Journalist
Candice Kim, Lim Jaeho
candicekim1121@ajupress.com, ajupresswogh@ajupress.com
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Korea's CJ picks safe site for first U.S. Olive Young store to test offline popularity of K-beauty SEOUL, December 05 (AJP) - CJ is taking a measured approach as it prepares to plant the Olive Young flag in the world’s largest beauty market, selecting Pasadena, California, as the location for its first U.S. store — a choice driven by demographic safety, retail compatibility and the growing appeal of Korean skincare across America’s diverse consumer base. “Pasadena is not far from downtown LA, has a relatively high share of high-income residents and a retail district that fits fashion and beauty retail well,” an Olive Young official said. “It is also less congested than some other areas, which made it an attractive location for our first store.” Whether Olive Young — now the definitive gateway to K-beauty for foreign tourists in Korea — can scale across California will hinge on the May 2026 opening of the Pasadena store. The U.S. strategy will center on skincare, reflecting both global sales trends and enduring perceptions of K-beauty, the official added. “Skincare has a significantly larger weight than makeup in terms of sales and market size globally.” K-beauty’s selling point remains its disciplined ritualism. The official noted that international consumers often associate Korean skincare with the “seven-step routine,” even if most Koreans no longer practice such elaborate regimens. Educating U.S. consumers on Korean-style makeup preparation will also be part of the playbook. “For example, skincare pads used before makeup are still not widely known or commonly used in the U.S. Explaining such routines is part of our approach to introducing K-beauty.” While both skincare and makeup will be carried, the merchandising mix is expected to broadly mirror Olive Young’s Korea operations, with skincare at the core. The retailer is currently coordinating with about 400 beauty brands — consistent with its earlier disclosures — and does not expect major adjustments before launch. Marketing initiatives are still being finalized. The Pasadena store is also a strategic step to build Olive Young’s brand presence in the U.S., where awareness remains limited despite its status in Korea as a “must-visit” stop for foreign visitors. Competing against entrenched players such as Sephora, however, will require a more pragmatic layout. Unlike Olive Young N Seongsu in Seoul, which emphasizes immersive experiences and interactive merchandising, the Pasadena location will prioritize clarity over theatrics. “This will not be an experiential flagship like our Seongsu store,” the official said. “The goal is to present products and brands clearly and give consumers a better understanding of K-beauty.” The company’s cautious but calculated approach reflects both opportunity and risk: the K-beauty boom is cresting globally, but converting online and tourist-driven enthusiasm into sustained brick-and-mortar success will depend heavily on how Pasadena performs. 2025-12-05 17:10:02 -
Revised Commercial Act adds legal uncertainty to Korea's M&A landscape SEOUL, December 04 (AJP) - South Korea’s C-suite and boards must now weigh shareholder rights as heavily as employee considerations under the revised Commercial Act, a shift posing as a setback to bold, owner-driven decision-making long associated with chaebols. The implications of the overhaul were a central focus at a capital markets and M&A seminar hosted in Seoul by law firm Shin & Kim on Thursday, where corporate lawyers and market participants examined how the revised law could reshape boardroom choices in major transactions. “There are still no clear legal precedents on how directors should navigate conflicts between different shareholder interests under the revised Act,” said Oh Jong-han, managing partner at Shin & Kim, in opening remarks. “This creates a situation where companies and directors are having to make decisions without established benchmarks on what will ultimately be judged as acceptable.” Merger ratios under closer scrutiny One of the most immediate pressure points is merger ratios. Under the revised Commercial Act, directors involved in mergers deemed to have been executed at unfair ratios now face heightened risks of shareholder damages claims, as well as potential criminal liability for breach of fiduciary duty. “In affiliated-company mergers, directors must examine far more carefully whether the deal — including its timing and exchange ratio — genuinely benefits the company’s shareholders,” said Lee Dong-geon, head of Shin & Kim’s Corporate Governance Strategy Center. “The risk profile has clearly changed. Decisions once viewed as business judgment are increasingly being scrutinized through the lens of shareholder fairness.” Shareholder losses may trigger injunctions