, Korea time, with applications closing Aug. 14. Eight modules trace a venture from idea discovery and customer research through problem-solution fit, business modeling, market analysis, venture capital, AI tools such as ChatGPT, AI-driven marketing and the building of AI-native firms. Those who finish all eight receive a certificate. The faculty includes Rick Rasmussen, an industry fellow at the University of California, Berkeley's Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology, Stanford University professor Michael Lepech and Thomas Toy, a general partner at Startup Capital Ventures. "I hope this training will let aspiring founders and startup professionals apply AI technology to the actual process of building a company, and sharpen business models aimed at global markets," said Sun Park, chairman of World-OKTA's Global Startup Committee. The competition itself is open to companies joining the 2026 Korea Business Expo Shenzhen, moving from September preliminaries and online semifinals to an Oct. 9 final at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center. 2026-08-10 17:23:14
Korean gaming industry's love-hate affair with AI SEOUL, August 10 (AJP) - South Korean gamers are famously hard to please, putting almost anything new through a punishing stress test. Few newcomers have received a colder welcome than artificial intelligence — loathed when players can see it, yet increasingly indispensable to the people making the games. Korean game developer Shift Up posted a music video for one of its own titles on July 31. Within days, fans had a word for it: slop. The clip for "Wanna Be in Love," from the soundtrack of Stellar Blade: Blood Rain, leaned on AI-generated footage of protagonist Evie and even included a fabricated behind-the-scenes sequence. YouTube labeled it altered or synthetic content. Shift Up said it had reconstructed existing game assets with AI used as a supporting tool and hoped the video would help fans reconnect with the character. The comment section was not persuaded. The episode exposed a divide now running through South Korea's game industry. Artificial intelligence has become deeply embedded in how games are made — and deeply unwelcome the moment players notice it. Generative AI was used by 70 percent of Korean game companies in the fourth quarter of last year, the highest rate of any content sector and more than double the overall average of 32.1 percent, according to the Korea Creative Content Agency. That was up from 41.7 percent in the first half of 2025. With industry surveys inevitably trailing adoption, actual usage is likely higher by now. "Programming, planning, art, running the company — using AI across all of it is where the industry is," said Yeom Seong-ho, a professor of game graphic design at Tongmyong University. "When it cuts a development cycle from a week to a day, there is no way not to use it." The technology appears to work best where nobody is watching. Krafton has operated an AI-powered anti-cheat system for more than a year across a service with more than 20 million users, the head of its AI for Game research unit said at a Seoul policy seminar on July 14. Its "co-playable character" Ella, built on an on-device model using Nvidia's ACE toolkit, entered beta testing on PUBG's Sanhok map on June 17, speaking Korean, Chinese and English. Streamers spent the next fortnight bombarding her with absurd questions. That was arguably part of the point: every exchange provided more interaction data. Yet the people building games are considerably less relaxed about where all this leads. A survey of 1,078 unionized workers at Nexon, NC and Netmarble found 77.3 percent anxious about the effect of AI on their jobs, even as 80.3 percent said the technology made them more productive. "A user's day is still 24 hours," Nexon Korea co-chief executive Kang Dae-hyun told developers in June, arguing that attention rather than technology remains the industry's ultimate constraint. The trouble begins when the seams show. Pearl Abyss apologized on March 22 after players on Reddit and Bluesky spotted melted faces and anatomically impossible horses in decorative paintings inside Crimson Desert, two days after its launch. The studio said experimental generative-AI tools had been used on some two-dimensional props early in development and that the assets were supposed to have been replaced. It acknowledged that this did not excuse the failure to disclose their use. That is the line the industry keeps tripping over. "AI output still reaches only about 90 percent of human quality," Jung Nae-hun, a professor at the Tech University of Korea, said earlier this year, noting that the remaining gap tends to appear exactly where players are looking. "Design is still the problem," Yeom said. "In genres where character visuals carry the game, like Genshin Impact, demand is constant, but players simply do not like knowing AI was involved." "A lot of them still want a human artist. Using AI on anything that shows on