AJU PRESS - ASIA NEWS HUB

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Candice Kim, Lim Jaeho candicekim1121@ajupress.com, ajupresswogh@ajupress.com

UPDATE: Five killed in multi-vehicle crash on Seohae–Yeongdeok Expressway in South Korea * Updated with additional information SEOUL, January 10 (AJP) - Five people were killed on Saturday morning after a multi-vehicle collision on the Seohae–Yeongdeok Expressway in South Korea’s North Gyeongsang Province, police said. The crashes occurred near the Namsangju interchange in Sangju, involving around 20 vehicles. Police confirmed that four people riding a Sonata sedan were killed, while a truck driver also died in a separate crash near the same area. Traffic has been suspended in both directions near the crash site as authorities carry out recovery operations. Fire officials said they are checking for any additional casualties. Police said slippery road conditions, possibly caused by black ice, may have contributed to the accidents, which appeared to occur almost simultaneously along the stretch of highway. The Sangju city government issued emergency text alerts urging drivers to slow down, maintain safe distances and take extra caution on icy roads, especially on uphill sections and shaded areas. Police said traffic toward Cheongju remains blocked and advised motorists to use national roads as detours. 2026-01-10 10:03:42
In AI-driven infrastructure, the scale of memory demand is unfathomable SEOUL, January 09 (AJP) - The memory cycle shaping today’s intelligence-driven computing is being defined less by consumer gadgets than by infrastructure — a shift underscored by the latest performance of industry leader Samsung Electronics. The South Korean tech giant reported operating profit of 20.0 trillion won ($14 billion) for the October–December quarter, more than tripling from a year earlier and marking its strongest three-month result on record. Revenue rose 22.7 percent to 93.0 trillion won, according to preliminary earnings released Thursday. While the numbers recall the last memory supercycle in 2018, the forces behind the current upswing are fundamentally different. The center of gravity in memory demand had already shifted from smartphones and PCs to data centers in the late 2010s. Artificial intelligence has now accelerated that transition — not only in scale, but in intensity. “The industry’s growth engine moved from smartphones and PCs to data centers after 2017,” said Ahn Ki-hyun, secretary general of the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association. “What is different now is that AI is no longer just a corporate tool. As individuals increasingly use AI services, demand for GPUs and memory is expanding on an entirely new scale.” From cloud cycle to AI-driven expansion According to TrendForce and Counterpoint Research, average selling prices for DRAM jumped 45–50 percent in the fourth quarter, while NAND prices rose more than 30 percent, as chipmakers shifted capacity toward high-margin AI memory such as high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and DDR5. At Samsung, the device solutions (DS) division is estimated to have generated about 16–17 trillion won in operating profit during the quarter, with HBM shipments to AI server customers emerging as the primary growth engine. The demand shift is also visible in how memory consumption is structured. Data from World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) show that data centers now account for more than half of global memory demand, up sharply from roughly a quarter during the previous supercycle — effectively turning cloud service providers into the industry’s largest customers. HBM, once a niche product used mainly in graphics and specialized computing, has become a central profit driver. TrendForce estimates that HBM’s share of total DRAM revenue has climbed from less than 5 percent in 2022 to more than 30 percent in 2025, even though its shipment volume remains far smaller than conventional memory — a reflection of its premium pricing and strategic importance in AI servers. Ripple effects across the memory market The pivot toward AI memory is reshaping the broader market as well. As manufacturers prioritize HBM and DDR5, output of legacy products such as DDR4 has tightened sharply, triggering a rare price surge of more than 30 percent for DDR4 in late 2025 — an unusual development in a segment long regarded as commoditized. “The rise of AI is changing the structure of the memory industry,” Ahn said. “Today, it is not just enterprises but individuals using AI services that are driving demand for GPUs, and that directly translates into higher demand for advanced memory.” Behind the surge is an unprecedented wave of capital spending by global technology firms. Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta together are expected to invest well over $300 billion this year in data centers, custom chips and AI infrastructure, cementing cloud providers — and increasingly AI service platforms — as the new center of gravity in the semiconductor cycle. Industry researchers estimate that AI server shipments are growing at a compound annual rate of more than 20 percent, while power consumption at data centers is projected to rise nearly 175 percent by 2030 from 2023 levels — a signal that memory demand is likely to remain structurally elevated. A longer cycle for memory makers For Samsung, the shift reinforces a broader strategic realignment. The company is repositioning its memory business away from the short swings of consumer-electronics cycles and toward a role as a core enabler of AI infrastructure, betting that the combination of HBM, advanced packaging and foundry capabilities will anchor earnings even as traditional device markets remain volatile. As the memory industry moves deeper into the AI era, analysts increasingly view the current upcycle not as a short-lived rebound but as the beginning of a longer structural phase — one in which data centers and AI workloads, not smartphones, set the pace of global semiconductor demand. 2026-01-09 16:32:15
UPDATE: Korea's LG Electronics slips into first Q4 loss in a decade despite record 2025 sales * Updated with additional information SEOUL, January 09 (AJP) - LG Electronics posted record annual revenue in 2025 but swung to an operating loss in the fourth quarter for the first time in a decade, weighed down by weaker display demand and rising costs tied to higher memory prices and its transition toward AI-driven products. In earnings guidance released Friday, the South Korean home-appliance and consumer electronics maker said consolidated revenue for the full year reached 89.2 trillion won ($66 billion), up 1.7 percent from a year earlier and the highest level on record. Operating profit for the year totaled 2.48 trillion won, down 27.5 percent from 2024. For the October–December period, revenue came to 23.85 trillion won, but the company reported an operating loss of 109.4 billion won, marking its first fourth-quarter loss since 2015. LG said the quarterly loss was mainly due to a slower-than-expected recovery in demand for its display products and higher marketing spending amid intensifying competition. The company also cited one-off costs related to a voluntary retirement program in the second half, saying the measures are expected to help ease fixed-cost burdens over the medium to long term. Shares of LG Electronics closed down 3.5 percent at 89,000 won on Friday. LG Electronics said it will release finalized earnings, including net profit and a detailed breakdown by business division, later this month. 2026-01-09 11:09:42
Shinsegae Casa completes acquisition of Jaju, targets 500 bln won in revenue this year SEOUL, January 08 (AJP) - Shinsegae Casa said on Wednesday it has completed the acquisition of the operating business of lifestyle brand Jaju, finalizing the transaction on Dec. 31 as it moves to broaden its portfolio beyond furniture. The company said the deal will help expand its business scope from home interiors to everyday lifestyle categories such as household goods and fashion, reducing earnings volatility tied to housing cycles and construction market conditions. Shinsegae Casa, which posted revenue of 270 billion won ($200 million) last year on the back of its flagship furniture brand Casamia, said it now aims to lift sales to 500 billion won this year as Jaju and its newly launched fashion label Jaa are added to the group. The company said it will operate six lifestyle brands and platforms — Casamia, Materasso, Cucine Lella, Good.com, Jaju and Jaa — while stepping up efforts to generate synergies across product planning, distribution, marketing and sourcing. In a statement, a Shinsegae Casa official said, “This acquisition provides a solid foundation for us to scale up our business and emerge as a leading player in South Korea’s home-furnishing market. Going forward, we will redefine the industry landscape by delivering a differentiated value proposition centered on premium lifestyle sensibilities.” 2026-01-08 14:49:46