Another area of uncertainty is whether shareholder losses could be interpreted as losses to the company itself. If courts adopt such an interpretation, shareholders may gain stronger grounds to seek injunctions halting transactions before completion, invoking their rights to preserve corporate interests. “This opens the door to preventive legal action at much earlier stages of M&A,” Lee said, noting that such remedies were previously difficult to access unless direct damage to the company could be demonstrated. Practitioners warned that this shift could significantly raise the bar for board approvals in restructurings and group transactions. Boards face higher decision-making burden While the revisions are not expected to derail routine deals, experts emphasized that complex transactions — particularly those involving related parties or capital restructuring — will now require greater procedural rigor. Boards will be expected to document their decision-making more extensively, rely on independent valuations and demonstrate clearly that a proposed transaction serves the collective interests of shareholders. “With limited case law to guide interpretation, directors are operating in a legal gray zone,” Oh said. “Until clearer standards emerge, conservative decision-making is likely to prevail.” Experts noted that the revised Commercial Act signals a structural shift in Korea’s capital markets — one that strengthens shareholder protections but also injects new uncertainty into how boards navigate high-stakes transactions. 2025-12-04 17:48:39 -
K-beauty brand O'ngredients gains traction at home and abroad on strong skin-barrier lineup SEOUL, December 04 (AJP) - South Korean skincare brand O’ngredients is gaining momentum both domestically and overseas, backed by strong sales of its skin-barrier products and rising visibility on global e-commerce platforms. According to industry data, O’ngredients’ Skin Barrier Calming Lotion has surpassed cumulative sales of 3 million units in South Korea as of July 2025 and ranked first overall on CJ Olive Young’s online store in December 2024. The product has been one of the brand’s key drivers in the domestic market. Overseas, the brand is beginning to show early signs of traction. On Amazon US, the Skin Barrier Calming Lotion (220 milliliters) recorded sales of about 3,600 units as of November 2025, while its Skin Barrier Glow Mist entered the top 100 rankings in the lotion and face mist category within one month of its launch, according to company data. The growing international interest coincides with O’ngredients’ broader export expansion. Parent company Power Player said its founder and chief executive Kim Yu-jae recently received South Korea’s “2025 Venture Entrepreneur of the Year” award, alongside the government-backed “$5 million Export Tower,” which recognizes companies that achieve significant export milestones. The brand’s performance reflects a broader trend of K-beauty labels moving beyond trend-led marketing toward products centered on skin-barrier care and sensitive-skin solutions — a segment that is increasingly resonating with overseas consumers. O’ngredients has also expanded its offline presence, entering Costco Korea and extending distribution across major Japanese retail chains, including drugstores and specialty beauty outlets, as part of its push to strengthen its foothold in Asia. While global sales remain at an early stage compared with its domestic footprint, company data show the combination of strong repeat demand at home and improving overseas sell-through suggests the brand is positioning itself as part of the next wave of export-driven K-beauty growth. 2025-12-04 13:28:46 -
Samsung wins national technology award for GDDR7 as AI inference demand grows SEOUL, December 03 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics’ latest graphics memory was recognized by South Korea’s government as a key technology underpinning the country’s future AI competitiveness, amid growing industry focus on AI inference rather than model training. At the 2025 Korea Tech Festival, hosted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy at COEX in Seoul on Wednesday, Samsung received the Korea Technology Awards Presidential Prize for its 12-nanometer, 40 gigabits-per-second, 24-gigabit GDDR7 DRAM, according to Samsung. The award is granted annually to technologies judged to have made outstanding contributions to national industrial competitiveness. The company said the GDDR7 product is designed for graphics processing and AI computation, and has been adopted across use cases including high-end graphics cards, gaming consoles, laptops and data center servers that require thermal stability and reliability. The award comes as the AI industry shifts part of its focus from model training to inference, where cost efficiency and power consumption have become increasingly important. GDDR7 offers advantages