Upbit operator fined $165 million for tax evasion SEOUL, August 17 (AJP) - South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange operator, Dunamu, has paid more than 22 billion won, or about $165 million, in back taxes after authorities accused the company of tax evasion — adding to the regulatory pressures already weighing on the firm. Dunamu, which runs the Upbit trading platform, disclosed that the Seoul Regional Tax Office levied 22.6 billion won in corporate and related taxes following an audit. The investigation, led by the office’s International Transaction Bureau, began in February, and the penalty notice was issued on June 30. The company has since paid the full amount. The sum represents about 23 percent of Dunamu’s second-quarter net profit of 97.6 billion won. The tax penalty comes as Dunamu is also fighting sanctions from financial regulators. In February, the Financial Intelligence Unit ordered the company to suspend part of its operations for three months, issued a reprimand to its chief executive, Lee Seok-woo, and sanctioned nine employees. The FIU accused Dunamu of facilitating nearly 45,000 crypto transactions with 19 unregistered overseas virtual asset operators that had failed to comply with mandatory reporting requirements under South Korea’s anti–money laundering law. Regulators also said the company had violated obligations related to customer verification and transaction restrictions. Dunamu has challenged the measures in court, which has temporarily suspended enforcement of the sanctions while the case proceeds. 2025-08-17 15:38:45

[[K-Tech]] Samsung emerges as alternative to TSMC with landmark Tesla, Apple deals SEOUL, August 17 (AJP) - Just six months ago, Samsung Electronics’ foundry unit was mired in uncertainty. Hemorrhaging nearly 2 trillion won, or about $1.5 billion, in annual losses and struggling to attract clients, the division’s very survival was in doubt. Now, a pair of blockbuster deals with Tesla and Apple has jolted the business into a new trajectory. Samsung announced last month that it had secured a $16.5 billion contract with Tesla to produce advanced artificial intelligence chips — its largest single foundry order since the unit was established in 2017. Apple has also tapped Samsung to manufacture image sensors for iPhones, in a contract widely believed to be worth billions. The agreements underscore not only Samsung’s technical capabilities but also the shifting dynamics of global trade. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the real value of his company’s agreement was “several times” the disclosed figure, while Apple’s Tim Cook hailed a partnership that he said would pioneer “innovative chip manufacturing technology” for the first time worldwide. Analysts say success in delivering on these orders could reposition Samsung Foundry as a growth driver for the company, overtaking its dominant memory business, which has faltered in the high-bandwidth memory market. Geopolitics played a decisive role. Beginning this month, the Trump administration is imposing sweeping tariffs: 15 percent on Korean imports and a 100 percent levy on semiconductors. Yet the measures exempt companies with U.S.-based production. Samsung, which already operates a plant in Austin, Texas, and is building another in Taylor, is uniquely positioned to sidestep the tariffs by manufacturing chips domestically — an advantage that likely appealed to Tesla and Apple. The moves also reflect a broader push to challenge the dominance of Taiwan's TSMC, which controls two-thirds of the global foundry market. By comparison, Samsung holds just 8 percent. Industry analysts say diversifying suppliers allows firms like Tesla and Apple to secure capacity, hedge geopolitical risks and exert pressure on prices. Tesla, in particular, faces urgency. It is racing to produce its next-generation “AI6” chip for autonomous vehicles but has been unable to secure timely supply from TSMC, whose production lines are booked solid. Apple, meanwhile, is shifting part of its iPhone image sensor business from Sony, which commands more than half the market, to Samsung, the second-largest player with 15 percent. Both partnerships appear likely to extend beyond chip supply. Musk called Samsung’s Taylor plant “strategically vital” to Tesla’s future, while Cook highlighted plans to introduce new manufacturing technologies with Samsung. Some analysts see the collaboration evolving into deeper technological exchange. “This could move beyond contract manufacturing into a model of true cooperation,” said Im Hyung-kyu, a former Samsung executive. “Tesla could bring AI expertise into Samsung’s foundries, while Samsung’s process technology could accelerate Tesla’s expansion. Together, they may create a new model for U.S.–Korea semiconductor collaboration.” The deals could also cascade through Samsung’s sprawling empire. Affiliates such as Samsung Display and Samsung SDI are well placed to benefit from closer ties with Tesla, raising the prospect of a broader realignment in the tech supply chain. 2025-08-17 11:12:48

