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  • Sony and TSMC to Invest $9 Billion in Joint Image Sensor Production in Kumamoto
    Sony and TSMC to Invest $9 Billion in Joint Image Sensor Production in Kumamoto Japan's Sony Group, the world's leading image sensor manufacturer, and Taiwan's TSMC, the largest semiconductor foundry, are set to invest a total of 1 trillion yen (approximately $9 billion) in a joint venture for next-generation image sensor production in Kumamoto, Japan, following a magnitude 7.1 earthquake in the region last month. Sony will contribute about 60% and TSMC about 40% to the new company, which plans to begin mass production by 2029. This move is seen as a strategic effort by Sony to solidify its market leadership amid competition from Samsung Electronics and Chinese firms.According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei), Sony and TSMC are expected to finalize their investment agreement soon and establish the joint venture within the fiscal year 2026 (April 2026 to March 2027). The two companies had reached a basic agreement in May to collaborate on the development and production of next-generation image sensors, but did not disclose specific cooperation details at that time. Sony declined to comment further, while TSMC stated there was no new information to share since the May announcement.The production facility will be located at Sony's semiconductor subsidiary in Koshi, Kumamoto, where a large-scale development and production line will be established, aiming for mass production in about three years. The companies are currently negotiating with Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry regarding government subsidies for the project.The anticipated total investment of 1 trillion yen is equivalent to four years of capital expenditures for Sony's semiconductor division and nearly matches the $8.6 billion (approximately 1.35 trillion yen) investment in TSMC's first factory in Kumamoto. The Koshi plant is located about 30 kilometers from the earthquake's epicenter and sustained minimal damage. Kumamoto is rich in water resources essential for semiconductor production and offers relatively inexpensive electricity generated from renewable sources like geothermal and solar energy. The two companies plan to continue their semiconductor investments in Kumamoto over the long term, leveraging these advantages.The joint venture is expected to supply high-performance camera sensors for Apple's iPhone. In the future, the companies aim to expand their applications into the field of 'physical AI,' which involves AI controlling robots and vehicles. The performance of image sensors, which act like human eyes, is crucial for robots and autonomous vehicles to accurately perceive their surroundings. The companies plan to develop next-generation sensors to enhance AI recognition accuracy.Competition from China and SamsungSony currently holds over half of the global market for complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) image sensors, but faces increasing competition from Samsung Electronics and Chinese firm OmniVision, which are making significant investments. Sony aims to strengthen its technological collaboration with TSMC, a leader in advanced semiconductors, to widen the gap with these emerging competitors. With the ongoing shortage of advanced semiconductors due to the rise of AI and increasing equipment prices, Sony has decided to share investment costs with TSMC to enhance investment efficiency.This joint venture expands the scope of collaboration between the two companies from contract manufacturing to joint production. Previously, Sony developed and mass-produced the sensor components, while TSMC produced the processing semiconductors. The new joint venture will broaden their collaborative efforts. Hiroki Totoki, President and CEO of Sony Group, described the partnership with TSMC as the first step in a 'fab-lite strategy' that minimizes in-house production facilities. TSMC's annual capital expenditures are around 10 trillion yen, making it the largest in the world, which is expected to provide Sony with significant procurement advantages.However, Sony plans to keep its specialized manufacturing technology for image sensors, which is key to its competitiveness, confidential from TSMC. TSMC appears to be looking to expand its collaboration with the world's largest image sensor manufacturer to accumulate related know-how and enhance its capabilities in the physical AI sector. TSMC is focusing on investments in cutting-edge semiconductors with circuit line widths of 2-3 nanometers in Taiwan while utilizing Japanese government subsidies to diversify semiconductor production outside of advanced products to mitigate geopolitical risks.TSMC already operates a semiconductor factory in Kumamoto through its manufacturing subsidiary JASM, which is partially owned by Sony, Denso, and Toyota. TSMC holds an 86.5% stake in JASM, making it the largest shareholder. In contrast, TSMC will hold about 40% in the new joint venture, which Nikkei noted is unusual for the company not to secure a majority stake when forming a joint venture with a client.Meanwhile, the JASM plant temporarily halted operations following the earthquake on July 28, causing some production disruptions. However, JASM reported that the plant has returned to normal operations as of August 4, and construction on the second factory, currently underway, has also resumed.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-08-10 16:40:00
  • Wedding Industry Thrives Again as Marriage Rates Rise