the surface is a stretch." Shift Up chief executive Kim Hyung-tae has argued that Chinese studios can deploy 1,000 to 2,000 people on a single title and that "AI capabilities will determine industry competitiveness." His fans offered a different verdict: competitiveness is not the same thing as watchability. Developers counter that AI is often judged by its most conspicuous failures rather than the less visible work it already performs well. A Varco business team leader at NC AI told the July seminar that internal resistance had faded as the tools spread and that time saved through AI "is spent making things better, not making more." Player irritation, however, is becoming harder to dismiss as mere noise. About 31 percent of nearly 4,000 core Steam users surveyed between June 25 and July 2 viewed AI use negatively, while 8 percent said they would refuse to buy a game if its use of AI were disclosed. That stigma now sits on top of a legal requirement. South Korea's Framework Act on the Development of Artificial Intelligence, in force since January, requires disclosure of AI-generated content, while Valve has revised Steam's rules to exempt behind-the-scenes development tools and focus disclosure requirements on material players can see, hear or interact with. Roughly one in five new Steam releases now carries an AI disclosure. Exactly how Korean law should apply to games — where images, dialogue, code and player interaction can be generated or combined in real time — remains unsettled. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is drafting separate legislation for the content industry to clarify the rules. "The issue is no longer the tool itself," said Im Chung-jae, a professor of game software at Keimyung University, arguing that responsibility increasingly lies with the people who design the systems and write the commands. None of the resistance has stopped the industry from moving faster. OpenAI is set to hold its first Codex-based game development event anywhere in the world in Seoul on Aug. 31, backed by Com2uS, with 40 teams building games on the Hive backend. The next phase of AI in games may be far less visible than synthetic artwork or dialogue. An AI system capable of fully understanding a game's mechanics could eventually handle customer service, interpret player complaints and relay useful feedback directly to developers, Yeom said — effectively becoming a game master. That may prove the industry's safest place for AI: everywhere inside the machine, and nowhere players can see it. AJP Takeaway • What happened: Shift Up's AI-generated music video for "Wanna Be in Love," released July 31, 2026 and promoting Stellar Blade: Blood Rain, was widely criticized by fans as "AI slop," the latest South Korean game industry backlash over visible AI content after Pearl Abyss apologized on March 22, 2026 for undisclosed AI artwork in Crimson Desert. • Why it matters: South Korean studios have made generative AI standard in development while players continue to reject it in anything they can see, leaving publishers to use the technology extensively but quietly. • By the numbers: Generative AI was used by 70 percent of South Korean game companies in the fourth quarter of 2025, against a 32.1 percent average across all content sectors, according to the Korea Creative Content Agency, up from 41.7 percent in the first half of 2025. • The bigger picture: Disclosure has become a commercial risk as well as a legal duty. South Korea's Framework Act on Artificial Intelligence has required disclosure of AI-generated content since January 2026, Valve narrowed Steam's disclosure rules to cover only AI content players see or hear rather than development tools, and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is drafting a separate bill to define how the rules apply to games. 2026-08-10 15:44:40
Krafton turns PUBG danger zone into summer escape SEOUL, August 10 (AJP) - Krafton will open a summer-themed pop-up event called "Blue Zone" at its PUBG-branded space PUBG Seongsu in Seoul starting Tuesday. The event reimagines the in-game "blue zone" — a shrinking boundary that threatens players in the battle royale title Battlegrounds — as a refuge from the summer heat. The venue will host a collaborative exhibition featuring international artists from The Jaunt project and Busan-based Union Gallery, including Travis Weller and Stevie Shao. The artists will paint live murals on site, with finished works on display at the Survivor Hall on the first floor through Aug. 16. Krafton will also open a free cooling shelter with shaded tents and an ice-chilling zone, offering visitors complimentary drinking water. Creator-led programming will run alongside the exhibits, including a running event dubbed the "Frying Pan Run" on Aug. 15 followed by an after-party combining sauna sessions with cold-water plunges, as well as DJ and dance performances. A related "PUBG Seongsu Summer School" class series will continue through Aug. 31. "This 'Blue Zone' reinterprets a symbol of tension and threat from the game into a summer refuge in the middle of the city," a PUBG Seongsu official said, adding that the company hopes both Battlegrounds fans and local residents will enjoy the exhibition, music and lifestyle content together. 2026-08-10 15:26:08
