Gwangju seeks to host national AI computing center SEOUL, August 27 (AJP) - The city of Gwangju plans to launch a committee to host South Korea’s next national artificial intelligence computing center, a project that local officials hope will anchor the city’s ambitions to become the country’s premier AI hub. On Sept. 1, the city will hold a launch ceremony for the committee, a coalition spanning lawmakers, business groups, academics, media, religious figures and civil society organizations. The body is tasked with building consensus behind the bid, offering strategic advice and policy proposals, and promoting public support through outreach and networking efforts. The computing center, envisioned as a hyperscale data hub, would serve as the centerpiece of Gwangju’s “AI-based industrial convergence cluster,” a long-term initiative to cultivate industries around artificial intelligence. “Gwangju, with Korea’s only experience operating a national AI data center and a fully developed ecosystem of infrastructure, talent and companies, is now standing on the most advantageous ground,” Mayor Kang Gi-jung said. “We will secure the national AI computing center without fail and further strengthen Gwangju’s status as the nation’s leading AI hub city.” The bid comes as the central government advances a new phase of Gwangju’s AI development strategy. Earlier this month, President Lee Jae Myung approved a 600 billion won ($434 million) program to create an “AI Transformation demonstration valley,” expanding on a 430 billion won ($310 million) initiative launched five years ago that built core facilities, including a national AI data center and a large-scale driving simulator. 2025-08-27 14:35:06

[[K-Defense]] S. Korean shipbuilders shortlisted for Canada's $14 billion submarine program SEOUL, August 27 (AJP) - A consortium led by South Korea’s two largest shipbuilders, Hanwha Ocean and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, has been shortlisted to compete in Canada’s next-generation submarine acquisition program. This is a $14 billion defense project that could eventually swell to $43 billion over three decades when long-term maintenance and upgrades are included. Industry officials confirmed Wednesday that the two companies, bidding as a consortium, were selected for the final round alongside Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems. The contract, part of the Canadian Patrol Submarine Project, seeks to replace the Royal Canadian Navy’s four Victoria-class submarines, purchased secondhand from Britain in the late 1990s and slated for retirement in the mid-2030s. The Canadian government has said it intends to acquire as many as 12 diesel-electric submarines, each weighing about 3,000 tons, that can operate in the Arctic and deliver extended range, endurance and stealth. Hanwha Ocean is leading the Korean bid, offering its Jangbogo-III Batch-II design, a 3,000-ton submarine equipped with air-independent propulsion and lithium-ion batteries, which allow for underwater missions of more than three weeks without surfacing. Hyundai Heavy is participating as a supporting partner under an agreement with Hanwha, created earlier this year by the country’s defense procurement agency to promote joint bids for international naval contracts. The Canadian Navy is expected to finalize its decision by 2028, though an earlier contract signing could come as soon as next year if negotiations progress quickly. A South Korean defense official said the government would continue "full-spectrum negotiations," including high-level meetings with Canadian stakeholders and public diplomacy efforts to strengthen support for the Korean bid. 2025-08-27 10:44:56

