Journalist
Candice Kim, Lim Jaeho
candicekim1121@ajupress.com, ajupresswogh@ajupress.com
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LG's smart home robot 'Cloi', ultra-thin OLED TV take home iF Design awards SEOUL, February 25 (AJP) - South Korean tech giant LG Electronics announced it has won 26 awards at the iF Design Award 2026, taking home accolades across multiple categories including product design, user experience, and architecture. The company's key award-winning products include the "LG Cloi," a home robot designed to interact with users by responding to human facial expressions, voice commands, and gestures. LG also won an award for its "LG OLED evo W6," a wireless wallpaper television featuring a thickness in the 9-millimeter range. Other recognized consumer electronics include the "LG gram Pro" laptop, which utilizes a novel aerospace material called aerominium, and the curved "LG UltraGear OLED evo" monitor. Three models of LG XBOOM audio products, the minimalist "Whisen Objet Collection Cool" air conditioner, and the "LG Puricare Bath Air System" for indoor air and humidity management also received honors. Beyond traditional hardware, LG's "Flagship D5" showroom in Seoul's Gangnam district won in the architecture category. The company also received recognition for an "easy-to-read book" manual designed to help slow learners and children with developmental disabilities understand appliance operations, a project noted for promoting social inclusion and sustainability. Additionally, an AI agent user experience (UX) developed for LG employees was awarded. "We will continue customer-centric design innovation by strengthening our core businesses from a future-preparedness perspective and discovering new growth opportunities," said Chung Wook-jun, head of LG Electronics' Design Management Center. 2026-02-25 15:30:20 -
Chipflation (1): Korean memory makers seize pricing power in AI boom Editor’s note: This is the first installment in AJP’s Chipflation series, which examines how explosive demand for artificial intelligence and South Korea’s dominance in memory chips are triggering a ripple effect of price hikes across the global tech supply chain — from Silicon Valley data centers to everyday consumer electronics. This installment looks at how Korean memory makers have gained the upper hand in price-setting. SEOUL, February 24 (AJP) - South Korea’s semiconductor export prices have more than doubled over the past year, data showed, underscoring the reality of “chipflation” as the country’s memory giants levy what industry insiders call a growing “Korea Tax” on Silicon Valley’s AI boom. According to data released Feb. 13 by the Bank of Korea, export prices for computer, electronic and optical products jumped 34.2 percent on year in January. The surge was overwhelmingly driven by memory chips, with DRAM and flash memory prices soaring 102.7 percent and 115.1 percent, respectively. Behind the headline numbers lies a structural bottleneck known in the industry as the “wafer penalty.” As global technology giants rush to secure High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) for AI servers, production capacity for conventional DRAM is being crowded out. Market tracker TrendForce estimates that manufacturing a single HBM4 wafer consumes capacity equivalent to roughly three standard DRAM wafers. This trade-off has sharply tightened supplies of commodity memory chips, creating a severe supply-demand imbalance across the market. "Building a new semiconductor line takes at least two to three years, and expanding an existing one requires one to two years," said Lee Jong-hwan, a professor of system semiconductor engineering at Sangmyung University. "Since memory makers are already profiting from high-margin HBM, they are unlikely to rush investments for commodity DRAM even as its supply shrinks and prices rise." Contract prices double in 90 days The impact has been swift and dramatic. Standard 64GB RDIMM server memory contract prices have doubled from about $450 to more than $900 in just three months. With inventories at SK hynix reportedly falling below four weeks, Samsung Electronics has effectively regained near-absolute pricing power as the world’s largest DRAM producer. Riding this seller’s market, Samsung is said to be negotiating prices for its next-generation HBM4 chips — which entered mass production this month — at around $700 per unit, a roughly 30 percent increase from the previous generation. The pricing surge is unfolding against the backdrop of an unprecedented AI investment cycle. The four largest U.S. hyperscalers — Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft — are projected to spend a combined $650 billion on capital expenditures in 2026. Combined with the Bank of Korea’s inflation data and Samsung’s aggressive pricing strategy, the figures suggest that a sizable portion of that investment will flow directly into the margins of Korean memory makers as an unavoidable “Korea Tax” in the AI era. "With explosive demand, Samsung holds significant pricing power, which will place a heavy financial burden on U.S. Big Tech," said Kim Deok-ki, a professor at Sejong University. "These skyrocketing costs could inevitably delay the buildup of AI infrastructure and eventually be passed down to consumers through higher AI subscription fees." Fierce stockpiling by AI leaders such as Nvidia, which dominates AI accelerators, has further strained supply chains. Cleanroom capacity at front-tier manufacturers — including Samsung, SK hynix and TSMC — is increasingly allocated to high-margin AI products, leaving fewer resources for commodity chips. "U.S. Big Tech companies are software-driven and lack their own fabrication plants," Prof. Lee added. "They can design the chips, but for production, they ultimately depend on the limited foundry and cleanroom capacities of companies like TSMC and Samsung." As inventories thin, shortages are spilling over into components used in smartphones, laptops and household electronics. Apple is reportedly exploring the use of Chinese-made memory chips in place of Korean LPDDR products to offset rising costs. Even Samsung, despite its in-house memory production, has raised smartphone prices in response to higher component expenses. Investors have responded accordingly. Shares of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix have been scaling fresh highs almost daily, underscoring investor confidence that Korean memory makers will remain the primary beneficiaries of the AI-driven supply squeeze. With wafer capacity increasingly locked into high-margin HBM production and hyperscaler demand showing little sign of cooling, industry analysts say chipflation is likely to persist. In equity markets, the narrative is shifting accordingly — from the long-cited “Korea discount” to what some now describe as a rising “Korean premium” attached to Seoul-listed semiconductor stocks. 2026-02-24 17:38:17 -
For 2026 rematch with Apple, Samsung fields AI photo studio for short-form gen SEOUL, February 23 (AJP) - Familiar scenes were repeated at the 2026 Milan–Cortina Winter Olympics: medalists capturing once-in-a-lifetime moments by flipping open pocket-sized Samsung phones. Despite strong sales of its foldable fleet, Samsung Electronics lost its decade-long position as the world’s top smartphone vendor last year to Apple, buoyed by the popularity of the iPhone 17 lineup. Samsung readies a rematch with the unveiling of its flagship Galaxy S26 series in San Francisco on Thursday. Moving away from traditional hardware specification battles, Samsung is repositioning its top-tier Ultra model — expected to approach 2 million won (about $1,500) — as a fully autonomous “AI Studio” aimed at short-form video creators on platforms such as TikTok and YouTube Shorts. Rather than competing solely on camera sensors, display resolution and processing speed, the company is shifting its focus to software-driven creativity, automation and personalization. The move reflects a long-standing challenge in the domestic market. According to Gallup Korea, more than 60 percent of South Koreans in their 20s use iPhones, while older generations remain more loyal to Galaxy devices. “For younger demographics, a smartphone is a status symbol that must be instantly recognizable,” said Lee Eun-hee, professor emeritus of consumer science at Inha University. “Samsung has historically struggled to match Apple’s strong design identity that creates this sense of pride.” To loosen Apple’s grip on young users, Samsung is positioning the Galaxy S26 as a mobile production suite. Powered by an upgraded neural processing unit (NPU) with a claimed 113 percent performance increase, the device introduces “EdgeFusion,” an on-device generative AI model that allows users to generate images and perform professional-level edits through simple text prompts — without requiring an internet connection. The system enables automatic background generation, lighting adjustment, object removal and style conversion, reducing the need for external editing apps. The Ultra model is also expected to feature an industry-first “Privacy Display,” using Samsung Display’s Flex Magic Pixel technology to restrict side viewing