over high-bandwidth memory (HBM) in terms of cost, power efficiency and form factor, making it suitable for large-scale inference deployments, Samsung said. Major AI platform companies are expanding adoption of graphics memory for inference workloads. Nvidia has said it plans to equip its Rubin CPX inference-focused GPU with up to 128 gigabytes of GDDR7, a move analysts say could broaden demand for high-speed graphics DRAM. Market research firm TrendForce has forecast that demand for GDDR7 will rise sharply alongside growing GPU shipments for edge AI and generative AI applications, including Nvidia’s upcoming RTX 5090 series. Samsung has been expanding its portfolio of next-generation memory products alongside GDDR7. The company said its sixth-generation high-bandwidth memory product, HBM4, based on 1c DRAM, is undergoing customer evaluation, while development is also under way for compute express link (CXL) memory modules using the CXL 3.1 standard. In addition, Samsung’s advanced research arm has published research on ferroelectric transistor technology for low-power NAND flash in the journal Nature, which the company said could significantly reduce power consumption if commercialized. Samsung also said several of its semiconductor products, including a quantum security chip and next-generation mobile memory, have been selected for innovation awards ahead of the CES 2026 technology show in Las Vegas. The Korea Technology Awards are presented annually by the government to recognize technologies deemed to strengthen the country’s industrial competitiveness, with winners selected from corporate research and development achievements. 2025-12-03 16:36:05 -
Olive Young a must-visit stop in Korea owe 25% of sales to foreigners SEOUL, December 03 (AJP) - A quarter of revenue at CJ Olive Young stores across South Korea now comes from foreign customers, whose purchases surpassed the 1 trillion won ($770 million) mark this year in a sharp illustration of K-beauty’s global pull, the beauty franchise said Wednesday. From January through November, spending by foreign nationals at Olive Young’s offline stores nationwide reached the milestone, marking a 26-fold increase from 2022, when Korea’s tourism industry was still emerging from the pandemic. Foreign shoppers accounted for more than 25 percent of offline sales this year, compared with about 2 percent in 2022 and just over 10 percent in 2023, as the retailer’s outlets solidified their status as a “must-visit” stop for visitors seeking Korean beauty trends. Nearly nine out of ten foreign cosmetics purchases in South Korea were made at Olive Young, according to Global Tax Free, which tracks tax-refund transactions. Shoppers from 190 countries used tax-refund services at the retailer, effectively giving it a United Nations-wide footprint and turning its nationwide network into an inbound export platform generating significant foreign-currency inflows. Shopping patterns among overseas visitors are evolving as well. According to Olive Young’s internally published report, foreign customers are buying more items, traveling farther between stores and exploring a wider range of brands. About 40 percent of foreign shoppers visited two or more Olive Young locations during their trips, moving between flagship town stores and neighborhood outlets with differing layouts and product curation. Spending outside the Seoul metropolitan area rose sharply, with purchasing in non-capital regions increasing 86.8-fold from 2022, led by Jeju, Busan and Gangwon. An Olive Young official said the chain’s blend of curated flagship stores and region-specific outlets helped attract foreign shoppers seeking both novelty and breadth. Unlike monobrand boutiques, the multi-brand format allows customers to compare and explore a broad range of Korean beauty products in a single location, the official told AJP, adding that the most visited store among foreigners is the Myeongdong Town branch. The official said frequent monthly promotions tailored to seasonal changes have also kept foreign tourists highly engaged, reinforcing Olive Young’s reputation as fast-moving and trend-driven. Accessibility has emerged as another competitive advantage as Korea’s tourist footprint widens. Tourists increasingly travel beyond Seoul, the official noted, and while duty-free shops are concentrated in limited districts, Olive Young branches are ubiquitous nationwide, from Jeju to Busan, making them an easy and familiar stop for overseas visitors. As foreign demand broadens, customers are also purchasing a wider array of brands and product categories. More than half of foreign shoppers bought items from six or more brands, while one-third purchased products from ten or more. Interest is expanding beyond beauty into wellness as sales of health and lifestyle products grow alongside skincare and makeup, reflecting the global uptake of Korean self-care routines. Olive Young said it plans to continue expanding its “global tourist commercial district” strategy, enhancing in-store services and linking offline experiences with its cross-border e-commerce platform to sustain demand after tourists return home. “Reaching 1 trillion won in foreign customer purchases is meaningful because it was achieved together with small and indie brands that met global consumers through Olive Young,” the official said. “We will continue working to ensure K-beauty becomes not only a trend, but a reason for people to revisit Korea.” 2025-12-03 16:20:30 -