Naver, education institute team up on AI textbooks for seniors SEOUL, August 10 (AJP) - Naver announced Monday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Institute for Lifelong Education (NILE) to jointly develop AI and digital literacy content tailored to senior citizens, as part of a broader push to narrow South Korea's digital divide. The agreement revealed Monday was signed on Aug. 7 at Naver's headquarters in Bundang, the company said. It aims to strengthen everyday AI and digital competency among seniors and other digitally underserved groups amid the wider shift toward AI. Under the partnership, the two organizations plan to co-develop and distribute lifelong education content on AI and digital tools. A key component will be a digital literacy textbook built on Naver's Whale browser, designed to walk users through practical services such as Naver Shopping and Whale's core functions. "By linking Naver's technology with the education field in the era of generative AI, we can innovatively bridge the digital literacy gap in daily life," said Kim Wol-yong, president of NILE. Naver said the collaboration would also feed into its commercial ambitions. Lee Yoon-sook, who heads Naver's shopping business division, said the company would keep upgrading its services for the "AI commerce era" while backing the educational push "so that AI-based services, including Naver Shopping, can become easy and convenient tools for anyone." 2026-08-10 11:05:19
Korea's data-breach wave hits creator media, 3Pro TV latest target SEOUL, August 10 (AJP) -South Korea’s widening data-security problem has spread from banks, telecom operators and major online platforms to creator-led media, with the operator of popular financial channel 3PRO TV disclosing that roughly 460,000 pieces of personal information were exposed through its mobile application. E-Broadcasting Co., which operates 3PRO TV, said it detected signs in early August that an outside actor had gained unauthorized access to other users’ personal information and immediately began an investigation. The investigation confirmed that an external actor had illegally accessed the 3PRO TV application and maliciously viewed user information, the company said in a notice posted on its website. The company currently estimates the scale of the exposed data at about 460,000 records. It individually notified members for whom it had contact information and issued the public notice for users it could not reach directly. Subscribers to 3PRO TV’s YouTube channel were not affected, the company stressed. The breach involved users of 3PRO TV’s own application rather than subscriber information held by YouTube. The incident adds an influential digital-media operator to the growing range of South Korean businesses facing data-security failures, highlighting how companies that began as content providers increasingly face the same cybersecurity risks as financial institutions and major online platforms once they build their own membership, payment and customer-data systems. The information exposed differed by user and included names, profile information, mobile phone numbers, email addresses, addresses, bank account information, service-generated records, device information, credit-card information and service-use histories. More sensitive information was exposed for a relatively small portion of the affected data. The company said 2,972 bank-account records were exposed, including bank names, account numbers and account-holder names. Information involving 317 credit cards and two addresses was also affected. The credit-card information consisted of card company names and partially masked card numbers. E-Broadcasting said eight of the 16 digits of the affected card numbers remained masked and that passwords and CVC security codes were not exposed. The company said the disclosed card information by itself could not be used for unauthorized payments or other direct misuse. Resident registration numbers and other unique identification or sensitive information were not affected because the company does not collect such data, according to E-Broadcasting. The breach underscores how South Korea’s data-security problem is extending beyond industries traditionally associated with large repositories of personal information. Banks and other financial companies have long been prime targets because of the financial and identity information they hold, while telecom companies and large e-commerce and internet platforms have faced heightened scrutiny as their customer databases have grown. Digital-media businesses are increasingly entering the same territory. A media outlet that once primarily distributed videos through an external platform can accumulate