South Korea Women’s Curling Beats Sweden 8-3 to Keep Semifinal Hopes Alive South Korea’s women’s curling team known as “5G” kept its push for the semifinals alive by defeating Sweden in seven ends. World No. 3 South Korea — skip Kim Eun-ji, third Kim Min-ji, second Kim Su-ji, lead Seol Ye-eun and fifth Seol Ye-ji — beat Sweden 8-3 in its eighth round-robin game of the 2026 Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics on the 18th (Korea time) at the Curling Olympic Stadium in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. Sweden, the most successful nation in Olympic women’s curling, opened these Games with six straight wins and had already clinched a semifinal berth. After securing that spot the previous day, Sweden made a series of mistakes against South Korea. With the hammer in the first end, South Korea loaded three stones into the house, then Kim Eun-ji used the final stone to knock out Sweden’s second shot stone for three points. South Korea added one more in the second end after Sweden skip Anna Hasselborg missed her final draw. Sweden faltered further as the deficit grew to 4-0. In the third end, Hasselborg tried a double takeout with her seventh stone to remove two South Korean stones near the button but missed, and South Korea scored two to make it 6-0. South Korea added two more in the fourth for an 8-0 lead, then allowed one point in the fifth end. In the sixth, South Korea had a chance to score but chose to give up one to keep last-stone advantage for the next end, making it 8-2. Sweden scored one more in the seventh as it used a center-guard setup, but South Korea managed the end calmly. Sweden then offered handshakes, judging a comeback unlikely. South Korea improved to 5-3 in group play and will face Canada on the 19th in its final round-robin game, with the top four teams advancing to the semifinals. * This article has been translated by AI. 2026-02-18 19:27:00

Hyundai’s U.S. sales hit January record as SUVs and hybrids drive growth Hyundai Motor is extending its momentum in the U.S. market on the strength of SUVs and hybrids, with January sales topping 60,000 for the first time as it pushes for another annual record. Industry data released Tuesday showed Hyundai’s U.S. retail sales in January totaled 60,794 vehicles, up 2.4% from 59,355 a year earlier. Sedan sales, including the Sonata and Ioniq 6, fell 12.6% to 13,569. But RV sales — including SUVs such as the Kona, Tucson, Santa Fe and Palisade — rose 7.8% to 47,225, accounting for 77.7% of Hyundai’s U.S. sales. A Hyundai official said the Santa Fe and the all-new Palisade stood out, strengthening the company’s position in the family SUV segment. Hyundai’s U.S. market share in January rose 0.2 percentage points from a year earlier to 5.5%. Hyundai has been setting annual sales records in the United States. Last year, its U.S. sales rose 7.9% from a year earlier to 984,017 vehicles, and it surpassed 1 million on a wholesale basis. Hybrids have also been a major driver. Since launching Sonata Hybrid sales in the U.S. in 2011, Hyundai has sold a total of 1,014,943 eco-friendly vehicles — including hybrids, EVs and hydrogen vehicles — through last month. Hybrids accounted for 759,359 vehicles, about 75% of the total. In January alone, Hyundai’s U.S. hybrid sales jumped 51.9% from a year earlier to 14,316. The Tucson Hybrid, introduced in the U.S. in 2021, has sold 233,793 units through January, the company said. According to the Korea Automobile & Mobility Association’s “2025 U.S. Electric Powertrain Vehicle Market Analysis,” U.S. sales of eco-friendly vehicles rose 12.7% last year to 3,575,924 despite slower EV sales, helped by strong hybrid demand. Hybrid sales climbed 27.6% to 2.05 million. Hyundai said it plans to broaden its lineup and strengthen local production as the market shifts. In the U.S., it currently sells four hybrid models, seven EV models and one hydrogen fuel cell model. The Palisade hybrid, launched locally last year, won the utility category at the “2026 North American Car of the Year” awards, citing strong reviews of Hyundai’s next-generation hybrid system. Hyundai also plans to add hybrid production by introducing a mixed-model production system at Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America, its EV production hub. It aims to expand annual capacity to 500,000 vehicles from 300,000.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-02-18 18:03:00