    Wedding Industry Thrives Again as Marriage Rates Rise The domestic wedding industry is regaining momentum as marriage rates rebound after a period of stagnation. In response to the market recovery, wedding businesses are accelerating efforts to attract engaged couples through the introduction of digital booking systems, transparent pricing, and differentiated services.According to the National Data Agency, the number of marriages in South Korea last year reached 240,300, an increase of 17,900 (8.1%) from the previous year. This marks the highest figure in seven years since 2018. From January to May this year, the cumulative total also rose to 103,299, a 3.9% increase compared to the same period last year.As the marriage market shows signs of recovery, competition within the wedding industry is evolving. Yumoment, which operates wedding venues such as Apelgamo, The Chapel, and Rubel, has launched a smart booking system aimed at engaged couples. This system allows users to check available dates and prices for wedding halls in real-time online, facilitating everything from consultation appointments to contract signing and payment in one go.About half of Yumoment's total contract customers are now completing their agreements online, reflecting a strong response from engaged couples. Since its launch in August 2023, the service has accumulated 100,000 subscribers as of 2025.Efforts to enhance service quality and user experience are also underway. WJ YNoche & Co, which operates venues like Grand Hill Convention and Bottega Maggio, has deployed dedicated managers to meticulously oversee every moment from the ceremony to the reception, thereby increasing customer satisfaction.The Chapel's third wedding hall, The Chapel at Daechi, has introduced an art curation project, becoming the first wedding venue in the country to do so. This initiative involves regularly changing artworks, transforming the wedding hall into an exhibition space, allowing engaged couples and guests to experience cultural and artistic moments during their time at the venue.With an increasing number of engaged couples prioritizing unique experiences, the mandatory display of wedding service prices, which began in May, is expected to further enhance consumer choice and accelerate changes in the wedding industry.An industry insider stated, "With the rebound in marriage rates, the domestic wedding market is reaching a new turning point. The competition among wedding companies, which was previously focused on facilities and pricing, will be reshaped around transparent information provision, digital convenience, differentiated customer experiences, and operational expertise." 2026-08-10 16:36:10
  • Food Industry Restructures Online Distribution Channels
    Food Industry Restructures Online Distribution Channels The food industry is restructuring its online distribution channels by shutting down self-operated online malls or consolidating fragmented channels. In the past, companies focused on growing their own online malls to reduce commission costs, but rising fixed costs and intense competition with large platforms have led to a shift towards a more efficient 'selection and concentration' strategy.According to industry sources, Daesang will terminate its business-to-business (B2B) online grocery mall 'Beston' at noon on August 31. Launched in 2022 as a renewal of the previous 'Zero Food,' the service lasted about four years. Daesang has been expanding its online business, introducing same-day delivery services from its offline grocery stores, 'Bestco.' However, the company decided to end the service to restructure its business for profitability and strengthen its core competitiveness. Ten offline Bestco stores located in Goyang, Gangneung, Wonju, Cheongju, and Daejeon will continue operations.CJ Freshway will also close its online grocery mall 'Freshen' at 2 p.m. on September 29. Instead, the company will consolidate its online B2B capabilities into the open market platform 'Sikbom,' which it acquired in February. Unlike Freshen, which focuses on private brand products, Sikbom is an open market with various sellers. It has accumulated 250,000 purchasing customers, representing one in four small business owners in the domestic food service industry. CJ Freshway plans to integrate its sourcing capabilities and cold chain logistics with Sikbom's customer base and platform infrastructure.Similar trends are occurring in business-to-consumer (B2C) distribution channels. Namyang Dairy Products ended the operation of its direct online mall 'Namyang Mall' in June and shifted its sales channel to Naver's brand store. After merging its parenting-focused site 'Namyang I Mall' into 'Namyang Mall' last year, the company is now gradually phasing out its own online channels. Dongwon F&B also consolidated its separately operated 'Dongwon Mall' and 'The Banchan' at the end of last year to focus its online capabilities in one place.The ongoing closure or downsizing of self-operated online malls by food companies is largely attributed to persistent fixed cost burdens. While self-operated malls can secure profitability by reducing distribution steps and attracting loyal customers through regular deliveries, the marketing costs to attract new customers, along with logistics, customer service, and system maintenance expenses, can be significant. This is especially true for grocery malls that require cold chain management and diverse inventory and pricing controls for fresh products. If sufficient transaction volume is not achieved, the costs of operating a self-mall can outweigh the benefits of reduced commissions.Moreover, the dominance of large e-commerce platforms like Coupang and Naver, which already have substantial market influence and offer same-day and next-day delivery, has further limited the viability of operating self-malls.An industry insider stated, "In the past, having a self-operated online mall was seen as significant, but now actual profitability and operational efficiency have become more important. Companies are restructuring their online businesses by utilizing large platforms or integrating multiple channels rather than operating all channels directly." 2026-08-10 16:36:10