HBM4 becomes the new battleground in Nvidia–Google chip war SEOUL, December 03 (AJP) - The real battle between Nvidia’s GPU-led ecosystem and Google’s rapidly expanding tensor processing unit (TPU) platform and the outcome hinges on how quickly and at what scale the world's top memory makers based in South Korea can keep up in the rollout of next-gen high-bandwidth memory dubbed HBM4. Samsung Electronics that had been laggard in the early-stage HBM race is positioned for an unexpected leap as it accelerates the conversions to feed the surging demand for memory tied to next-generation AI accelerators. The rollout schedules for Nvidia’s Rubin GPU and Google’s Ironwood TPU signal a broader shift inside the AI hardware stack: memory—rather than compute silicon—is increasingly determining speed, scale and deployment timelines across the sector. Nvidia’s Rubin platform, slated for mass production in 2026, is built around HBM4 and aims for up to 288 gigabytes of memory per superchip, allowing larger models and faster training cycles. Google’s Ironwood TPU, still paired with HBM3E, is widely expected to migrate to HBM4 as inference workloads balloon and energy efficiency become a bigger priority. Other hyperscalers are moving the same direction. Amazon’s Trainium2 and Microsoft’s Maia accelerators are already standardized on HBM-based designs, reinforcing the industry consensus that memory bandwidth—not transistor counts or core architectures—is now the binding constraint. Most new accelerators integrate six to 12 HBM stacks each, meaning chip rollout is only as fast as memory suppliers can expand output. That has put Samsung and SK hynix in the middle of the AI arms race. Samsung recently completed internal production readiness approval for HBM4, signaling it has cleared key development milestones and is prepared to shift quickly into mass production once customer specifications lock in. SK hynix, the current leader in the HBM segment, finished its HBM4 development earlier this year and has already begun sample shipments to large hyperscaler customers, cementing its early advantage. But supply, not just technology, may determine the next phase of competition. By late 2025, Samsung’s monthly HBM wafer capacity is projected at roughly 170,000 wafers, slightly above SK hynix’s estimated 160,000 wafers, while Micron trails at less than one-third of Samsung’s expected level. Samsung is pushing that advantage by converting portions of its P3 and P4 facilities in Pyeongtaek into 1c-class DRAM lines geared for HBM production, while racing ahead with structural construction of the P5 plant. The strategy leans on Samsung’s vast legacy DRAM footprint, which it can retool faster than it can build new fabs. SK hynix is taking the opposite approach: speeding the ramp-up of new facilities, including boosting utilization at the M16 fab in Icheon and accelerating integration of the Cheongju-based M15X fab. Once M15X is fully operational, SK hynix is expected to narrow Samsung’s capacity edge. For hyperscalers, these diverging capacity paths are prompting a diversification of processor architectures and memory sourcing. Nvidia remains the largest consumer of HBM as GPUs dominate AI training workloads, but Google’s growing TPU deployments create a parallel demand stream that strengthens memory makers’ leverage without undermining Nvidia’s consumption. The result is a split but mutually reinforcing ecosystem: SK hynix remains deeply tied to Nvidia’s GPU roadmap, while Samsung is broadening across both GPU and TPU platforms, supplying memory for Nvidia, Google and Broadcom-linked TPU designs. Despite the differing strategies behind GPUs, TPUs and custom AI chips, all major platforms converge on the same bottleneck: memory bandwidth and availability. The industry’s push toward HBM4 underscores how high-performance memory has quietly become the defining resource of AI infrastructure. For all the attention paid to chip architectures, the Nvidia–Google rivalry may ultimately be determined by which ecosystem secures stable, scalable access to next-generation HBM—and which memory supplier can expand capacity fast enough to keep the AI boom fed. 2025-12-03 16:08:27 -