S.Korea's top policy aide says AI race hinges on electricity, not code SEOUL, February 18 (AJP) - South Korea's presidential policy chief Kim Yong-beom urged the nation to elevate its power grid to the status of strategic national infrastructure, warning that the global artificial intelligence contest is no longer a battle of algorithms but of physical resources. In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Kim wrote that AI had evolved into a capital-intensive hardware industry, making scarce commodities such as graphics processing units (GPUs), memory chips, transmission lines and electricity far more decisive than software code. "Intelligence spreads and is replicated quickly. Models are caught up to. Code proliferates. But power plants, transmission networks and semiconductor fabs cannot be copied overnight," Kim said. Kim singled out what he described as a looming paradox for Asia's fourth-largest economy: SK hynix and Samsung Electronics produce the world's most advanced high-bandwidth memory (HBM) destined for Nvidia GPUs in overseas data centers, yet South Korea itself lacks sufficient large-scale AI computing clusters to harness the technology at home. The policy chief stressed that while South Korea does not face an outright electricity shortage, the deeper challenge lies in delivering power at the scale and speed that AI demands. Kim also championed the principle of local production and consumption of electricity, insisting that power-generating regions should share in the industrial benefits. The remarks come as South Korea prepares to draft its 12th basic plan for electricity supply and demand, a 15-year blueprint covering 2026 through 2040 that will shape the country's energy mix amid surging demand from AI data centers. The government earlier committed to constructing two large-scale nuclear reactors under the 11th electricity supply plan finalized in February 2025, signaling its intent to align energy policy with the power-hungry demands of next-generation industries. 2026-02-18 17:24:55

Steelmakers Eye Humanoid Robots as New Growth Market for Specialty Steel Humanoid robots are emerging as a potential new growth market for South Korea’s steel industry, as demand is expected to increase for specialty steel and electrical steel sheets used in key drive components such as reducers, joint shafts and motor cores. Analysts say steel demand, long centered on construction and shipbuilding, could broaden to robots and other automation equipment. Industry officials said Feb. 18 that Korean steelmakers could strengthen a two-track strategy: adopting humanoid robots in their own plants as users while also supplying robot-grade materials. While artificial intelligence makes robots smarter, specialty steel is what enables them to handle heavy work in industrial settings. High-strength, high-durability specialty steel is used in critical reducer parts that power robot joints, including internal gears and splines. Steel is also applied to load-bearing sections of robot frames, often combined with aluminum alloys to reduce weight. Ultra-high-strength steel sheet developed for automobiles and non-oriented electrical steel sheet used in drive motors are also closely tied to energy efficiency, supporting expectations of rising demand. Korean steelmakers already say they have the capability to produce materials for humanoid robots. SeAH Besteel has said it developed steel for robot reducers in 2021. POSCO produces its ultra-high-strength steel sheet Giga Steel for robot applications and its high-efficiency non-oriented electrical steel sheet Hyper NO. Hyundai Steel is also seen as able to supply materials for precision machinery and drive components through its high-cleanliness specialty steel production system. Steelmakers are also accelerating efforts to bring humanoid robots into worksites to help replace labor. POSCO signed a memorandum of understanding with U.S. humanoid startup Persona AI to apply industrial humanoid robots in the field. In unloading finished rolled coils that can weigh tens of tons, cranes are required; the plan is for humanoid robots to work with on-site workers to fasten crane belts to the coils. Hyundai Steel has introduced a tagging robot at its Dangjin specialty steel plant to automate shipping processes as it moves faster on smart-factory implementation. “While the market is still in its early stages, the expansion of the robot industry could lead to increased demand for high value-added specialty steel and electrical steel sheets,” an industry official said. “The amount of specialty steel used in humanoid robots is not large, but we are preparing mid- to long-term strategies as the market grows.”* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-02-18 17:06:00