  • Kibo to Provide $10.8 Million in M&A Guarantees with IM Bank to Support Business Succession
    Kibo to Provide $10.8 Million in M&A Guarantees with IM Bank to Support Business Succession The Kibo Technology Guarantee Fund announced on August 10 that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with IM Bank to support merger and acquisition (M&A) guarantee fee assistance aimed at promoting business succession and technological innovation.Under this agreement, Kibo will provide a total of 14.3 billion won (approximately $10.8 million) in guarantee fee support based on IM Bank's guarantee fee assistance. IM Bank will support the guarantee fees for two years.The support is aimed at acquiring companies pursuing M&A, which must meet Kibo's technology guarantee requirements. It will provide guarantees for working capital and facility funds.The two organizations plan to establish a cooperative system to ensure that technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises receive timely financial support necessary for M&A.Lee Sang-chang, a director at Kibo, stated, "This agreement is expected to alleviate the financial burden on technology companies pursuing M&A and to facilitate smooth business succession and technological innovation." He added, "We will actively support technology innovation companies in securing new growth engines through M&A by expanding cooperation with financial institutions for sustainable growth."Meanwhile, Kibo has signed M&A financial support agreements with Woori Bank, Kyongnam Bank, Hana Bank, and Busan Bank this year, providing a total of 46 billion won in M&A guarantees by the end of July.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-08-10 16:32:10
  • South Korea Ranks 19th in OECD Quality of Life Index
    South Korea Ranks 19th in OECD Quality of Life Index The Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs reported that South Korea ranked 19th out of 38 countries in the OECD's revised Better Life Index (BLI). While the country excelled in material and objective indicators such as housing and education, it fell to the bottom tier in areas like labor conditions, social isolation, and subjective life satisfaction, revealing significant vulnerabilities in Korean society. Experts emphasized the need for national efforts to address issues of inequality and deprivation that are obscured by average development indicators.On August 10, the institute published its findings in the 471st issue of Health and Welfare Issues and Focus, led by researcher Jeong Hae-sik. The dataset, compiled as of the end of 2024, showed that South Korea's overall BLI score was 5.99, placing it 19th among the 38 OECD member countries.Examining the scores by category reveals extreme polarization. South Korea ranked first in housing, second in knowledge and skills, eighth in environmental quality, and ninth in civic engagement. Specifically, the country achieved excellent results in several areas, including a 0% exposure rate to extreme heat (tied for first), a disposable income ratio after housing costs of 84.83% (second), an average score of 527.3 in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) math test (second), a low percentage of underperforming students at 7.29% (third), and a life expectancy at birth of 83.5 years (fifth).However, subjective well-being, which directly impacts quality of life, ranked 35th, labor conditions 36th, and social connections 37th. Notably, the gender wage gap, with women's median wages 28.95% lower than men's, and the lack of social support, with 20.64% of respondents indicating they had no one to rely on in times of trouble, placed South Korea at the bottom of the OECD rankings, in 38th place.Additionally, the percentage of workers engaged in long hours, defined as working over 50 hours a week, was 13.69% (34th), the mortality rate from despair-related causes, including suicide, alcohol, and drug overdoses, was 27.97 per 100,000 people (31st), and the balance of negative emotions was 14.85% (29th). Life satisfaction scored 6.5 points, placing South Korea 36th, highlighting significant social deprivation and disparities.The Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs emphasized the importance of the newly revised OECD BLI framework, which significantly incorporates indicators of disparity and deprivation. Even if the average figures for society as a whole have improved, it is crucial to examine who benefits from these improvements and how many individuals fail to meet even the minimum standards set by society.Jeong Hae-sik stated, "The key message from this index is that we must confront the question of whose lives are actually improving in the pursuit of a better life." He pointed out that despite South Korea's top rankings in objective material and knowledge conditions, the quality of life foundation remains fragile due to long working hours, despair-related deaths, gender disparities, and a lack of social support.He further noted, "The increase in negative emotions and despair-related deaths signals a structural crisis in society that cannot be resolved by individual efforts alone." He called for the establishment of new social norms that align with the changed realities and demands of the times, and for continuous monitoring of quality of life indicators to ensure that actual policy implementations lead to improved well-being for the public.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-08-10 16:32:00
  • KOSPI Nears 6,300 Mark as KOSDAQ Soars 7% to Settle Above 850