substantial amounts of personal and financial information after launching its own applications, subscriptions, memberships, payments and other direct-to-consumer services That transition has transformed companies such as 3PRO TV from content producers into custodians of customer data as well. 3PRO TV began as an economics podcast in 2018 before launching its first YouTube live broadcast in January 2019. It has since grown into one of South Korea’s most prominent online financial-media brands, offering lengthy daily programming covering the U.S. and Korean stock markets, macroeconomic trends, companies and investment issues. The channel built much of its following by departing from the short, standardized commentary typical of conventional financial television and giving economists, fund managers and market specialists more time to explain the background behind financial and economic developments. It has since expanded beyond YouTube through its own application and other digital services, turning a creator-driven channel into a broader financial-content platform. E-Broadcasting said it blocked the suspected attacker’s access route and IP address immediately after identifying the incident and strengthened additional security settings. The company has also commissioned an external cybersecurity firm to inspect its systems and reported the breach to the Personal Information Protection Commission and the Korea Internet & Security Agency, or KISA. The combination of names, phone numbers, email addresses and, in some cases, banking information could potentially be used to make phishing messages or impersonation attempts appear more convincing even where the leaked information is insufficient to directly access financial accounts. E-Broadcasting urged members to be particularly cautious of calls or text messages impersonating 3PRO TV and advised them not to open links or attachments contained in suspicious messages, emails or other communications. The company said it is preparing customer-support and damage-relief measures and will announce details by Aug. 31 at the latest. AJP Takeaways South Korea’s data-breach problem has reached creator-led media, with about 460,000 personal-information records exposed through the 3PRO TV app. Financial data were included in the breach, with 2,972 bank-account records and information involving 317 partially masked credit cards exposed. 3PRO TV’s YouTube subscribers were not affected. The breach occurred through E-Broadcasting’s proprietary app, underscoring the cybersecurity responsibilities facing media companies as they expand into memberships, payments and digital platforms. 2026-08-10 08:43:15
Kakao picks Coupang Eats as first AI agent partner SEOUL, August 06 (AJP) - Kakao announced it has chosen Coupang Eats as the inaugural partner for its artificial-intelligence agent, allowing users to receive food recommendations and complete orders and payments without leaving a KakaoTalk chat window. The tie-up announced Thursday marks the first concrete step in the South Korean internet giant's push to turn its dominant messaging app, used by about 50 million people, into what it calls an "acting AI platform" that links everyday services such as commerce, reservations and travel. "As the first stage in expanding our agentic AI ecosystem, we are forging a partnership with Coupang Eats in the food-delivery vertical," Kakao CEO Chung Shin-a told an earnings conference call for the second quarter. Under the integration, Kakao's on-device AI model will read the context of a conversation and a user's accumulated preferences to suggest dishes, after which the customer can settle payment directly inside the chat room, the company said. Chung said the collaboration reaches beyond a simple ordering feature. "This is a first step toward forming a new habit in which AI connects a user's intent to real actions and transactions," she said, adding that the two firms were in detailed talks to bring the service to market soon. Kakao chose delivery as its opening front because the category is used frequently but demands little deliberation, making the value of a fast, convenient checkout especially clear, Chung said, calling it the field that best demonstrates an AI agent's usefulness. The company said it would broaden the ecosystem from Coupang Eats into other high-frequency verticals including commerce, reservations, travel and payments, and would ramp up marketing once users have firm reasons to return. AJP Takeaway: • What happened: Kakao said on August 6, 2026 that it has selected Coupang Eats as the first partner for its AI agent, enabling KakaoTalk users to receive food recommendations and complete orders and payments inside a chat window without switching to a separate app. CEO Chung Shin-a announced the tie-up on the company's second-quarter earnings conference call. • Why it matters: The partnership is the opening move in Kakao's plan to convert KakaoTalk — used by about 50 million people — into an "acting AI platform" that