angles. The feature targets young users who frequently consume and produce content in public spaces such as subways, cafés and campuses. Additional upgrades include an improved f/1.4 aperture for low-light photography and a first-ever 60-watt fast-charging system, allowing creators to shoot, edit and upload content throughout the day. “Younger consumers are highly responsive to AI,” Lee said. “Having an autonomous AI agent feels like carrying a personal assistant — or even a digital companion — in your pocket. That appeal could be decisive.” The central question is whether younger consumers are willing to pay the premium. Amid rising global semiconductor and component costs, all S26 models are expected to see price increases of about 99,000 won ($75). Industry estimates suggest the base model will start at around 1.25 million won ($940), with the Plus and Ultra versions beginning at roughly 1.45 million won ($1,090) and 1.8 million won ($1,350), respectively. The top 512GB Ultra model could approach the 2 million won threshold. For many Gen Z consumers, already facing high living costs and stagnant income growth, the higher price point may pose a hurdle. Yet Samsung is betting that advanced AI features will justify the increase by transforming smartphones from communication devices into portable studios. In K-pop, gaming and short-form video culture, smartphones increasingly function as tools for self-branding and content production. Samsung’s strategy reflects an effort to align its flagship devices with this shift. If successful, the Galaxy S26 could help the company reclaim relevance among younger users and narrow the gap with Apple in key markets. If not, higher prices and software-heavy features may struggle to overcome entrenched brand preferences. As the industry watches the San Francisco launch, the Galaxy S26 will serve as an early test of whether consumers are ready to accept higher prices — and what some analysts call a “chipflation tax” — in exchange for next-generation AI capabilities. 2026-02-23 16:50:58 -
Samsung Electronics launches high-capacity, AI-powered ice water purifier SEOUL, February 23 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics announced the release of its new "Bespoke AI Ice Water Purifier" for the domestic market, integrating voice recognition and high-capacity ice production into its home appliance lineup. Priced at 2.39 million won ($1,780), the countertop appliance is designed to produce up to 8 kilograms of ice per day—equivalent to approximately 1,000 ice cubes—and can store about 100 cubes simultaneously. The new model focuses heavily on automated hygiene and water safety. It features a four-stage filtration system certified by NSF International, which Samsung states can remove 82 types of harmful substances, including microplastics, heavy metals, and microcystin. To address maintenance, the purifier employs an AI-based sterilization system that learns users' drinking patterns to automatically sanitize its stainless-steel water pipes and ice trays during non-use hours. It also utilizes UV sterilization at the ice dispenser. In a push to expand its smart home ecosystem, Samsung has integrated its voice assistant, Bixby, with a new "Voice ID" feature. The system can distinguish between different family members' voices and automatically dispense water based on their pre-set volume and temperature preferences. Users can save up to 20 custom presets, adjusting water volume in 10-milliliter increments and temperature up to 90 degrees Celsius. The premium water purifier market in South Korea is highly competitive, traditionally dominated by rental-based companies like Coway, alongside archrival LG Electronics. Samsung's integration of voice-recognition AI and heavy-duty ice making in a single countertop unit is a strategic move to capture the growing segment of consumers willing to purchase high-end, smart kitchen appliances outright rather than opting for traditional rental services. 2026-02-23 16:15:10 -