    KOSPI Nears 6,300 Mark as KOSDAQ Soars 7% to Settle Above 850 The KOSPI and KOSDAQ both closed higher, with the KOSDAQ showing significant strength. The KOSPI opened more than 2% higher, approaching the 6,400 mark, but most of its gains were erased as foreign selling intensified. In contrast, the KOSDAQ surged nearly 7% as buying focused on growth stocks, including bio, secondary battery, and semiconductor sectors.According to the Korea Exchange, the KOSPI finished at 6,299.66, up 40.89 points (0.65%) from the previous trading day. The index started the day at 6,306.33, up 47.56 points (0.76%), and briefly rose to 6,394.06, coming close to the 6,400 mark. However, it later experienced increased volatility, dipping to 6,232.45 at one point in the afternoon.By investor type, individuals and institutions net bought 900.3 billion won and 566.9 billion won, respectively, while foreigners net sold 1.4887 trillion won.Among the top market capitalization stocks, Samsung Electronics (-0.43%), SK Hynix (-0.14%), Samsung Electro-Mechanics (-0.31%), and KB Financial (-2.33%) saw declines. Conversely, Samsung Electronics preferred shares (1.12%), SK Square (1.06%), LG Energy Solution (2.08%), Hyundai Motor (3.16%), Samsung Biologics (0.84%), Hanwha Aerospace (5.01%), and Samsung Life (1.81%) all rose.Notably, a rotation occurred in the industrial sectors, including shipbuilding, defense, and power equipment, easing the concentration of leading stocks. Sanil Electric surged over 16% after announcing record sales for five consecutive quarters on August 7.The KOSDAQ closed at 854.47, up 55.66 points (6.97%). The index opened at 807.66, up 8.85 points (1.11%), and quickly expanded its gains, reaching as high as 855.38 and settling above 850.In the KOSDAQ market, individuals net sold 672.9 billion won, while foreigners and institutions net bought 103.1 billion won and 566.1 billion won, respectively.A buy-side circuit breaker was triggered at 9:50 a.m. in the KOSDAQ market, marking the 31st circuit breaker activation this year, with 18 buy-side and 13 sell-side activations.All top KOSDAQ stocks showed strong performance. Alteogen surged 14.10%, followed by EcoPro (8.72%), EcoPro BM (7.29%), Rainbow Robotics (5.16%), JUSUNG Engineering (13.30%), HLB (9.12%), Rino Technology (7.61%), ABL Bio (8.08%), Wonik IPS (11.44%), and LigaChem Bio (5.92%), all rising significantly.Bio stocks showed strength due to individual positive news. Alteogen's shares soared after it disclosed that BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, holds a 5% stake for investment purposes. HLB, LigaChem Bio, and ABL Bio also rose, contributing to the KOSDAQ index's increase.Buying pressure also flowed into secondary battery and semiconductor equipment stocks. Following SK Hynix's announcement of investment plans for its Yongin Phase 2 fab and Cheongju M17 production facility after the market closed on August 7, expectations for related equipment stocks increased.Lim Jeong-eun, a researcher at KB Securities, stated, "With Alteogen leading the way, bio, secondary battery, and robotics sectors have collectively driven the KOSDAQ's rise, with the proportion of rising KOSDAQ stocks reaching 79%, reversing the KOSPI figures after three trading days. While the KOSPI's top two market cap stocks have stalled, industrial sectors like shipbuilding, defense, and power equipment continue to rise, indicating a sustained easing of leading stock concentration."She added, "Attention should be paid to the upcoming U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI) reports for July, as they may sustain expectations for interest rate freezes. The earnings of tech stocks like Applied Materials are expected to be a key variable influencing semiconductor stock prices."Meanwhile, in the Seoul foreign exchange market, the weekly closing exchange rate for the won against the dollar was recorded at 1,418.4 won, up 2.3 won from the previous day.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-08-10 16:28:00
  • Inside Koreas chip republic: Samsungs AI future starts at 3:45 a.m.
    Inside Koreas' chip republic: Samsung's AI future starts at 3:45 a.m. This is the second installment of AJP's Chip Republic series, offering a rare first-hand look inside Samsung Electronics' next-generation fab construction site as the chip giant races to defend its technological supremacy. PYEONGTAEK, August 10 (AJP) - At 3:45 a.m., with the worst of the day's heat still hours away, Samsung Electronics' race to build its next great semiconductor factory is already underway. Temporary food stalls appear in the darkness outside P5, the giant new fab rising inside Samsung's flagship Pyeongtaek chip complex. Steam curls from pots of fish cakes and tteokbokki as workers in hard hats marked with their names and blood types grab rolls of gimbap and coffee before filing through the gates for shifts starting around 5 a.m. There is little time to waste. Samsung is advancing construction of P5 toward 2028 from an initial 2030 timetable, accelerating a factory expected to underpin its next generation of advanced memory as artificial intelligence drives an increasingly fierce race for production capacity. The timetable is tightening just as South Korea's extreme summer heat is squeezing the hours available to build it. At 35 degrees Celsius in apparent temperature, Samsung C&T stops high-risk work except in limited circumstances. At 38 degrees, outdoor and other heat-sensitive operations are prohibited. Hwang, 60, joins the stream of workers heading toward P5 before dawn. "Getting up this early and coming to work every day is still difficult," he said. "And in this heat, I still walk to work." Park, a subcontracted worker in her 40s who has spent about a year at the site, eats before going inside. "I eat before going in because once we're inside, we work for a long time," she said. "These days, especially with the heat, you need to eat properly and manage your condition." An ambulance stands nearby for workers suffering from fatigue or heat-related