turns user intent into actual transactions, positioning the messenger as a commerce and payment channel rather than a passive chat service. • By the numbers: Kakao's on-device AI model draws on conversational context and each user's accumulated preferences to suggest menu items and route the order to checkout inside the chat room. The company chose food delivery first because it is high-frequency and low-deliberation, where a fast, convenient checkout carries the clearest value. • The bigger picture: Kakao said it will extend the AI agent ecosystem beyond Coupang Eats into commerce, reservations, travel and payments, and will scale up marketing once users have firm reasons to return. The rollout tests whether Kakao can monetize AI through transactions after a restructuring-driven earnings recovery that analysts have viewed as cost-led rather than growth-led. 2026-08-06 11:56:12
Trump's tariff on polysilicon cloud outlook for Korean firms SEOUL, August 06 (AJP) - The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump could unveil a set of measures curbing imports of foreign polysilicon, a step that stands to reverberate through South Korea's solar and semiconductor makers, multiple sources reported. Reuters, citing sources, said the administration plans to release the findings of its Section 232 investigation into polysilicon as soon as Thursday (local time), with a 15 percent tariff slated for imported polysilicon derivatives. Polysilicon is a core material in both solar products and semiconductors, leaving Korean companies exposed to whatever emerges from the U.S. probe. Bloomberg, in an article headlined on Trump's push to shore up U.S. polysilicon, reported that officials had spent recent days weighing a tariff of at least 15 percent alongside minimum import prices spanning raw polysilicon, wafers, cells and modules. The administration is also readying a temporary offset program to shield domestic manufacturers that rely on imported feedstock, though relief would hinge on the scale of each firm's U.S. capital investment. Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act empowers the president to restrict imports through tariffs or other means where a product is judged to threaten national security. The Commerce Department opened its polysilicon inquiry in July of last year, the latest in a decade of intermittent U.S. efforts to loosen China's grip on a supply chain it overwhelmingly dominates. US domestic advocates have pressed the administration to train its fire on Chinese and China-linked polysilicon, arguing for duties steep enough to offset Beijing's overcapacity and below-cost pricing. Seoul, in comments filed with Commerce last August, urged special consideration so any restrictions could be applied flexibly to Korean firms, warning that sweeping tariffs risked disrupting supply chains bound up in Korean investments in U.S. solar and chip production. The government singled out Hanwha Qcells' panel plant in Georgia and OCI's solar-cell facility in Texas, asking that both be spared. Hanwha Qcells, which sources all its U.S.-bound polysilicon from Malaysia, proposed a $10-per-kg tariff on imports paired with duty-free quotas of about 20,000 tons a year from Germany and Malaysia, while OCI, citing a supply chain scrubbed of forced labor and foreign entities of concern, asked that fair-trade semiconductor-grade polysilicon be excluded altogether. AJP Takeaway: • What happened: The Trump administration could announce as early as Thursday (local time) a 15 percent tariff on foreign polysilicon derivatives, along with minimum import prices on wafers, cells and modules, following the conclusion of its Section 232 national security probe. • Why it matters: Polysilicon is a core input for both solar panels and semiconductors, and sweeping U.S. restrictions threaten to disrupt the supply chains underpinning billions of dollars in Korean investment in American solar and chip production. • By the numbers: The proposed rate is 15 percent — milder than the punitive duties U.S. producers sought — while relief under a temporary offset program would depend on the scale of each firm's U.S. capital investment. Hanwha Qcells has proposed a $10-per-kg tariff paired with duty-free quotas of about 20,000 tonnes a year from Germany and Malaysia. • The bigger picture: Korea's Hanwha Qcells and OCI have already built U.S. footprints in Georgia and Texas, which may be their strongest defense if the final proclamation offers no carve-out. Compounding the squeeze, Beijing renewed anti-dumping duties of up to 57 percent on U.S. and Korean solar-grade polysilicon in January, leaving Korean producers caught between two tariff walls at once. 2026-08-06 10:03:17