Made-in-Korea brands epitomise the rise of Asia's integrated value chain SEOUL, December 02 (AJP) - A Samsung Galaxy phone can no longer be described as “made in Korea” in any literal sense. Battery materials mined in Indonesia, memory chips manufactured in Korea, components sourced from Japan and final assembly in Vietnam or India all feed into a device that takes weeks to complete and crosses multiple borders before reaching a consumer. The smartphone illustrates how Samsung Electronics has secured its position at the premium end of the global market. Rather than relying on domestic production, the company has stitched together a regional value chain that balances cost pressures with technological quality — and reflects the increasingly interdependent nature of Asian manufacturing. Korean companies, once squeezed by the swift ascent of China’s state-backed industries, have instead leaned into the strengths of neighboring economies. The result is not a retreat of Korean competitiveness but its reinvention through a wider Asian production system. One smartphone, many countries: the reality of “Made by Asia” In an era of geopolitical contest, the notion of a single “country of origin” has become increasingly anachronistic. It also explains why trade restrictions aimed at one country generate outsized uncertainty for global producers. A high-end Korean smartphone today is a composite of the region’s industrial capacities. The application processor is developed through advanced foundries in Korea and Taiwan; memory is produced in Korean cleanrooms; Indonesia supplies key battery minerals; displays are engineered using Korean technology but assembled overseas; and the final product is put together largely in Vietnam and India. Samsung now manufactures roughly 80 per cent of its smartphones outside Korea, with Vietnam as its largest base and India expanding rapidly as a second hub. According to Kyung-hyun Koo, a researcher at the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP), this overseas production structure has long been central to Korea’s industrial success. “This is not a recent phenomenon but has been the core success formula of Korea’s key industries since the 2000s,” Koo said. “Korean firms have expanded production networks to overseas locations where low-cost manufacturing is possible, while focusing domestically on higher value-added processes. Given Korea’s limited resources and production capacity, building production partnerships abroad and making efficient use of global networks has been an inevitable and important strategy — and one that remains essential going forward.” He added that heavy concentration in a single production base inevitably carries risks. “It is difficult to quantify precisely, but if production in Vietnam were to be completely disrupted, the impact would be very significant,” Koo said. “From that perspective, excessive reliance on one country carries inherent risks, which is why continuously expanding and diversifying production networks is so important.” No longer “Made in Korea”: TVs follow a similar trajectory Korea’s television industry underscores the same shift. Samsung and LG continue to dominate the upper tier of the global market, yet few of their high-end sets are produced onshore. Core display panel production has moved offshore, while assembly lines are concentrated in Vietnam, Mexico and elsewhere in Southeast Asia. Koo said this should be understood as a structural reorganization rather than industrial decline. “Without such a shift, it would be difficult to maintain price competitiveness,” he said. “The real challenge lies in how Korea continues to secure higher value-added processes domestically. The idea that everything must be produced in Korea belongs to the past, and building and effectively utilizing overseas production networks will remain a long-term task for Korean industries.” Korea and Japan: from industrial rivals to research partners Perhaps the sharpest illustration of Asia’s evolving industrial architecture lies in the changing relationship between Korea and Japan. The two were once fierce competitors in semiconductors and displays. Today, their supply chains are increasingly intertwined. Japanese strengths in foundational materials and specialized components now complement Korea’s expertise in mass production, system integration and chip design. Recent government-backed initiatives have accelerated joint work in next-generation semiconductors, AI-related technologies and advanced materials — areas both countries view as critical for maintaining technological relevance. ASEAN and India: from low-cost bases to strategic pillars Southeast Asia has moved well beyond its reputation as a low-cost manufacturing zone. Vietnam alone accounts for an estimated 14 per cent of Korea’s total exports, thanks largely to Samsung’s vast operations. Indonesia, meanwhile, has become a crucial supplier of nickel and other battery minerals vital to Korea’s EV and energy-storage ambitions. India is emerging as both an alternative production