symptoms. By sunrise, the food stalls have vanished. Workers are behind the gates, trucks are moving and cranes hang over the unfinished fab as the temperature begins its climb. The scene is the physical underside of the AI boom. For consumers, artificial intelligence arrives through a screen. In Pyeongtaek, it is arriving in concrete, steel, pipes, cleanrooms and billions of dollars of machinery — all being put in place years before anyone knows exactly how much computing power the world will demand. A bridge built for wafer traffic If the dawn shift captures the urgency, a structure taking shape above the campus shows the precision. Samsung is building a roughly 360-meter elevated bridge between its existing P4 fab and the future P5. It is not for human travel. "The structure currently under construction will connect P4 and P5 through an overbridge designed exclusively for moving chips," an official close to the company told AJP. "It is not a passageway for people at all. It is one of the site's most important structures." The bridge will be about three times as long as a comparable 120-meter structure at Samsung's Hwaseong semiconductor complex. Wafers will eventually move back and forth across it as different stages of production are carried out in P4 and P5. "The bridge is being built so wafers can move back and forth between P4 and P5 as different processes are carried out," the official said. In an advanced fab, that traffic is part of production. A wafer leaving one process may need equipment housed elsewhere before moving to the next. Each transfer, queue and bottleneck affects how quickly costly machinery can be used and how smoothly production moves through the line. The bridge effectively turns P4 and P5 from neighboring factories into parts of one manufacturing system. Hundreds of meters of overhead wafer traffic may look like infrastructure. In chipmaking, the precision of that flow can define a fab's competitiveness. Samsung's Pyeongtaek campus already covers about 2.9 million square meters, roughly 1.4 times the territory of Monaco, or around 400 soccer fields, capable of housing six fabs. Samsung broke ground on the first Pyeongtaek fab in May 2015 under an initial investment plan of 15.6 trillion won. The final cost rose to around 30 trillion won. Mass production began in July 2017 with fourth-generation 64-layer V-NAND. Construction on a second line followed in 2018, with advanced DRAM production beginning in 2020. What started with one giant fab has become Samsung's flagship chipmaking campus. AI is now setting the pace for its next expansion. P5, whose cost is estimated at around 60 trillion won, is expected to become a major production base for advanced memory including high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, the stacked chips feeding data to AI accelerators. But building it is increasingly a race in itself. "P5 is different from the projects we have experienced before in terms of both scale and complexity," a Samsung C&T project official overseeing the work told AJP. "The success of P5 is not simply about meeting a construction schedule and completing a building," the official said, citing the need to maintain safety, quality and productivity while responding quickly to changing conditions. AI moves into Korea's capital spending The cranes in Pyeongtaek are beginning to show up in South Korea's investment numbers. Facility investment rose 13 percent from a year earlier in the second quarter, while investment in machinery climbed 15 percent, according to official industrial-activity data. The pace accelerated sharply in June. Facility investment jumped 21.7 percent on year and machinery investment 22.2 percent, with semiconductor-manufacturing equipment among the drivers. P5 is among the most visible manifestations of that capital cycle. Rival SK hynix is more than 70 percent through construction of its first fab at the Yongin semiconductor cluster. On Friday, its board approved 35.2 trillion won for a second Yongin fab, known as Y2, and another 19.1 trillion won for the M17 fab in Cheongju. Together, the two projects amount to roughly 45 percent of SK hynix's shareholders' equity of 120.7 trillion won. The Yongin investment alone represents 29.19 percent. The spending reflects a basic mismatch in the AI race. A new generation of AI accelerators can arrive within a year. A semiconductor fab takes years to build, equip and qualify. By the time demand becomes certain, it can already be too late to build the factory needed to meet it. Samsung and SK hynix are therefore competing not only over who can develop better memory, but who will have enough cleanroom space and equipment ready when customers want it. That makes investment itself part of the competition. "When you invest, you expand your manufacturing facilities and your production scale. That gives you leadership in the market," said Ahn Ki-hyun, executive director of the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association. "If you don't invest while your competitors do, you lose that leadership." Ahn cautioned, however, against viewing P5 alone as something that would fundamentally shift the balance between Samsung and SK hynix. Both companies are accelerating investment, he said, making the race less about whether to expand than about how quickly each can turn new capacity into products and sales. The memory boom gets broader The market is giving them reason to hurry. The first phase of the AI memory boom centered on HBM, where SK hynix established an early lead and Samsung has been working to catch up through newer generations including HBM4. Now the shortage is spreading. As Samsung, SK hynix and Micron devote more capacity to HBM and other high-value server products, less is available for conventional DRAM. AI servers themselves consume large quantities