Samsung Electronics record Q4 may be just the start of red-hot streak SEOUL, January 08 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics’ record fourth-quarter results may mark the start of a two-digit, billion-dollar earnings run, as AI infrastructure — from data centers to humanoid robots — drives memory prices into uncharted territory. In preliminary earnings guidance released Thursday, the South Korean tech giant said operating profit for the October–December period reached 20 trillion won ($14 billion), more than tripling from a year earlier and surpassing the market consensus of 19.6 trillion won compiled by FnGuide. Revenue rose 22.7 percent to 93 trillion won, also an all-time quarterly high. For the full year, Samsung posted 43.53 trillion won in operating profit and 332.8 trillion won in revenue, up 33 percent and 10.6 percent, respectively. Samsung will release final figures with divisional breakdowns on Jan. 29, but based on headline numbers and prevailing market conditions, analysts estimate that semiconductors accounted for more than 70 percent of fourth-quarter earnings. Investment banks put operating profit at Samsung’s chip division at roughly 17 trillion won, reflecting sharp gains in average selling prices — about 36 percent quarter-on-quarter for DRAM and 15 percent for NAND. Memory prices enter a “hyper-bull” phase The earnings surge coincides with a rapid acceleration in memory prices toward year-end. Market tracker TrendForce said mass-market DRAM prices jumped 45–50 percent in the fourth quarter, while overall DRAM prices — including high-bandwidth memory (HBM) — rose 50–55 percent. NAND flash prices climbed 33–38 percent over the same period. Research firm Counterpoint described the market as entering a “hyper-bull” phase, forecasting that memory prices, after rising 40–50 percent in the fourth quarter of 2025, are likely to increase another 40–50 percent in the first quarter of 2026 and around 20 percent in the second quarter. “The current memory rally is eclipsing the 2018 peak,” Counterpoint said in a recent report. “Demand for AI infrastructure is fundamentally reshaping supply dynamics, giving suppliers unprecedented pricing power.” The rally reflects a strategic shift by major chipmakers toward products servicing AI accelerators and data centers, tightening supply across the board — from legacy DRAM to NAND flash — amid aggressive stockpiling by customers. A late start in HBM turns strategic Samsung, which initially lagged behind rivals such as SK hynix and Micron in the HBM race, is now finding that late start strategically opportune. Unlike SK hynix, whose HBM output is heavily committed to Nvidia, Samsung can serve a broader client pool — including Broadcom for Google’s tensor processing units used in AI inference, AMD, and other challengers to Nvidia’s dominance in AI accelerators. Losses in Samsung’s foundry business are also narrowing, helped by rising demand for customized AI chips and advanced packaging solutions. CES spotlight: memory as the “robot brain” The importance of memory was underscored this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where “physical AI” — robots and humanoids capable of perceiving, reasoning and acting in the real world — took center stage. “We finally have the core ingredient to build the missing piece of robots, which was the robot brain,” said Rev Lebaredian, vice president of Omniverse and simulation technology at Nvidia. “Once we had that, it started making sense to build the robot bodies.” Robotics producers put 2028 to 2030 as the window for mass commercialization. “We think you need to start on industry first,” said Robert Playter, CEO of Boston Dynamics, robotics arm of Hyundai Motor. “We think it’s going to be 2028 or 2030 when robots are deployed in factories, and probably another five years before they’re really affordable in the home.” Humanoid robots are semiconductor systems in disguise What often looks like an AI miracle is, at its core, a semiconductor system packaged in humanoid form. Each robot requires multitude packages of HBM, DRAM and NAND chips to support human-like sensors and motor movements. As mass production approaches, demand is converging on just three global suppliers — Samsung, SK hynix and Micron — making it increasingly unlikely that supply can keep pace in the near term. That imbalance helps explain the surge of investor enthusiasm for Korean chipmakers during CES week, which pushed the KOSPI to record highs. Chae Min-sook, an analyst at Korea Investment & Securities, said the earnings boom reflects a structural shift in the memory market. “Conventional DRAM is entering a phase where profitability could exceed that of high-bandwidth memory from early 2026,” Chae wrote in a report on SK hynix. “Tight memory supply will be difficult to resolve in the short term.” She forecast that SK hynix’s operating profit this year could reach 128 trillion won, up 58 percent from her previous estimate, citing accelerating price gains across both DRAM and NAND. Analysts say the same dynamics underpin Samsung’s outlook. FnGuide projects Samsung’s full-year operating profit at around 106.7 trillion won, while Citi has put the figure as high as 155 trillion won, citing accelerating HBM shipments, expanding foundry capacity and a pipeline of new flagship products including the Galaxy S26 and next-generation foldables. 2026-01-08 14:24:19