Expressways see heavy traffic ahead of Lunar New Year holiday SEOUL, February 16 (AJP) - South Korea's expressways experienced heavy congestion on Monday morning as travelers headed to their hometowns ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday. As of 8 a.m., travel time from Seoul to major cities reached 6 hours and 20 minutes to Busan, 6 hours to Ulsan, 5 hours and 20 minutes to Daegu, 4 hours and 40 minutes to Mokpo, 4 hours and 20 minutes to Gwangju, 3 hours and 10 minutes to Gangneung, and 2 hours and 20 minutes to Daejeon, according to the Korea Expressway Corporation. Return trips to Seoul took 5 hours and 30 minutes from Busan, 5 hours and 10 minutes from Ulsan, 4 hours and 30 minutes from Daegu, 3 hours and 50 minutes from both Mokpo and Gwangju, 2 hours and 40 minutes from Gangneung, and 1 hour and 50 minutes from Daejeon. While travel times from Seoul to provincial cities remained similar to Sunday or slightly decreased, return trips to the capital took 10 to 30 minutes longer depending on the destination. Major bottlenecks formed on the Gyeongbu Expressway heading to Busan, with congestion stretching 6 kilometers near Manghyang Rest Area to Cheonan Junction, 11 kilometers from Cheonan Junction to Cheonan Hodu Rest Area, and 17 kilometers from Oksan Junction to Cheongju Junction. On the Jungbu Naeryuk Expressway toward Changwon, traffic slowed along a 10-kilometer stretch from Yeoju Junction to Gamgok. The corporation projected 5.05 million vehicles would travel nationwide on Monday, with 410,000 vehicles moving from the Seoul metropolitan area to the provinces and the same number in the opposite direction. 2026-02-16 15:46:58 -
Samsung Electronics eyes quarterly operating profit of 30 trillion won SEOUL, February 16 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics is expected to reach 30 trillion won in quarterly operating profit for the first time in the January-March period, driven by surging demand for AI-related memory chips. The South Korean tech giant posted a record 20 trillion won in operating profit in the October-December quarter, becoming the first domestic company to reach that milestone. Analysts now project it will add another 10 trillion won in just one quarter. According to brokerage estimates, Samsung's first-quarter operating profit is forecast at 32.5 trillion won, up 386.6 percent from 6.7 trillion won a year earlier. Revenue is expected to reach 111.4 trillion won, a 40.8 percent increase from 79.1 trillion won in the same period last year. Rival SK Hynix is also projected to approach the 30 trillion won mark, with analysts estimating first-quarter operating profit of 28.3 trillion won, up 280.2 percent year-on-year. The company's sales are forecast at 42.9 trillion won, a 143.1 percent jump from the previous year. SK Hynix posted an operating profit of 19.2 trillion won in the fourth quarter, just short of the 20 trillion won threshold. However, analysts say the company could reach 30 trillion won in the current quarter, with its operating margin expected to hit 66 percent, exceeding the record 58 percent achieved in the previous quarter. The exceptional performance stems from explosive demand for high-bandwidth memory and DRAM chips used in AI servers, as well as NAND flash memory for data centers. Memory chip prices have surged as hyperscalers rush to secure supply for AI infrastructure buildouts. Market research firm Counterpoint Research projects memory prices will rise 80-90 percent in the first quarter compared to the previous quarter. Prices for 8GB DDR4, a standard PC memory chip, are expected to jump 91 percent after a 35 percent increase in the fourth quarter. Server-grade 64GB DDR5 prices are forecast to surge 99 percent following a 76 percent gain in the previous quarter. Global investment bank Morgan Stanley estimates Samsung's operating profit will reach 245.7 trillion won this year and 317.4 trillion won next year. For SK Hynix, the bank projects 179.4 trillion won this year and 225.4 trillion won in 2027. Nomura Securities raised its target price for Samsung to 290,000 won from 220,000 won, and for SK Hynix to 1.56 million won from 1.25 million won. The brokerage projected Samsung's operating profit at 243 trillion won this year and 322 trillion won next year. KB Securities analyst Kim Dong-won noted that memory supply shortages have intensified in February compared to the fourth quarter, with major customers' demand fulfillment rates at around 60 percent. "AI data center companies are absorbing 70 percent of Samsung's memory shipments, establishing a solid structural demand base," Kim said in a recent report on Thursday. "Considering the limited expansion of memory supply through 2027, maximum production capacity will emerge as a core competitive advantage." Industry sources say both companies have already sold out their memory production for this year, with global big tech firms lining up with advance payments to secure supply, providing unprecedented earnings visibility and stability compared to previous boom cycles. 2026-02-16 14:29:16 -