S. Korea, India to seek ways to deepen economic partnership SEOUL, August 17 (AJP) - South Korea’s Foreign Minister, Cho Hyun, and his Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, held talks in New Delhi, Saturday (local time) as the two countries marked the 10th anniversary of their strategic partnership and pledged to expand cooperation in security, technology and defense. Cho's visit come amid a flurry of high-level exchanges between the two governments, including a summit meeting between President Lee Jae Myung and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the Group of 7 gathering earlier this year and a visit by a South Korean presidential envoy. Jaishankar welcomed Cho’s return to India, noting that he had once served as South Korea’s ambassador to the country, and underscored New Delhi’s commitment to deepening ties with Seoul. He also delivered an invitation for President Lee to visit India at a “mutually convenient time,” according to South Korea’s Foreign Ministry. Both ministers agreed to strengthen cooperation not only through more frequent high-level visits but also in global diplomacy and security affairs. Cho said South Korea was pursuing a more diversified foreign policy, guided by its ambition to act as a “responsible global power” in a shifting international order. That effort, he added, includes building stronger relationships with regional powers such as India, alongside the United States, China, Japan and Russia. The two sides highlighted plans to update their Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, aiming to expand collaboration in supply chains, critical technologies and defense industries. Cho also asked New Delhi to give “special consideration” to South Korean companies operating in India, calling for greater cultural and people-to-people exchanges. They also discussed regional and global security issues, including tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the foreign ministry said. 2025-08-17 09:48:55

South Korean display makers to get boost as ITC's impending ban on Chinese BOE panels SEOUL, August 14 (AJP) - Display maker Samsung Display is expected to benefit from a ruling that would ban U.S. imports of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels from China’s BOE Technology for more than a decade. In a preliminary ruling last month, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) barred the Chinese display maker and its seven subsidiaries from importing OLED panels into the U.S. for 14 years and 8 months, industry sources said Wednesday. The ruling followed Samsung Display's complaint over trade secret theft in October 2023, with a final decision expected sometime in November. The ITC found that BOE violated Section 337, which applies to the importation or sale of products made abroad, by illegally obtaining trade secrets through the hiring of former employees or via supplier contracts to access Samsung Display's proprietary OLED technology. Samsung Display alleged that BOE acquired the technology without independent research and development, despite being a latecomer, some 16 years after Samsung began producing OLEDs in 1997. The ruling's unprecedented penalty length was calculated by combining the development timelines of multiple OLED technologies that Samsung Display created over decades, with a massive investment of hundreds of millions of dollars. The ITC also imposed restrictions on BOE's marketing and advertising activities in the U.S, effectively halting all its business operations. Industry observers described such bans as "unprecedented in severity," as part of broader strategies amid the U.S.’ heated competition with China, making it virtually impossible for BOE to acquire new U.S. customers." BOE held 22.7 percent of share for small OLED panel markets for Apple's iPhone in the second quarter of this year, surpassing LG Display's 21.3 percent, according to industry data. BOE's rival market players like Samsung Display and LG Display, which have served as Apple's primary and secondary suppliers, are expected to get a boost, once the ruling is finalized in November. 2025-08-14 17:00:25

Netflix tops most popular streaming platform among South Koreans SEOUL, August 14 (AJP) - Global streaming giant Netflix was voted the most popular streaming platform among South Koreans, a survey reveals. According to a survey of 1,500 users conducted by the Korea Consumer Agency and released on Thursday, participants were asked to express their satisfaction levels, with Netflix taking the top spot with an average score of 3.75 out of a possible 5 points. It was followed by Tving with 3.66 points, Coupang Play with 3.64 points, Wavve with 3.62 points, and Disney Plus with 3.51 points. About 20.3 percent of respondents cited the availability of diverse programs as their main reason for choosing a platform, while slightly fewer users ticked subscription fees. Netflix earned the highest score of 4.07 points for content diversity, while Coupang Play scored 3.74 points for its relatively affordable subscription fees. But some 12.2 percent of respondents said they experienced service disruptions due to server and connection problems. 2025-08-14 16:01:35

State-run think tank maintains growth forecast for this year SEOUL, August 13 (AJP) - The state-run Korea Development Institute on Tuesday decided to keep the country's growth forecast for this year unchanged at 0.8 percent. The figure remains the same as the think tank's previous forecast in May, despite the government's series of measures including a 30 trillion won supplementary budget and cash vouchers handed out to all South Koreans to boost consumption. KDI estimated private consumption will rise by just 0.2 percentage points to 1.3 percent thanks to the government's stimulus measures, but the overall effect is expected to be minimal. Citing the prolonged slump in the construction sector as one of the reasons for its latest forecast, it projected that relevant investment is now likely to decline by 8.1 percent, down from 3.9 percent in its earlier projection. As economic uncertainties have somewhat eased after the country's recent tariff-related deal with the U.S. was reached late last month, the growth outlook for exports was revised to 2.1 percent, up by 1.8 percentage points. KDI's latest forecast is in line with projections from the Bank of Korea (BOK), as well as other major foreign financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). 2025-08-13 14:33:42