Korea's battery makers find ESS gold rush at home SEOUL, August 05 (AJP) - In a high-profile display, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, flanked by chip titans Lee Jae-yong of Samsung Electronics and Chey Tae-won of SK Group, unveiled a nearly $1 trillion vision to transform the country from the world's high-tech factory into an AI factory. That ambition extends far beyond semiconductors. Every AI factory — from chip fabrication plants and advanced packaging facilities to hyperscale data centers and AI inference clusters — runs on one indispensable input: electricity. As booming AI power demand collides with South Korea's renewable-heavy southwest, the country's rechargeable battery makers have unexpectedly found a new domestic growth engine after years of slowing electric-vehicle demand and brutal price competition from Chinese rivals. On a stretch of reclaimed coastal land in South Korea's southwestern Jeolla region, ground was broken this month on the National AI Computing Center, the first physical step toward what the government calls the backbone of its "AI Expressway." Not far from the ceremony, another race is unfolding. SK On, Samsung SDI and LG Energy Solution are competing to supply the energy-storage systems (ESS) that will keep those AI facilities running while stabilizing a power grid increasingly strained by intermittent renewable energy. What began as competition for utility-scale storage contracts has rapidly evolved into a strategic home-market battleground, one the three battery makers hope will cushion their businesses as global EV growth slows. The attraction of South Jeolla is rooted as much in physics as policy. The province hosts roughly one-fifth of South Korea's installed solar capacity, the highest concentration in the country. Solar generation floods the grid with electricity during the day, only to leave it short after sunset — creating an ideal market for batteries that store excess power and discharge it when demand peaks. The government has increasingly embraced that logic. About 93 percent of the roughly 1,128 megawatts awarded in the first two rounds of its long-duration ESS central contract market went to projects in South Jeolla, turning what began as a regional grid-balancing effort into one of the country's most important infrastructure investments. All three battery makers secured projects. The rapid emergence of AI only strengthens the investment case. According to the International Energy Agency, electricity consumption by data centers rose 17 percent in 2025, compared with just 3 percent growth in global electricity demand overall. As AI workloads create increasingly large and volatile swings in electricity use, the agency expects battery storage inside data centers worldwide to reach between 20 gigawatts and 25 gigawatts by 2030. "Through the National AI Computing Center, the government and the private sector will work together to secure advanced GPUs and foster Korea's homegrown AI chip ecosystem," Deputy Prime Minister and Science Minister Bae Kyung-hoon said during the groundbreaking ceremony in Haenam, describing the project as the core hub of the country's AI strategy powered by abundant renewable energy. For Korea's three battery makers, all of which returned to operating profit in the second quarter, the timing could hardly be better. Samsung SDI has emerged as the early domestic leader. The company secured about 56 percent of capacity awarded in the first two ESS auctions, benefiting from strong demand for its prismatic battery cells. In July's tender for AI-linked grid storage projects, operators using Samsung SDI cells accounted for roughly two-thirds of awarded capacity. SK On captured about half of the 565-megawatt second auction, all allocated to South Jeolla projects, while repositioning ESS as a standalone business alongside electric-vehicle batteries. LG Energy Solution secured roughly 19 percent of the combined auction volume and is expanding beyond batteries themselves. The company will operate a virtual power plant linking 140 megawatt-hours of storage across seven distribution lines in Jeolla, a system expected to absorb an additional 52.4 gigawatt-hours of renewable electricity annually over two decades beginning in 2027. Government policy could provide another boost. The finance ministry plans to introduce domestic-production tax credits beginning in 2027 for six strategic future industries, including secondary batteries. The specific products eligible for the incentives and the amount of each credit, however, will be determined later through a presidential decree. "For the secondary-battery industry, the specific eligible products and tax-credit amounts still need to be defined before the impact on individual companies can be assessed," said Chang Jung-hoon, an analyst at Samsung Securities. "For battery-cell makers, whose production is increasingly overseas, the direct benefit may be limited. But as domestic ESS auctions expand, companies with the largest local production capacity — particularly Samsung SDI and, to a lesser extent, LG Energy Solution — are likely to benefit the most." The opportunity is unlikely to remain confined to the southwest. Solar accounted for 79.4 percent of South Korea's renewable generation capacity at the end of last