South Korea adds speed skating top-10 finish, falls short in skeleton mixed team debut SEOUL, February 16 (AJP) - South Korea's Lee Na-hyun placed 10th in the women's 500-meter speed skating on Sunday, marking her second top-10 finish at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, while the country's skeleton mixed team finished 11th in the inaugural Olympic event. Lee clocked 37.86 seconds at Milano Speed Skating Stadium, finishing 0.59 seconds behind bronze medalist Miho Takagi of Japan. The 20-year-old had earlier placed ninth in the women's 1,000 meters, making her the first South Korean to crack the top 10 in that event. Starting from the inside lane in the 13th pairing, Lee passed the first 100 meters in 10.47 seconds, the eighth-fastest opening split. She navigated the first curve smoothly and powered through the straightaway but lost some speed on the final curve, unable to overcome centrifugal force. Kim Min-sun, competing in her third Olympics, finished 14th with a time of 38.01 seconds. The 30-year-old struggled from the start, passing the 100-meter mark in 10.61 seconds, and was unable to close the gap despite her trademark finishing speed. Netherlands' Femke Kok claimed gold with an Olympic record of 36.49 seconds, 0.66 seconds ahead of compatriot Jutta Leerdam, who took silver. Takagi earned bronze with 37.27 seconds. In skeleton, Jeong Seung-gi and Hong Su-jung combined for 2 minutes, 1.45 seconds to finish 11th out of 15 teams in the mixed team event at Cortina Sliding Centre. The format, making its Olympic debut at Milan-Cortina, features one woman and one man from each team completing runs with their times combined. Hong, competing in her first Olympics, recorded 1:01.84 despite posting the fastest reaction time of 0.13 seconds. She struggled with control early in her run, reaching a top speed of 120.48 kilometers per hour before finishing 13th among women. Jeong, who also placed 10th in the men's individual event earlier in the Games, posted 59.61 seconds for 11th place in the men's portion. The 27-year-old showed strong technical skills with a reaction time of 0.19 seconds, sixth-best overall. Britain's Matt Weston and Tabitha Stoecker won the inaugural mixed team gold with a track record of 1:59.36. German teams swept silver and bronze, with Axel Jungk and Susanne Kreher taking silver in 1:59.53, and Christopher Grotheer and Jacqueline Pfeifer claiming bronze in 1:59.54. In women's curling, South Korea defeated Japan 7-5 in their fifth round-robin match at Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium. Skip Kim Eun-ji's team improved to 3-2 after earlier losses to the United States and Denmark. Trailing 3-3 entering the eighth end, South Korea scored three points for a big end. The team then held a one-point lead heading into the 10th end with the hammer, adding one more to secure victory. South Korea currently sits tied for fourth place with Denmark in the 10-team round robin. The top four teams advance to the semifinals, with the medal rounds scheduled for Feb. 20-22. 2026-02-16 11:35:10 -
SK chair meets US big tech leaders for HMB4 pitch SEOUL, February 13 (AJP) -SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won commanding the world's most-sought memory chip unit held a string of meetings with big-tech leaders in the United States to strengthen leadership in AI chip supply chain amid tension with Samsung Electronics over HBM4 supply. His business meetings included all the big tech names Nvidia, Broadcom, Microsoft, Meta and Google engaged in AI chip accelerators, as he pushed to expand partnerships centered on high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and next-generation AI infrastructure. Chey first met Jensen Huang, chief executive of Nvidia, in Santa Clara on Feb. 5 (local time). The two exchanged views on global AI industry trends, demand for advanced semiconductors and cooperation on next-generation GPUs and HBM. Ahead of the meeting, Chey reviewed SK hynix’s supply strategy and shifts in the AI ecosystem, the company said. On the following day, Chey visited Broadcom’s headquarters in San Jose for talks with CEO Hock Tan. Their discussions focused on the medium- to long-term outlook for the memory market, supply strategies and investment cooperation. The two sides also explored ways to reflect SK hynix’s HBM technology in Broadcom products from the design stage, as Broadcom develops customized AI accelerators and networking solutions. On Feb. 10, Chey met Satya Nadella in Seattle to discuss expanding cooperation beyond semiconductors to include AI data centers and cloud-based solutions, reflecting SK Group’s broader push into AI infrastructure and services. The same day, Chey held talks with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in