Samsung Elec estimates best-ever income $14 bn for Q4 and $30 bn for full 2025 SEOUL, January 08 (AJP) -Samsung Electronics reported record 20 trillion won ($14 billion) in operating profit for the quarter ended December and 43.5 trillion won for full-year 2025 — driven by the so-called “hyper bull” cycle in memory chips amid widening artificial intelligence adoption. In its earnings guidance released Thursday, the South Korean tech giant said it is estimated to have raked in 20 trillion won in operating profit for the October–December period, up 208 percent from a year earlier and above the market consensus of 19.6 trillion won compiled by FnGuide. Revenue amounted to 93 trillion won, up 22.7 percent from a year ago and also a record three-month figure. For the full year, operating profit reached 43.53 trillion won, while revenue totaled 332.8 trillion won, up 33 percent and 10.6 percent, respectively. The company, whose business spans chips, smartphones and consumer electronics, will release detailed figures for each division in its finalized earnings report on Jan. 29. Investment banks estimate that the chip division generated about 17 trillion won in operating profit in the fourth quarter, reflecting gains of 36 percent and 15 percent in average selling prices for DRAM and NAND products, respectively, from the previous three-month period. According to market tracker TrendForce, mass-market DRAM prices jumped 45 to 50 percent in the final quarter of 2025, while average DRAM prices — including high-bandwidth memory — rose 50 to 55 percent. NAND flash memory prices increased 33 to 38 percent. 2026-01-08 07:52:31
[[CES 2026]] CES 2026 Sneak peek: Samsung and LG turn exhibition spaces into experience hubs SEOUL, January 07 (AJP) - 2026-01-07 17:35:00
Samsung Elec shares hit record high on red-hot earnings outlook ahead of Q4 guidance SEOUL, January 07 (AJP) - Shares of Samsung Electronics climbed to a fresh record high Wednesday, extending a near-nonstop rally since late December as investors bet on the company’s strongest quarterly and annual earnings in seven years. The stock has surged about 32 percent since Dec. 22, rising from a Dec. 19 close of 106,300 won to 141,000 won Wednesday, amid mounting optimism over a renewed memory supercycle fueled by artificial intelligence demand. Samsung Electronics will release its guidance for fourth-quarter and full-year earnings before the market opens in Seoul on Thursday. The rally has been driven by a sharp tightening in the global memory market, spanning legacy DRAM products to cutting-edge high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used in AI accelerators. Rapid adoption of AI applications has triggered aggressive stockpiling, pushing demand well ahead of supply. “Demand for DRAM and NAND currently exceeds supply by more than 30 percent, and Samsung is positioned to benefit most from the tightening market,” said Kim Dong-won, head of research at KB Securities, in a recent report. KB Securities on Tuesday raised its estimate for Samsung’s operating profit for the October–December period to 20.3 trillion won ($14.0 billion), the highest quarterly level since the third quarter of 2018, when profits peaked during the previous memory supercycle. Quarterly revenue is projected at around 90 trillion won ($62.0 billion), led by a strong rebound in the semiconductor business as memory prices surged. The brokerage estimates that operating profit at Samsung’s device solutions (DS) division reached 16.3 trillion won in the fourth quarter, supported by quarter-on-quarter price gains of 41 percent for DRAM and 20 percent for NAND. Looking ahead, KB Securities raised its target price for Samsung to 180,000 won, citing expectations that operating profit in 2026 could reach 123 trillion won—nearly triple last year’s level—as HBM shipments accelerate and AI server demand continues to expand. The firm forecasts that Samsung’s HBM shipments will triple next year, with market share expected to double as the company secures new supply contracts with major global customers, including Nvidia and Google. Broader sentiment toward memory and semiconductor stocks has also been supported by comments from Jensen Huang, chief executive of Nvidia, at CES 2026 in Las Vegas. Huang said Nvidia’s next-generation chips are now in “full production,” reinforcing expectations of sustained demand for AI infrastructure and underpinning the current memory upcycle. 2026-01-07 16:41:14