of DRAM, tightening the market from both sides. NAND flash is joining the cycle as enterprise solid-state drives absorb the vast stores of data needed by AI systems. Sigmaintell expects global semiconductor revenue to reach about $1.59 trillion this year, with memory accounting for roughly 60 percent. It sees DRAM revenue rising more than 300 percent and NAND nearly 250 percent, with the HBM market alone topping $100 billion. Omdia has raised its semiconductor growth forecast to 94.1 percent and likewise expects memory to account for more than half of industry revenue, with bottlenecks in HBM, advanced packaging and leading-edge production persisting into 2027. Counterpoint Research expects servers to account for 56 percent of memory revenue this year, up from 37 percent last year, another sign that the industry's center of gravity is moving away from consumer electronics. The firms use different definitions and methodologies, and their headline market estimates are not directly comparable. Their direction is the same: AI is pulling HBM, DRAM and NAND into the same investment cycle. Samsung and SK hynix are benefiting across that spread. Samsung held 39 percent of the global DRAM market by revenue in the second quarter, while SK hynix's DRAM revenue more than tripled from a year earlier, according to market estimates. The boom is also drawing competitors. China's CXMT and Taiwan's Nanya posted explosive revenue growth as the three dominant memory makers concentrated more capacity on premium products. That is another reason Samsung cannot assume today's shortage will last forever. Memory has always been cyclical: shortage drives investment, investment creates supply, and supply eventually puts pressure on prices. AI has not repealed that cycle. It has made waiting for certainty more costly. The people beneath the cleanroom Inside P5, the language of artificial intelligence quickly disappears. Workers erect structures, install partitions, electrical systems and pipes, clean equipment and guide vehicles through the site. "There are so many people inside that you can't count them," one female worker said after leaving work. "It's extremely busy inside," another said. Kim, a subcontracted worker installing partitions around equipment areas, said the sophistication of the technology rarely enters his working day. "We don't really know whether it's a 2-nanometer process or a 3-nanometer process," he said. "What we do know is that the equipment is extremely expensive. So we're always told to be careful around it." "To us, it's construction work," he said. "You do your own job properly and make sure you don't damage anything." Workers also describe another structure running through P5: a rigid contracting hierarchy. Samsung Electronics owns the complex. Samsung C&T oversees major construction. Beneath them sit first-tier contractors, subcontractors and smaller specialist crews. "There's definitely a hierarchy here," said a supervisor who has worked across Samsung's semiconductor sites. "Samsung Electronics is at the top, then Samsung C&T, then the first-tier contractors, and then companies below them." Some subcontracted workers jokingly call Samsung Electronics employees "juin-nim," literally "master." "We call them 'juin-nim,'" one worker said with a laugh. "This place is basically a class society." Different employers can mean different gates, dining facilities, buses and schedules. "We don't really mix much with Samsung employees," one worker said. "The gates we use are different, the places we eat can be different, and even the times we use them can be different." The hierarchy becomes most consequential when work stops. "If you're with a first-tier contractor like us, missing a day isn't necessarily a huge problem," the supervisor said. "We can move the work to another day." "But for people working for subcontractors of subcontractors, that day itself is money." And in the heat, work does stop. On days when apparent temperatures reach the site's safety thresholds, shifts can end only hours after they begin. The companies can rearrange schedules; workers further down the contracting chain can lose the day's income. The danger is more immediate than the lost hours. Workers said ambulances had become a familiar sight. "Just yesterday, five workers collapsed with heat-related illnesses, and ambulances were going back and forth," one worker said. The official temperature, however, tells only part of the story. "The temperature measured by weather authorities is essentially a background atmospheric temperature, taken under open and well-ventilated conditions," said Choi Yong-Sang, a climate scientist at Ewha Womans University. "At an actual work site, conditions can be much hotter." Asphalt surfaces can exceed 60 degrees Celsius, while concrete, poor ventilation and enclosed spaces can further raise workers' thermal exposure, Choi said. Heavy protective clothing, helmets and crowded working conditions add another layer of risk. "You cannot control the outside temperature," Choi said. "So to reduce heat stress, you have to reduce workers' exposure or vulnerability." P5 will be built. The question is how fast. Samsung has pulled its timetable forward to 2028 from 2030. On the ground, the working day is being pulled forward too, toward the cooler hours before sunrise. Above the site, the unfinished wafer bridge reaches toward P5. Below it, cranes, trucks and thousands of workers race a clock that can stop by late morning when the heat becomes too much. One day, wafers carrying Samsung's most advanced memory will cross that bridge on their way into AI machines around the world. For now, the traffic is human. At 3:45 a.m. tomorrow, it starts again. 2026-08-10 16:27:25
  • Chonbuk National University Hospital Integrates Generative AI in Clinical Research