base to China and a major consumer market. Korean companies that once looked primarily to Nasdaq are now weighing Indian IPOs, while expanding their local footprints to tap long-term demographic and digital growth. Koo noted that ASEAN countries are also seeking to move beyond low value-added production. “ASEAN economies are themselves recognizing the limits of remaining in low value-added manufacturing and are aiming to upgrade,” he said. “There are areas where the needs of both sides align, even as challenges related to workforce skills and industrial infrastructure remain.” On India, he added, “many major Korean companies now view India as one of their most promising export markets going forward,” Koo said. “Given its large population and stage of industrial development, it is a market Korea cannot afford to overlook, even though challenges remain.” Asia as a coherent production bloc, not fragmented economies With the US and China erecting new barriers across trade and technology, Korea’s competitiveness increasingly depends on the strength of its regional partnerships. What is emerging is not a set of isolated players but an integrated Asian production bloc — one in which supply chains, investment flows and technological capabilities reinforce one another. “Made in Korea” has become less a territorial label than a shorthand for an industrial ecosystem rooted in Asia’s collective strength. “As Asia’s overall economic value increases, the roles played by different parts of the region are also expected to grow,” Koo said. “What matters most going forward is a strategic approach in which each country identifies areas of comparative advantage, focuses its investments accordingly and builds long-term partnerships rather than seeking quick gains.” 2025-12-01 20:16:06 -
LG Electronics named best TV brand in Europe SEOUL, December 01 (AJP) - LG Electronics said on Monday it was selected as best TV brand at the Euroconsumers Awards 2025, an honor determined by expert testing and consumer satisfaction surveys across Europe. The awards are jointly hosted by consumer media outlets from Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Brazil, all members of ICRT, an alliance of 37 consumer organizations including U.S.-based Consumer Reports and UK-based Which?. This marks the first year the seven-year-old awards selected winners by product category. LG scored highly in expert product tests conducted in labs and in consumer satisfaction and reliability surveys conducted across Europe, including the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Denmark, Austria, Slovenia and Hungary beyond the five host countries. The recognition is attributed to LG's OLED TV, which the company first commercialized in 2013. Cumulative OLED TV sales in Europe surpassed 10 million units this year, doubling at twice the previous pace after reaching five million units in 2021. European consumers favor high-quality content and value OLED TV's infinite contrast ratio and color reproduction. The thin design without backlighting appeals as an interior element in Europe's living room-centered culture. The TV's fast response time and high refresh rate provide optimal viewing for sports broadcasts popular in Europe. In North America, LG OLED TV swept Consumer Reports' rankings across all screen size categories where OLED TVs are available, including over 70 inches, 65 inches, 55-60 inches, 46-52 inches and 39-43 inches. "This is recognition of strong leadership in Europe, a representative premium TV market," said Lee Chun-kook, executive vice president and head of LG Electronics Europe. "We will deliver the best viewing experience to customers worldwide with self-emissive high-quality picture and thin, simple design of LG OLED TV." 2025-12-01 18:05:36 -
Korean memory makers set to benefit whoever wins in GPU vs TPU SEOUL, December 01 (AJP) - As Google’s tensor processing unit (TPU) rises as a formidable challenge to Nvidia’s near-monopoly in AI computing, the clearest signals of how the rivalry is unfolding may not be found in the chips themselves, but in the earnings and order books of Korea’s two memory giants: Samsung Electronics and SK hynix. Samsung is said to have supplied more than 60 percent of the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used in Google’s TPU designs through Broadcom, Google’s chip-design partner, and is expected to expand its share next year with sixth-generation HBM4. Until the first half of this year, SK hynix had been the primary supplier of HBM3E chips for Google’s Ironwood TPU, but that dynamic may shift in the second half and into next year, analysts say. Each TPU, typically equipped with six to eight HBM stacks, is also believed to come at up to 80 percent lower cost than Nvidia’s H100 GPU — a key reason hyperscalers are accelerating adoption. A structural shift beneath the GPU–TPU rivalry Behind the GPU-versus-TPU debate lies a broader