Shinhan Bank, Hyundai Engineering & Construction Sign Deal to Expand Productive Finance Shinhan Bank said Tuesday it signed a memorandum of understanding with Hyundai Engineering & Construction to expand cooperation aimed at boosting what it called “productive finance.” The signing ceremony was held at Hyundai E&C’s headquarters in Seoul and attended by Shinhan Bank CEO Jeong Sang-hyeok and Hyundai E&C CEO Lee Han-woo. The companies said they will jointly review financing options tailored to each project’s characteristics and funding needs and set up a working-level cooperation system to broaden support. Under the agreement, Shinhan Bank will strengthen financial cooperation across Hyundai E&C’s businesses, including data centers, renewable energy, infrastructure and environmental projects, and power brokerage trading. The bank said it plans to support funding through project-specific financial advisory services, arranging financing and linking investments. The two sides also agreed to step up information sharing during project execution and work together to develop financial products and customized solutions suited to each project. A Shinhan Bank official said the partnership will help identify strong projects and provide tailored financial solutions so financing leads to investment and growth in the real economy.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-02-18 16:06:00

Bank Credit Loan Rates Return to 4% Range After 14 Months, Raising Borrower Costs Minimum interest rates on credit loans at major South Korean commercial banks have climbed back above 4% for the first time in 14 months, adding pressure on borrowers who have relied on debt to invest or buy homes. According to the financial sector on Tuesday, credit-loan rates at the four biggest commercial banks — KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana and Woori — stood at 4.010% to 5.380% as of Feb. 13 for top-tier borrowers with one-year maturities. The lower end of the range, which had stayed in the 3% range since December 2024, returned to the 4% range after 14 months. Compared with Jan. 16, the lower end rose 0.260 percentage points and the upper end gained 0.150 points. The move was attributed to faster increases in short-term bank bond yields, which are used as benchmarks for credit loans. As of Feb. 13, the five-year bank bond yield — a key reference for fixed-rate mortgages — rose 0.107 percentage points from the previous month, while the one-year bank bond yield, a major benchmark for credit loans, climbed 0.158 points. With mortgage rates already elevated, the rise in credit-loan rates could further increase repayment burdens, the report warned. Even if tighter rules cool mortgage lending, a pickup in unsecured credit could become a new trigger for household debt growth. Minimum mortgage rates moved into the 4% range late last year and have continued to rise. As of Feb. 13, mixed-rate mortgages at the four banks were 4.360% to 6.437%, with the lower and upper ends up 0.230 and 0.140 percentage points, respectively. Adjustable-rate mortgages that reset annually were 3.830% to 5.731%, with both ends up about 0.1 point. Borrowers using overdraft-style credit lines, known as “minus accounts,” are expected to feel the impact more sharply. These products have a much higher share of floating rates than standard credit loans, and customers repeatedly borrow and repay within their limits. With rate cuts seen as unlikely in the near term, borrowers’ interest costs are expected to rise further. Credit lending has also been increasing recently amid demand for investment funds, including for stocks. As of Feb. 12, outstanding credit loans at the five major banks — KB, Shinhan, Hana, Woori and NH NongHyup — totaled 104.8405 trillion won, up 95 billion won from the previous month. Overdraft balances hit a roughly three-year high of 40.0837 trillion won at the end of November, eased to the 39.7 trillion won range at the end of December and in January, then rebounded to the 39.8 trillion won range this month. A financial industry official said credit loans typically decline early in the year as bonuses are paid, but this year some demand appears tied to investment amid a strong stock market, including the KOSPI’s move above 5,000. “If credit lending rises while rates are increasing, borrowers’ interest burdens could grow if the market corrects or rates climb further,” the official said. * This article has been translated by AI. 2026-02-18 16:03:00