    Chonbuk National University Hospital Integrates Generative AI in Clinical Research Chonbuk National University Hospital is taking steps to integrate generative artificial intelligence (AI) into its clinical research efforts. The initiative aims to enhance the efficiency of researchers' tasks, such as writing papers and conducting literature searches, while also expanding the use of AI to clinical trials, extensive data analysis, and ultimately, patient care and community health management.The hospital's Functional Food Clinical Trial Support Center held a seminar on August 3, inviting Kang Si-cheol, Vice President of Genosis AI Healthcare, to discuss strengthening capabilities in generative AI. The seminar took place in the video conference room of the Clinical Research Support Center at Chonbuk National University Hospital.Attendees included researchers from the Functional Food Clinical Trial Support Center, officials from the hospital's Efficacy Evaluation Center, and professors from Chonbuk National University. Vice President Kang introduced tools like Claude and Gemini for tasks such as paper writing, literature searches, research data analysis, presentation preparation, and prompt writing.The seminar particularly focused on the potential of generative AI to serve not just as a document creation tool but as a decision-support tool for researchers in the medical and clinical research fields. Broader Applications of AIClinical research requires extensive information to review domestic and international papers, formulate research hypotheses, design clinical trials, and analyze results. Utilizing generative AI can help researchers efficiently search for necessary literature, summarize and analyze data, and organize research findings into reports.The hospital explained that there is significant potential for AI in evaluating the efficacy of functional foods and materials. By systematically analyzing research data and clinical information related to health functional foods and materials, researchers can quickly find the information they need and synthesize multiple research results to establish new research directions.The ultimate goal of using AI is not just to accelerate research speed. It is crucial to create a virtuous cycle where data accumulated in clinical settings is utilized in research, and the results confirmed through research are applied back to patient care.As a regional medical hub, Chonbuk National University Hospital plays a role in patient care, medical education, and clinical research. When AI is applied simultaneously in research, education, and patient care, it can serve as a foundation to connect these previously separate areas. This involves analyzing research data to identify risk factors for diseases or treatment-related patterns, which can then support medical professionals' decision-making.In a community facing aging and increasing chronic diseases, there is growing interest in preventive health management using AI. Beyond treating patients who visit the hospital, AI can be used to identify individuals at high risk for diseases early and to research preventive management strategies that consider personal health status and lifestyle.The field of functional foods also has the potential to evolve into personalized research. This could expand from merely confirming the efficacy of specific materials to analyzing which functional materials are effective for individuals based on their health status, lifestyle, and clinical data. Building a Regional Medical AI EcosystemChonbuk National University is also expanding its foundation for generative AI use this year. Since February, the university has piloted a 'multi-LLM-based generative AI service' that allows approximately 22,000 faculty, students, staff, and teaching assistants to access various large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude on a single platform. With this university-wide AI utilization environment established, a systematic expansion of AI capabilities in the medical and clinical research fields is now possible.However, for the expanded use of AI in healthcare, ensuring accuracy and safety is essential. This includes protecting personal data in medical records, managing the quality of research data, verifying information generated by AI with medical professionals, and addressing the so-called 'hallucination' phenomenon of generative AI.It is also important to emphasize that AI should not replace medical professionals and researchers but rather serve as a tool to analyze vast amounts of information and uncover new possibilities. Ultimately, the competitive edge of university hospitals in AI will depend not on which AI services they use, but on how effectively they can produce high-quality research and connect those results to patients and the community quickly.The recent seminar by the Functional Food Clinical Trial Support Center at Chonbuk National University Hospital marks the first step toward the full integration of generative AI into clinical research. As AI technology combines with the educational, research, and clinical infrastructure of Chonbuk National University School of Medicine and Chonbuk National University Hospital, it is anticipated to enhance the competitiveness of medical and bio-research in the Jeonbuk region.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-08-10 16:24:00
  • KOSDAQ surges as leveraged ETF frenzy cools