Samsung taps K-pop star RIIZE to showcase "everyday AI" at CES 2026 SEOUL, January 06 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics is highlighting how artificial intelligence is being integrated into everyday life at CES 2026 through a collaboration with six-member K-pop group RIIZE. RIIZE attended a series of events held by Samsung during the show, including its flagship “The First Look” program, as global brand ambassadors, experiencing new products and services and sharing the experience with global audiences. The group has previously worked with Samsung across multiple campaigns, including music videos for its first full album Odyssey, advertisements for the Galaxy Watch8, SmartThings social content and a Samsung Health global music project. All six members also attended Samsung’s “The First Look 2026” press conference on Jan. 4 (local time), where they were introduced to the company’s vision and new products. During the exhibition, the members selected Samsung products based on their personal interests and created short-form social media content introducing them. Member Sungchan chose Samsung’s 130-inch Micro RGB TV — billed by the company as the world’s first — and appeared in a video with fellow member Wonbin watching a football match on the screen. The video highlights Samsung’s “AI Soccer Mode,” which analyzes scenes in real time and automatically optimizes picture and sound quality, according to the company. Content featuring RIIZE will be released sequentially from Jan. 5 (local time) on Samsung’s YouTube channel and the group’s official social media platforms. Samsung is also operating a standalone exhibition space from Jan. 4 to 7, where visitors can experience AI-powered sound through products such as the “Music Studio 5” speaker and “The Freestyle+” portable projector, using RIIZE tracks including “Boom Boom Bass” and “Fly Up.” The Music Studio 5 speaker features an art-inspired design, while the Freestyle+ projector offers upgraded image-correction functions such as “3D Auto Keystone,” which optimizes display even on non-flat surfaces like curtains or corners. “Through our collaboration with K-pop artist RIIZE, we wanted young people around the world to experience and connect with Samsung’s AI technology,” Park Jung-mi, vice president and head of the Global Brand Center at Samsung Electronics’ Global Marketing Office, said. “We hope visitors will experience Samsung’s AI vision through ‘The First Look.’” RIIZE said, “After experiencing Samsung’s AI technology firsthand at ‘The First Look,’ we found it very easy and convenient to use. As K-pop artists, we are glad to share Samsung’s vision of ‘AI in everyday life.’” 2026-01-06 17:35:39
[[CES2026]] SK hynix to spotlight next-generation AI memory at CES 2026 SEOUL, January 06 (AJP) - SK hynix will showcase its next generation artificial-intelligence memory solutions at CES 2026 in Las Vegas, highlighting new high-bandwidth memory and low-power products as demand for AI infrastructure accelerates. The chipmaker will operate a customer-focused exhibition booth at the Venetian Expo from Jan. 6 to 9, shifting its emphasis from large-scale brand promotion to direct engagement with key clients, the company said. At the center of the display will be a 16-layer HBM4 product with 48 gigabytes of capacity, which SK hynix plans to unveil publicly for the first time. The company will also present its 12-layer HBM3E with 36GB, a product positioned to support near-term growth in AI servers. Beyond high-bandwidth memory, SK hynix will introduce SOCAMM2, a low-power memory module designed for AI servers, along with LPDDR6 for on-device AI applications. In NAND flash, the company plans to showcase a 321-layer 2-terabit QLC product aimed at high-capacity enterprise solid-state drives for data centers. The company will also operate an “AI System Demo Zone,” where it will demonstrate how future memory technologies — including customized HBM, processing-in-memory solutions and CXL-based memory modules — could integrate into next-generation AI systems. SK hynix said the exhibition reflects its strategy to deepen its role in AI infrastructure by expanding its portfolio of specialized memory products and strengthening collaboration with customers. “As innovation triggered by AI accelerates further, customers’ technical requirements are evolving rapidly,” said Justin Kim, president and head of AI Infrastructure at SK hynix. “We will meet those needs with differentiated memory solutions, and through close cooperation with customers, create new value that contributes to the advancement of the AI ecosystem.” 2026-01-06 14:05:32