Doosan Enerbility, Doosan Skoda Power sign $240 million steam turbine deal for Czech nuclear plant Doosan Enerbility said Tuesday it signed a 320 billion won ($240 million) contract with its subsidiary Doosan Skoda Power to supply steam turbines and turbine control systems for the Dukovany nuclear power plant units 5 and 6 in the Czech Republic. A signing ceremony was held in Prague on the 16th (local time) with the industry ministers of South Korea and the Czech Republic in attendance. The Czech government last June signed the main contract for the Dukovany 5 and 6 construction project with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, stepping up cooperation with the so-called “Team Korea.” Doosan said the latest deal is Team Korea’s first large-scale cooperation contract with a local Czech company and reflects the Czech government’s push for localization from the project’s early stages. The contract covers steam turbines, generators and turbine control systems, with equipment for two units to be supplied. Doosan Skoda Power, a power equipment company with more than 150 years of history, has supplied 26 nuclear steam turbines to three countries: the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Finland. Doosan said the Dukovany deal is the first new nuclear plant construction project jointly carried out by Doosan Enerbility and Doosan Skoda Power, combining the subsidiary’s manufacturing experience with Doosan Enerbility’s nuclear main-equipment technology. “This contract is a meaningful example of creating synergy by bringing together South Korea’s nuclear technology and local manufacturing capabilities for the Czech new nuclear project,” Son Seung-woo, head of Doosan Enerbility’s Power Service BG, said in a statement. He said the company will work closely with Doosan Skoda Power to complete the project successfully and contribute to the development of the Czech power industry.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-02-18 15:12:00

South Korea, Czech Republic forge ministerial framework to fast-track Dukovany nuclear project SEOUL, February 18 (AJP) - South Korea and the Czech Republic agreed to establish a ministerial-level consultative body to oversee the construction of two nuclear reactors at the Dukovany site, as both nations deepen an energy partnership worth about 26 trillion won ($18 billion). South Korean Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Kim Jung-kwan met newly inaugurated Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis and his counterpart Karel Havlicek in Prague on Monday (local time) at the Czech government's invitation, Seoul's industry ministry said Wednesday. The two ministers agreed to set up a joint committee that will convene three to four times a year, either virtually or in person, to monitor progress and coordinate support for the project. Executives from Czech project company Elektrarna Dukovany II and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) will also take part, with the first session held the same day. Kim delivered a personal letter from South Korean President Lee Jae Myung congratulating Babis on his December inauguration, the ministry said. On the sidelines of the talks, Doosan Enerbility signed a deal worth about 320 billion won with its Czech subsidiary Doosan Skoda Power to supply steam turbines and turbine control systems for Dukovany units 5 and 6. The contract marks the first large-scale collaboration between a "Team Korea" member and a local Czech firm, reflecting Prague's emphasis on localization from the project's early stages. Under the main contract signed in June last year, KHNP will build two 1,000-megawatt APR1000 reactors — South Korea's homegrown pressurised water reactor design — at the Dukovany site. The previous Czech government also agreed to give KHNP priority negotiating rights for two additional units planned at the Temelin plant. "The Dukovany project transcends a mere infrastructure undertaking — it will stand as a symbol of robust solidarity and cooperation between our two nations for decades to come, and a chance to reaffirm Korean nuclear competitiveness on the world stage, following the Barakah plant in the UAE," Kim said on his return to Seoul. 2026-02-18 14:57:26