San Jose on long-term memory supply and next-generation AI infrastructure. SK hynix shared its HBM strategy optimized for Meta’s in-house AI accelerator project, MTIA, and discussed early alignment of technology road maps for products beyond HBM4 and HBM4E. On the final day of his trip, Feb. 11, Chey met Sundar Pichai at Google’s campus in San Jose. The two agreed that securing memory supply has become a key bottleneck in expanding AI data centers and that stabilizing medium- to long-term supply is critical, as production capacity cannot be expanded quickly. They also discussed cooperation on custom HBM and future HBM4-based chips aligned with Google’s AI roadmap. SK hynix said the meetings underscore its efforts to deepen partnerships with global tech companies based on its AI memory leadership. The company aims to expand HBM supply while building cooperation that spans next-generation chips, data centers and cloud infrastructure. 2026-02-13 16:42:43 -
CJ Olive Young unveils wellness pop-up at Seongsu flagship store SEOUL, February 13 (AJP) - CJ Olive Young has launched a pop-up store dedicated to its new wellness curation platform at its flagship location in Seongsu-dong, a district that has cemented its status as Seoul’s primary retail testbed. The country’s top beauty and health retailer announced on Friday that it opened the "New Wellness Lounge" on the first floor of "Olive Young N Seongsu." The pop-up, which runs until March 9, is designed to introduce the lifestyle concepts proposed by its newly launched content platform, "Olive Better." The launch comes as Seongsu-dong continues to serve as a barometer for consumer trends in South Korea, with major retailers increasingly utilizing the district to pilot new branding strategies and engage with trend-conscious demographics. The "New Wellness Lounge" focuses on three core themes: "Eat Well," "Fit Well," and "Relax Well." Visitors can experience a curated wellness routine that includes healthy snacks, stretching guides, and aromatherapy zones. The space also features interactive elements such as a "check-in" event linked to social media, offering visitors a hands-on experience of the company's wellness proposition. "The lounge is meaningful as a space created together by Olive Young N Seongsu, a trend hub, and Olive Better, a wellness curation platform," an Olive Young official said. "We will continue to plan various contents to help customers discover their own wellness routines." In parallel with the Seongsu pop-up, CJ Olive Young is operating an "Olive Better Lucky Board" event near Hongik University Station in western Seoul until Feb. 18, offering gift cards and promotional products to engage a wider audience. 2026-02-13 14:43:39 -
Samsung Electronics starts mass shipments of HBM4, targets next-gen AI demand SEOUL, February 12 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics has begun mass shipments of the industry's first HBM4 high-bandwidth memory chips, the South Korean tech giant said on Thursday, looking to secure an early lead in the next-generation AI memory market. The new chip utilizes Samsung's advanced 10-nanometer class (1c) DRAM and its proprietary 4-nanometer foundry process for the base die. It delivers stable transfer speeds of 11.7 gigabits per second (Gbps) and hits a maximum of 13 Gbps, significantly exceeding the industry standard of 8 Gbps set by JEDEC. Samsung said the HBM4 offers a peak bandwidth of up to 3.3 terabytes per second (TB/s) per stack. It supports capacities ranging from 24 gigabytes (GB) to 48 GB, depending on the stacking configuration (8, 12, or 16-high). The company highlighted that its integrated manufacturing capabilities—covering memory, foundry, and packaging—allowed it to optimize power delivery. The new chips improve energy efficiency by approximately 40 percent and reduce thermal resistance by 10 percent compared to previous generations, key factors for reducing operating costs in data centers. "Samsung’s HBM4 departs from conventional methods by adopting cutting-edge technologies like 1c DRAM and a 4-nanometer foundry process right from the start," said Hwang Sang-joon, Executive Vice President of Memory Product & Technology. "We have secured sufficient headroom for performance scaling to meet customers’ rising demands in a timely manner." Looking ahead, Samsung plans to ship samples of the upgraded HBM4E in the second half of 2026 and begin sampling custom HBM products in 2027. Buoyed by the expansion, the world's largest memory chipmaker expects its HBM revenue in 2026 to more than triple from 2025 levels. 2026-02-12 16:36:12