year, suggesting that the grid congestion now visible in Jeolla will gradually spread nationwide. The Korea Energy Economics Institute estimates that storing the country's projected annual renewable electricity surplus by 2038 will require batteries and pumped-storage facilities with a combined capacity of 119.4 gigawatt-hours. The government is preparing a third central-market ESS auction, widely expected around September with a value of roughly 1 trillion won ($720 million). For battery makers that have spent the past two years navigating the global EV slowdown, South Korea's AI push is creating an unexpected second act. In the emerging AI economy, semiconductors may provide the computing power, but batteries are becoming equally essential infrastructure — storing the electricity that keeps AI factories running long after the sun goes down. AJP Takeaway: • What happened: South Korea's AI-industrial strategy is unexpectedly creating a new domestic growth engine for Samsung SDI, SK On and LG Energy Solution as energy-storage systems become essential infrastructure for AI data centers and renewable-powered grids. • Why it matters: After two difficult years of slowing EV demand and aggressive Chinese competition, Korea's battery makers are finding a second growth market at home by supplying grid-scale storage rather than automobiles. • By the numbers: About 93% of the first two government ESS auctions were awarded to projects in South Jeolla. Samsung SDI captured 56% of total awarded capacity, SK On secured roughly half of the second-round auction, while LG Energy Solution won about 19% overall. • The bigger picture: The IEA expects battery storage inside data centers worldwide to reach 20–25 GW by 2030 as AI sharply increases electricity demand. South Korea is positioning its battery industry to benefit not only from EV electrification but also from the build-out of AI infrastructure, making ESS a potential second pillar of long-term growth. 2026-08-05 14:51:06
Korea eyes July 2027 start for Honam chip cluster utilities SEOUL, August 05 (AJP) - South Korea aims to break ground in July 2027 on the electricity and water supply facilities that will underpin its planned semiconductor cluster in the Honam region, the government said, as the timeline for the flagship project takes firmer shape. The government intends to select a project operator and formally designate the cluster site — a stretch of land around the Gwangju military airfield — before the end of this year, officials said Wednesday. According to the government and the Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City, the city is in talks with Korea Electric Power and Korea Water Resources to map out how power and water will reach the site. Electricity would be drawn from the Honam region's 345-kilovolt grid, including the Sinjangseong substation, through new transmission lines and switching facilities. Running four chip fabrication plants would require about 6.3 gigawatts of power, the government estimated. It plans to meet that demand in stages by tapping the Hanbit nuclear plant and local renewable sources, while weighing a liquefied natural gas cogeneration plant on-site should the manufacturing process need heat and steam. Industrial water demand is projected at about 650,000 tons a day. Officials proposed drawing on the Dongbok, Juam, Jangheung, Boseonggang and Naju dams, with treated water from a Gwangju wastewater facility reused for general process needs. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources reaffirmed in a policy briefing on the previous day its goal of breaking ground on the cluster and beginning production within the current administration's term. The Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City is pressing the central government to raise its share of funding for site development and utility construction. Under the semiconductor special act's enforcement decree, which takes effect Aug. 11, the state and local governments may cover 50 to 100 percent of the cost of building such infrastructure in clusters designated outside the greater Seoul area. AJP Takeaway What: The South Korean government advanced its timeline for the Honam semiconductor cluster, targeting a July 2027 groundbreaking for the power and water supply facilities that will serve the site at the Gwangju military airfield. When: Announced Aug. 5, 2026, by the government and the Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City; operator selection and site designation targeted before end-2026. Core requirement: Running four fabrication plants will need an estimated 6.3 gigawatts of power — drawn from the Honam 345-kilovolt grid, the Hanbit nuclear plant and renewables — and about 650,000 tons of industrial water per day. Context: Comes as the semiconductor special act's enforcement decree, effective Aug. 11, 2026, lets central and local governments fund 50 to 100 percent of infrastructure costs for clusters designated outside the greater Seoul area. 2026-08-05 12:33:20