    KOSDAQ surges as leveraged ETF frenzy cools SEOUL, August 10 (AJP) -South Korea's junior market staged a strong comeback Monday, leaping nearly 7 percent to push its gain so far this month toward 20 percent. The KOSDAQ closed at 854.47, up 55.66 points, or 7.0 percent. Its bigger sibling KOSPI added 40.89 points to close at 6,299.66, up 0.7 percent, with the advance built on utilities, defense, shipbuilding and battery names rather than semiconductors. The broader spread of gains came as a speculative frenzy in single-stock leveraged products showed signs of fizzling out, easing one source of the extreme swings that had increasingly distorted the benchmark. The VKOSPI, often dubbed Korea's fear gauge, closed at 69.55 on Monday, down 8.0 percent on the day and 19.3 percent from 86.18 on July 30, the final session before regulators tightened rules on single-stock leveraged and inverse products. It was down more than 25 percent from a recent intraday peak of 93.27 on July 29 and slipped below 70 during Monday's session for the first time since May 28. The volatility gauge, which measures the market's expected 30-day swings based on KOSPI 200 options, had surged as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix came to account for more than half of the main board's market capitalization and leveraged products tied to individual stocks amplified moves in both directions. Regulators responded on July 31 by raising the minimum deposit required for leveraged trading to 30 million won from 10 million won and tightening rules on when proceeds from stock sales can count toward that requirement. Trading value in single-stock leveraged products has since collapsed, falling to 845.2 billion won on Aug. 7 from 12.45 trillion won on July 30. The cooling suggests the market is beginning to shed some of the leverage-driven volatility that accompanied its semiconductor-heavy surge, allowing price adjustments and fresh buying to spread more evenly across sectors. Foreigners sold heavily into Monday's advance. Net foreign selling on the main board reached 1.49 trillion won ($1.05 billion), against net buying of 893.1 billion won ($629.4 million) by individuals and 574.2 billion won ($404.6 million) by institutions. The Korea Exchange briefly suspended program buy orders on the KOSDAQ early in the session after junior-market futures and the KOSDAQ 150 index both jumped more than 6 percent. It was the third such halt on the junior market this month. Traders read the buying as a bet on U.S. rate cuts, with softer American employment data reviving expectations that the Federal Reserve will move lower before year-end. Biotechnology and small-cap semiconductor equipment names led the KOSDAQ advance. The two large-cap chipmakers stayed nearly flat. Samsung Electronics closed at 230,000 won ($162.08), down 1,000 won or 0.4 percent. SK hynix ended at 1,420,000 won ($1,000.63), off 2,000 won or 0.1 percent. Both had been pressured on Friday by reports that Nvidia is weighing lower memory content in its next generation of graphics processors. Elsewhere on the main board, the bid was broad. HD Hyundai Heavy Industries rose 5.1 percent to 532,000 won ($374.9), Hanwha Aerospace gained 5.0 percent to 1,152,000 won ($811.8), Hyundai Motor added 3.2 percent to 408,000 won ($287.5) and Doosan Enerbility climbed 3.6 percent to 79,900 won ($56.3). KB Financial was among the few large-cap losers, down 2.3 percent at 171,700 won ($121.0). Regional markets ran with the same rate-cut trade. The Nikkei 225 closed at 66,970.22, up 2.1 percent, with Recruit Holdings surging 22.8 percent to 16,165 yen and chip tester Advantest up 6.4 percent at 34,260 yen. Mitsui Kinzoku fell 13.6 percent to 27,855 yen. The composite index in Shanghai finished modestly higher at 3,961.02, up 0.5 percent. The won weakened to 1,419.10 per dollar, 8.10 won softer than the previous session. 2026-08-10 16:20:46
  • Koreas Space Agency Launches Development of National Space Data Center
    Korea's Space Agency Launches Development of National Space Data Center The Korea Aerospace Agency (KASA) is officially launching the development of a national space data center in response to the era of artificial intelligence (AI).On August 10, KASA held the 9th SOS meeting at the Rebellion headquarters in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province, with stakeholders involved in space data center technology. The meeting aimed to assess the technological capabilities of the domestic industry for the successful development of the national space data center and to formulate policies to attract non-space companies into the space industry."The space data center is a key growth engine for creating new industries in outer space," said KASA Administrator Oh Tae-seok. He emphasized the importance of establishing a new ecosystem for satellite development and manufacturing involving non-space companies.Seventeen representatives from various companies attended the meeting, including AP Satellite, Eyenix, KAI, LG Energy Solution, LG Electronics, LIG D&A, SK Hynix, Duwon Heavy Industries, DeepX, Rampers, Rebellion, Mobilint, Satrec Initiative, Furiosa AI, Flexcel Space, Hanwha Solutions (Q CELLS), and Hanwha Systems. KASA and the National Research Council of Science and Technology introduced the status of the K-Moonshot space mission and discussed collaboration strategies while gathering diverse opinions from the industry.Attending companies shared insights on necessary technologies for the successful development of the space data center, including semiconductor radiation resistance, space solar cell and cooling technology, and opportunities for public-private partnerships.To facilitate entry into the space industry, they proposed support for the verification of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components, assistance with space environment testing in extreme conditions, and opportunities for space verification through validation satellites.According to Fortune Business Insights, the space data center market is estimated to be worth approximately $1.44 billion in 2026. Driven by advancements in satellite communication technology and the expansion of low Earth orbit infrastructure, the market is projected to grow to about $3.81 billion by 2034. 2026-08-10 16:20:00