Big tech giants ramp up hiring of Korean semiconductor engineers as AI chip race intensifies SEOUL, February 18 (AJP) - Major U.S. technology firms including Nvidia, Google, and Tesla are aggressively recruiting South Korean semiconductor engineers, zeroing in on the country's deep pool of expertise in high-bandwidth memory as the global race for artificial intelligence hardware accelerates. The hiring push marks a significant escalation from earlier years, when recruitment of Korean chip talent was largely confined to memory makers such as Micron Technology and mobile chip designer Qualcomm. Now, the world's most valuable tech companies are dangling Silicon Valley salaries and equity packages to lure specialists in a technology that has become the linchpin of the AI revolution. Nvidia, the dominant force in AI accelerators and the largest buyer of HBM chips, is currently advertising positions for senior memory system engineers at its Santa Clara headquarters, offering a base salary of up to $356,500. The role calls for at least 10 years of proven track record in DRAM design and deep understanding of HBM — a profile that effectively targets engineers at Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, the two companies that control the vast majority of the global HBM market. Google and Broadcom, which jointly develop Tensor Processing Units for Google's AI infrastructure, are also hiring HBM engineers in Silicon Valley. Google has posted openings for silicon validation engineers tasked with characterizing HBM operation in test chips and production silicon, while Broadcom is seeks specialists in design-for-test verification across HBM, DDR and high-speed interface technologies. Tesla has taken the most direct approach. Tesla Korea posted a job listing for AI Chip Design Engineers on Feb. 15, describing the role as part of a project to develop AI chip architecture aimed at achieving the world's highest production volume. CEO Elon Musk amplified the recruitment drive the on Tuesday, reposting the job opening on his X (formerly Twitter) account. The company's interest in Korean talent deepens a semiconductor partnership that has been building for months. Tesla has been expanding its in-house chip operations in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province — the same city that houses Samsung's wafer fabrication hub — as it prepares for production of next-generation AI chips at Samsung's foundry. The talent war reflects a structural shift in the AI industry. As tech giants pour hundreds of billions of dollars into data center infrastructure, HBM has emerged as the critical bottleneck. The memory, which stacks multiple DRAM layers using through-silicon vias to deliver vastly higher bandwidth than conventional chips, is essential for training and running the large language models that underpin generative AI. The Bank of America estimates the global HBM market will reach about $34.6 billion in 2025 and grow to $54.6 billion in 2026, with demand for custom-ordered, ASIC-based AI chips to skyrocket by 82 percent, accounting for around one-third of the market. Currently, SK hynix holds a dominant market share of over 50 percent in HBM, with Samsung and Micron competing for the remainder. The competitive landscape is poised to intensify further with the advent of custom HBM, or cHBM, in which big tech clients design proprietary logic dies tailored to their specific AI chip architectures. SK hynix showcased cHBM technology at CES 2026 in January, and Samsung has reportedly added new engineers to custom HBM projects targeting Google, Meta and NVIDIA. Volume production of custom HBM is widely expected to begin in 2027. For Samsung and SK hynix, the escalating brain drain has triggered aggressive retention measures. SK hynix paid a record performance bonus equivalent to 2,964 percent of monthly base salary in early 2026, after allocating 10 percent of its annual operating profit of 47.2 trillion won ($32.67 billion) to an employee bonus pool under a revised labor agreement struck in September 2025. Samsung's semiconductor division, meanwhile, awarded bonuses of up to 47 percent of annual salary for 2025, its highest payout since the AI-driven memory boom began. Industry observers say the defensive measures may not be enough to stem the tide. The combination of Silicon Valley compensation — which for senior engineers can exceed $300,000 in base salary alone, before stock grants — and the prestige of working on cutting-edge AI systems presents a formidable draw. 2026-02-18 12:17:45

Boston Dynamics Robotics Research VP Scott Kuindersma to Step Down Hyundai Motor Group robotics unit Boston Dynamics said Scott Kuindersma, vice president of robotics research, has submitted his resignation. Industry sources said Feb. 18 that Kuindersma wrote on social media that he decided in January to leave Boston Dynamics. “Starting with a small research team, we became the first to showcase humanoid robot parkour, and it has been an incredible journey all the way to launching Atlas, a product with the potential to reshape industrial automation,” he wrote. “I’m truly grateful for the chance to build, fail, learn and celebrate achievements with the world’s best robotics experts.” Kuindersma joined Boston Dynamics in 2018 and played a key role in commercialization by developing control algorithms for the Atlas humanoid robot. He later was promoted to vice president overseeing robotics research across the company. Separately, Robert Playter, who has led Boston Dynamics for seven years, said he will step down as CEO on Feb. 27. Chief Financial Officer Amanda McMaster will serve as interim CEO until the board names a successor. 2026-02-18 11:51:00