KT posts record quarterly operating profit driven by robust AI-related business SEOUL, August 12 (AJP) - Telecom giant KT Corp posted 1.01 trillion won of operating profit in the second quarter, it said on Monday. The highest quarterly profit in its history was driven by its artificial intelligence (AI)-related business that grew 13.8 percent on-year. Its consolidated revenue also stood at 7.43 trillion won (or US$5.4 billion) during the period between April and June, a 13.5 percent increase from the same quarter last year. Even excluding approximately 390 billion won earned from one-off asset sales, its sales performance still exceeded market expectations. Revenues from wireless communications grew by a modest 1.6 percent compared to a year ago, while the AI business division achieved double-digit growth, emerging as the company's key growth engine. Its CEO, Kim Young-shub already declared AI as one of the company's main sources of revenue for the future at the annual Mobile World Congress which was held in Barcelona in February this tear and vowed to integrate it with information and communications technology. As part of such efforts, KT plans to unveil a language-related model in collaboration with Microsoft and also launch a cloud service featuring "confidential computing" technology with enhanced security in the second half of this year, which is expected to improve its sales in the second half of this year. It also hopes to benefit from its deal with American data analytics firm Palantir in March, making it the only South Korean company with strategic partnerships with both Microsoft and Palantir. But challenges remain in the public-sector business after failing to qualify for the government's massive consortium program supporting AI projects. Industry analysts expect that KT could overcome this setback by leveraging private-sector demand through partnerships with the two U.S. tech companies. 2025-08-12 16:04:01

Samsung seeks to capitalize on US push for domestic chip production SEOUL, August 11 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics aims to capitalize on rising U.S. demand for domestically produced advanced semiconductors, with plans to begin cutting-edge 2-nanometer production at its facility in Taylor, Texas starting next year while rival TSMC maintains a Taiwan-first strategy. The South Korean chipmaker is installing 2-nm production equipment at the plant with aims to start operations by 2026, according to industry sources on Sunday. Samsung and TSMC are the two global giants capable of mass-producing 2-nm chips, the latest foundry process technology set for commercialization in the second half of this year. Samsung will begin mass production using the 2-nm process for Tesla's next-generation AI chip dubbed "AI6" at the plant as early as next year. The facility will become Samsung's advanced foundry hub with over $37 billion in planned investment through 2030, focusing on cutting-edge processes unlike its traditional process-oriented Austin facility. Samsung's such approach appears to be a strategy to benefit from American tech giants' need to source semiconductors domestically amid President Donald Trump's threats of semiconductor tariffs. But unlike Samsung, TSMC plans to produce 2-nm technology chips at its Arizona facilities around 2028, more than two years after starting 2-nm production in Taiwan this year. It has allocated only 30 percent of its 2-nm capacity to its U.S. facilities, maintaining its "homeland-first strategy" linked to Taiwan's security considerations as a deterrent against potential Chinese invasion. Industry analysts expect companies like Qualcomm may shift some chip orders from TSMC to Samsung due to limited domestic production options, following Apple's recent decision to use Samsung-produced chips from its Austin plant. 2025-08-11 18:14:41