South Korean, US firms sign wide-ranging deals during Lee's Washington visit SEOUL, August 26 (AJP) - South Korean and American companies signed 11 agreements and memorandums of understanding across shipbuilding, nuclear energy, aviation, liquefied natural gas and critical minerals during President Lee Jae Myung’s visit to Washington. The agreements were announced at a Korea–U.S. Business Roundtable on Monday at Washington D.C. (local time), attended by South Korea’s Trade Minister, Kim Jung-kwan, and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Six of the deals centered on investment and technology cooperation in shipbuilding and nuclear power, areas seen as strategically important to both countries. HD Hyundai, the Korea Development Bank and Cerberus Capital Management agreed to create a multibillion-dollar investment fund to strengthen maritime capabilities in the United States and its allies. The fund will target American shipbuilding, marine logistics infrastructure and advanced maritime technologies. HD Hyundai said it hoped to expand the partnership to include ship construction, technical support and workforce training. Samsung Heavy Industries signed a partnership with Vigor Marine Group to collaborate on shipbuilding, shipyard modernization and maintenance services for U.S. Navy support vessels. In nuclear energy, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, Doosan Enerbility, U.S.-based reactor developer X-energy and Amazon Web Services signed a four-way pact to cooperate on small modular reactor projects, including design, construction and supply chain development. Doosan also reached an agreement with Fermi America, a U.S. private energy developer, to supply both large and small reactor components for an “AI Campus Project” in Texas. KHNP and Samsung C&T signed another memorandum with Fermi America to support the same project, while KHNP separately agreed with Centrus Energy, a U.S. uranium enrichment firm, to invest in expanding enrichment capacity. In aviation, Korean Air finalized two major agreements: a $36.2 billion deal with Boeing for 103 next-generation, fuel-efficient aircraft, and a $13.7 billion contract with GE Aerospace for engines and long-term maintenance. In energy, Korea Gas Corporation signed a contract with the global trader Trafigura to purchase 3.3 million tons of U.S.-sourced liquefied natural gas annually for 10 years beginning in 2028. Korea Zinc also signed an agreement with Lockheed Martin to secure supplies of germanium, a critical mineral, and to strengthen cooperation on supply chains. “The government will provide all necessary support to ensure Korea–U.S. manufacturing cooperation can usher in a new renaissance,” Minister Kim said. “We will do our best to create unlimited business opportunities for companies in both countries.” 2025-08-26 15:46:32

Softbank sheds $1.6 billion stake in Coupang amid push into AI SEOUL, August 26 (AJP) - SoftBank, the Japanese technology investment giant, has unloaded nearly $1.65 billion worth of shares in Coupang, South Korea’s largest e-commerce platform, as it continues to pare back its holdings in the company. According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, SoftBank sold 20 million Coupang shares on Aug. 20 at the New York Stock Exchange, raising about $576.8 million. The sale followed two earlier transactions this year: 30 million shares on May 8 for $798 million and 10 million shares on June 13 for $283.1 million. In total, the group has disposed of 60 million shares since May, a sell-off valued at roughly 2.3 trillion won. The moves mark a continued retreat by SoftBank from one of its most high-profile investments. The Tokyo-based group held 32.4 percent of Coupang at the end of 2021 but has cut that stake to 17.39 percent as of August. Industry analysts say the divestments appear aimed at freeing up capital for SoftBank’s ambitions in artificial intelligence. The company is a partner in what it has described as the $500 billion “Stargate Project,” a plan with OpenAI and Oracle to build large-scale AI data centers in the United States. 2025-08-26 14:20:37

Hyundai Motor to add $5 billion to US investment, bringing total to $26 billion SEOUL, August 26 (AJP) - Hyundai Motor Group said on Tuesday it would commit an additional $5 billion to its U.S. operations, expanding its planned investment through 2028 to $26 billion. The announcement coincided with the South Korea–U.S. summit between Lee Jae Myung and Donald Trump. Hyundai, which had already pledged $21 billion in March, said the new funds would be directed toward steel, automobiles and robotics. Chairman Chung Eui-sun outlined the plan as part of a broader effort to strengthen the company’s competitiveness in electric vehicles and other future industries while deepening economic cooperation with the United States. A centerpiece of the new investment is a 2.7 million-ton electric arc furnace steel mill in Louisiana, which will produce low-carbon, high-grade steel for U.S. industries, including automotive manufacturing. Once completed, the facility will create what Hyundai described as a fully localized value chain linking steelmaking, parts production and vehicle assembly. Hyundai also intends to significantly expand vehicle output at its U.S. plants. The company, which produced about 700,000 vehicles in the United States last year, plans to broaden its lineup to include more electric models alongside hybrids and internal combustion engine cars, with the aim of responding more flexibly to consumer demand. The company’s affiliates will ramp up investment in parts and logistics to raise local sourcing rates, particularly for batteries, in order to strengthen supply chain integration with assembly operations. Hyundai said it will also build a new robotics factory with an annual production capacity of 30,000 units, positioning it as a hub for its U.S. robotics business. The group will expand collaboration with American companies in autonomous driving, artificial intelligence and software-defined vehicles, while accelerating the work of its U.S. subsidiaries, including Boston Dynamics and Motional. 2025-08-26 13:32:13