transformation in how artificial intelligence infrastructure is being built. According to Kyung Hee-kwon, a senior researcher at the Korea Industrial Research Institute, the global AI transition is increasingly being shaped not by chipmakers, but by big tech platforms designing computing systems around their own data and workloads. “AI today is being led by platform companies — what many refer to as the Magnificent Seven,” Kyung said. “These firms are focused on agentic AI that enables large-scale automation, rather than fully autonomous human-like intelligence.” For years, Nvidia’s GPUs were seen as indispensable for AI computation. But semiconductors, Kyung noted, are tools — not ends in themselves. “If a chip delivers better power efficiency and performance for a specific purpose, there is no inherent reason it must be a GPU,” he said. Google’s TPU, developed over several years and now deployed at scale in its data centers, exemplifies this shift. Unlike Nvidia, Google is not bound by the CUDA software ecosystem and instead operates a vertically integrated stack, allowing TPU accelerators to demonstrate efficiency gains in targeted workloads. Kyung emphasized that TPUs and GPUs serve complementary roles. “This is not about GPUs being replaced altogether. GPUs remain critical for training and general-purpose computing. What we are seeing is the emergence of alternative accelerators — especially where power efficiency and supply constraints matter.” Supply bottlenecks push platforms toward custom silicon With global foundry capacity stretched and delivery lead times extending into years, hyperscalers are increasingly unwilling to wait for GPUs. “AI has become a technology tied to national competitiveness and security,” Kyung said. “If GPU supply cannot meet immediate demand, companies will seek viable alternatives that can be deployed now.” This pressure has accelerated a wave of custom-silicon development far beyond Google, including Amazon’s Trainium, Microsoft’s Maia, and in-house AI accelerators at Tesla and other platforms. Memory remains the constant, regardless of who wins For Korea’s memory makers, the implications are structurally favorable regardless of which accelerator architecture gains ground. “Whether computing shifts from GPUs to custom accelerators, Korea’s role fundamentally remains the same,” Kyung said. “High-bandwidth memory, advanced mobile DRAM and graphics memory are essential across all AI architectures. What changes is the route to market, not the underlying demand.” This explains why Samsung Electronics and SK hynix sit at the center of both GPU- and TPU-driven ecosystems — and why their contrasting exposures offer a clearer lens into the AI race than any single chip announcement. According to Park Yu-ak, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities, Samsung’s growing presence in custom accelerators reflects its broader footprint across memory and foundry, while SK hynix continues to anchor the high-end GPU market through its HBM leadership. Analysts say Samsung’s relative composure also reflects expectations of a sharp earnings rebound beyond the current cycle. KB Securities projects Samsung Electronics’ operating profit to reach 64 trillion won in 2026- more than double 2024 levels — driven by tighter memory supply conditions and rising demand for high-bandwidth memory as AI infrastructure expands. 2025-12-01 17:23:15 -
Samsung Electronics moves HBM team back under DRAM division after one year SEOUL, November 27 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics announced on Thursday it is dissolving its standalone high bandwidth memory development team created last year and moving related personnel back under the DRAM development division. The HBM development team will be absorbed into the design team under the DRAM development division, with Vice President Son Young-soo, who led the HBM team, appointed as head of the design team. Samsung created the dedicated HBM development team in July 2024, about a month after Executive Vice President Jun Young-hyun was appointed head of the Device Solutions division. The move came as Samsung lost ground to SK Hynix in the HBM market. The reorganization after about one year suggests confidence in securing technology for next-generation HBM products including HBM4. HBM team personnel will continue developing HBM4 and HBM4E products under the design team. Samsung has recently built partnerships with major tech companies including Nvidia, AMD, OpenAI and Broadcom in HBM. The company ranked third in the HBM market in the second quarter this year. Market research firm TrendForce expects Samsung to achieve more than 30 percent market share in the global HBM market in 2026 based on expanded HBM4 supply. Samsung plans to complete the reorganization this week and hold a global strategy meeting in early December to review next year's business plans. 2025-11-27 17:38:07