South Korea seeks tariff exemption for polysilicon exports to US SEOUL, August 11 (AJP) - South Korea is seeking an exemption from possible restrictions on polysilicon exports to the U.S. According to a document submitted to the U.S. Commerce Department early last week and disclosed in the Federal Register on Sunday, Seoul requested "special consideration" to exempt South Korean companies from potential import restrictions on polysilicon, a key material for solar panels and semiconductors. The request was made amid U.S. President Donald Trump's Section 232 trade investigation, which examines whether imports of polysilicon should face tariffs or other restrictions to protect what his administration considers a strategically important material for national security. The document explained that broad tariffs on this essential material could disrupt supply chains critical to both countries, emphasizing that South Korean companies are actively investing in the American solar and semiconductor industries, and highlighting that access to polysilicon is crucial for their operations and aligns with America's supply chain diversification goals. It also cited South Korean companies' massive investment in the U.S. including Hanwha Q Cells' solar panel manufacturing facility in Georgia and OCI's solar cell production facility in Texas. Government officials here also expressed concerns that polysilicon tariffs could increase semiconductor manufacturing costs in the U.S. and reduce the profitability of companies operating there, potentially undermining American reshoring goals. In a separate request, Hanwha Q Cells proposed that the U.S. impose a US$10 per kilogram on polysilicon imports while establishing tariff-rate quotas allowing 20,000 tons of duty-free imports annually from Germany and Malaysia. The company also suggested a tariff of 20 cents per watt on solar modules regardless of country of origin, while recommending TRQ allocations for solar ingots, wafers, and cells made from U.S., German, and Malaysian polysilicon. Hanwha sources all polysilicon for its U.S. operations from Malaysia and imports solar cells made from Malaysian polysilicon, both from South Korea and Malaysia, to manufacture modules in the U.S. Semiconductor polysilicon producer OCI similarly requested an exemption for semiconductor-grade polysilicon. The document also called for enhanced cooperation among U.S. allies to strengthen global supply chains, urging that the trade investigation be conducted in a "reasonable and predictable manner consistent with U.S. national security objectives." 2025-08-11 17:07:11

From optics to AI: Canon's bold bet on future of imaging Editor's Note: This article is the 30th installment in our series on Asia's top 100 companies, exploring the strategies, challenges, and innovations driving the region's most influential corporations. SEOUL, August 06 (AJP) - Once a small precision optics workshop in Tokyo, Canon Inc. has evolved into one of Asia’s most prominent technology conglomerates. In 2025, the Japanese company is sharpening its focus on artificial intelligence and sustainable manufacturing, signaling a broader transformation of a firm long known for its cameras and copiers. Founded in 1933 as the Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory, Canon made history with Japan’s first 35mm focal-plane shutter camera, the Kwanon. The company would go on to introduce the Hansa Canon in 1936 and expand globally by the mid-1950s with overseas offices in New York and Geneva. Nearly a century later, Canon’s portfolio stretches far beyond photography, encompassing industrial printers, medical diagnostics, surveillance technology, and smart city solutions. In the first half of this year, Canon launched a wave of new products, including the EOS R50 V and PowerShot V1 cameras aimed at content creators, and two flagship mirrorless models — the EOS R5 Mark II and R1 — both equipped with AI-powered autofocus. It also unveiled a 410-megapixel CMOS sensor for use in medical, security and industrial settings. These developments helped drive a strong first quarter. The company reported a 20.8 percent year-over-year increase in imaging division sales, buoyed by demand for the R5 Mark II and a 30 percent jump in network camera revenue. Canon now holds between 35 and 50 percent of the global digital camera market across various categories. Canon’s embrace of artificial intelligence extends beyond its product line. Through partnerships with companies such as IBM, the firm is integrating AI and cloud technologies into its operations. Its imageFORCE series includes predictive maintenance systems, and its subsidiaries are developing video analytics for urban infrastructure. In 2024, Canon established a sustainability committee and pledged to achieve net-zero carbon emissions across its entire product lifecycle by 2050. By 2030, it aims to cut direct greenhouse gas emissions by 42 percent and supply chain emissions by 25 percent, targets validated by the Science Based Targets initiative. The company has introduced more energy-efficient manufacturing processes, developed products with recycled materials, and expanded its European recycling programs. Canon Canada was recently named one of the country’s most environmentally friendly employers. Canon’s long-standing “Kyosei” philosophy — emphasizing harmony and coexistence — continues to shape corporate strategy under Chairman and CEO Fujio Mitarai. The firm reported global revenues of $29.4 billion in 2024, and its management has prioritized sustainable growth, digital transformation, and research-intensive development. Yet Canon faces mounting challenges. Semiconductor shortages and geopolitical tensions have disrupted supply chains, prompting the company to raise prices on some imaging products due to U.S. tariffs. With the imaging division accounting for roughly a quarter of U.S. sales, Canon is responding by shifting toward high-margin offerings and increasing automation at its domestic production sites. Competition is also intensifying. Sony continues to dominate the high-end mirrorless market, while Nikon and Fujifilm have made aggressive pushes with their own product lines. In response, Canon is expanding its RF lens ecosystem, investing in cost efficiency, and embracing third-party collaborations. The company now sees growth in several key areas: mirrorless cameras, drones, medical imaging, and industrial automation. Canon is also strengthening its presence in emerging Asian markets and pushing further into sectors such as life sciences and smart cities. Canon’s long-term vision seeks to marry environmental stewardship with technological innovation — an ambition rooted in its history and now redefined for the digital age. 2025-08-08 09:16:15