Trump pushes arms sales, energy exports to Seoul SEOUL, August 26 (AJP) - U.S. President Donald Trump pressed South Korea on defense spending, energy imports and industrial cooperation during a meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung at the White House on Monday, underscoring his emphasis on weapons sales and American energy exports. Trump, speaking in the Oval Office, cast South Korea as a reliable buyer of U.S. military hardware and suggested that expanding defense sales would be a central focus of the partnership. “They understand that we make the best military equipment in the world, and South Korea is a big buyer of military equipment,” Trump told reporters, pointing to flagship systems such as the B-2 stealth bomber, aerial refueling tankers and advanced fighter jets. Energy was another pillar of Trump’s remarks, as he highlighted what he described as a “reciprocal dependency” between the two allies. “We have more oil and gas and coal than any other nation in the world, by far, and we’re going to use it,” he said. “And that’s the thing that South Korea, I think most wants from us.” He singled out Alaska’s oil and natural gas reserves as key to expanding exports to Asia. 2025-08-26 10:17:27

[[K-Tech]] Samsung-Johns Hopkins team honored for breakthrough in cooling technology SEOUL, August 25 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics said Sunday that a joint project with Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory has been recognized among the world’s top 100 innovations at this year’s R&D 100 Awards, an annual competition that highlights advances in science and engineering. The joint research centers on “next-generation Peltier cooling technology,” a method that uses electricity rather than chemical refrigerants to regulate temperature. The team, comprising Samsung Research’s Life Solution group and Johns Hopkins scientists, developed what it described as the world’s first high-performance thin-film Peltier semiconductor device, demonstrating its use in a prototype refrigerator. By introducing a thin-film semiconductor deposition process, the researchers increased cooling efficiency by roughly 75 percent compared with conventional systems, while reducing both size and weight, according to R&D World Magazine, which organizes the awards. The findings were published in May in the journal Nature Communications. Peltier cooling works by applying an electric current to a semiconductor, which causes one side of the device to heat and the other to cool. Because the process avoids the use of chemical refrigerants, it is seen as an environmentally friendlier alternative to vapor compression technology, the dominant method in refrigerators and air conditioners today. The thin-film approach, Samsung said, could enable more precise and rapid temperature control across a wide range of industries, from consumer electronics and medical devices to automotive systems and data centers. 2025-08-25 15:59:22

[[K-Tech]] SK hynix begins mass production of next-generation NAND chip with 321 layers SEOUL, August 25 (AJP) - SK hynix said Monday it has started mass production of a 321-layer NAND flash memory chip, a development the company described as a world first in quad-level cell, or QLC, technology. NAND flash, a type of non-volatile memory that retains data even without power, is a critical component in solid-state drives and data centers. QLC technology, which stores four bits of information in a single cell, allows for greater density but typically comes with trade-offs in speed and durability. The South Korean chipmaker said its new 2-terabit QLC NAND doubles the capacity of its predecessor while pushing past what it called the “technological limits” of memory stacking — the process of vertically layering cells to pack more data into a smaller footprint. To counter the performance slowdown often associated with higher-density chips, SK hynix said it expanded the number of “planes,” or independent operating groups within the chip, from four to six. The change enables greater parallel processing, boosting data transfer speeds to twice that of its earlier QLC product. Write performance improved by as much as 56 percent, read performance by 18 percent and power efficiency during data writes by more than 23 percent, the company said. The new chip will first be introduced in PC solid-state drives before being applied to smartphones and large-scale data centers. SK hynix also plans to use its proprietary packaging technology, which stacks 32 NAND chips at once, to produce ultra-high-capacity enterprise SSDs for artificial intelligence servers. “With the explosive growth of AI demand and the high-performance requirements of the data center market, we will achieve a greater leap forward as a full-stack AI memory provider,” said Jeong Woo-pyo, executive vice president and head of NAND development at SK hynix. The company said it expects the chip to undergo customer verification before being deployed in AI data centers in the first half of next year. 2025-08-25 14:19:39

As US courts Korean investment, Seoul frets over eroding industrial base SEOUL, August 25 (AJP) - South Korea’s biggest manufacturers are pouring billions of dollars into new plants and subsidiaries in the United States, a shift that is raising alarms about the slow erosion of the country’s own industrial base. Driven by Washington’s subsidies and political pressure to “make it in America,” Korean firms have sharply accelerated their investments abroad. Government data show manufacturers invested $1.8 billion in North America in the first quarter of this year — more than 16 times the $114 million they put into Europe. The number of new North American subsidiaries reached 31, quadruple the figure in Europe. The long-term trend is even starker. Between 2020 and 2024, Korea’s manufacturing investment in North America more than tripled, from $2.41 billion to $7.45 billion, while the number of subsidiaries nearly doubled. Samsung Electronics is building a $17 billion semiconductor plant in Texas. SK Group has pledged $52 billion for American ventures spanning chips, biotech and energy. Hyundai Motor is committing $21 billion to its electric vehicle and battery businesses in the U.S., anchored by a new steelworks in Louisiana. Hanwha Group has acquired Philly Shipyard and is constructing a $2.5 billion solar facility in Georgia, bolstered by a U.S. government loan guarantee. While these projects are welcomed in Washington, they are stirring unease in Seoul. Economists warn that the steady outflow of factories risks undermining Korea’s capacity to sustain growth in high-value industries. Without strong support for research and development at home, they say, the country could find itself hosting global headquarters in name only while production — and eventually innovation — shifts abroad. The issue is expected to feature in the upcoming Korea-U.S. summit talks, where new investment pledges are likely. But in Korea, calls are mounting for tax credits and industrial policies to keep advanced R&D anchored onshore before the country’s role as a manufacturing powerhouse erodes further. 2025-08-25 10:41:58

Soaring arms prices, spurred by tariffs, complicate helicopter deal for South Korea SEOUL, August 22 (AJP) - South Korea’s military is moving to acquire a new fleet of heavy-lift helicopters for its special operations forces, but rising costs for American defense systems, exacerbated by tariffs, are emerging as a major challenge. According to defense industry sources, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) initiated a foreign military purchase program on June 25. The project aims to procure new large transport helicopters for both the Army and Air Force. Companies have been invited to submit bids by the end of August, after which a proposal review and performance evaluation will be conducted. A final selection is expected by the close of the year. The program, which runs from 2026 to 2033, has a total budget of $2.355 billion, or about 3.29 trillion won. The Defense Project Promotion Committee approved the basic acquisition strategy in April 2024. While South Korea has developed the Surion utility helicopter domestically, it lacks the necessary engine and rotor blade technologies for a heavy-lift platform. Domestic development was deemed too time-consuming, prompting the military to opt for a foreign acquisition. However, the significant increase in prices for U.S. defense systems has raised alarm. The F-35 fighter jet provides a stark example. The aircraft sources components from more than 1,900 suppliers across about a dozen countries. Denmark alone supplies more than 80 parts, many of which are now subject to tariffs. Industry analysts warn that the cumulative effect of component-level tariffs and disruptions in the global supply chain has created unpredictable price volatility. If the final costs for the new helicopters exceed initial estimates, South Korea may be forced to scale back its planned procurement quantity. Two American manufacturers are seen as the leading contenders for the contract: Boeing, with its CH-47F, and Lockheed Martin, with the CH-53K. Boeing is expected to offer the CH-47F Block II, an upgraded variant currently being fielded by the U.S. Army. The helicopter boasts extended range and increased lift capacity. Germany has already committed to purchasing 60 units, and Poland is also considering the model. The Netherlands and the United Kingdom already operate earlier versions of the CH-47F. Lockheed Martin is likely to propose the CH-53K, which is in service with the U.S. Marine Corps. Israel signed a deal in 2022 for 12 of the aircraft in a contract valued at $2.4 billion, or about 3.3 trillion won, with deliveries pending. In 2023, the U.S. Navy awarded a contract for 35 additional helicopters for the Marines, part of a broader plan to acquire about 200 of the aircraft. 2025-08-22 15:10:50