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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
February 18, 2026
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Samsung Electronics eyes quarterly operating profit of 30 trillion won
SEOUL, February 16 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics is expected to reach 30 trillion won in quarterly operating profit for the first time in the January-March period, driven by surging demand for AI-related memory chips. The South Korean tech giant posted a record 20 trillion won in operating profit in the October-December quarter, becoming the first domestic company to reach that milestone. Analysts now project it will add another 10 trillion won in just one quarter. According to b
February 16, 2026
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SK chair meets US big tech leaders for HMB4 pitch
SEOUL, February 13 (AJP) -SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won commanding the world's most-sought memory chip unit held a string of meetings with big-tech leaders in the United States to strengthen leadership in AI chip supply chain amid tension with Samsung Electronics over HBM4 supply. His business meetings included all the big tech names Nvidia, Broadcom, Microsoft, Meta and Google engaged in AI chip accelerators, as he pushed to expand partnerships centered on high-bandwidth memor
February 13, 2026
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TrendForce: Nvidia to expand HBM4 supply chain to Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron by Q2
SEOUL, February 13 (AJP) - Nvidia Corp. is expected to diversify its High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) supply chain to include all three major memory chipmakers, as validation for the fourth-generation HBM4 chips enters the final stages ahead of the mass production of its next-generation "Rubin" GPU platform. According to a report by market researcher TrendForce on Friday, Samsung Electronics, SK hynix, and Micron Technology are all projected to complete HBM4 certification
February 13, 2026
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Samsung Electronics starts mass shipments of HBM4, targets next-gen AI demand
SEOUL, February 12 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics has begun mass shipments of the industry's first HBM4 high-bandwidth memory chips, the South Korean tech giant said on Thursday, looking to secure an early lead in the next-generation AI memory market. The new chip utilizes Samsung's advanced 10-nanometer class (1c) DRAM and its proprietary 4-nanometer foundry process for the base die. It delivers stable transfer speeds of 11.7 gigabits per second (Gbps) and hits a maximum of
February 12, 2026
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The next big chip from Korea – flash successor to HBM: KAIST expert
SEOUL, February 10 (AJP) - High-bandwidth memory (HBM) has powered the current AI boom, but soaring costs and capacity limits are shifting attention to what comes next. The next big chip to come from Korea's memory powerhouse will be flash-based successor designed for the inference-heavy phase of AI, according to a chip expert. “Now is the time to move beyond HBM. The era of high-bandwidth flash is coming — and it will unfold within the next decade,” Kim Jung
February 10, 2026
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Korean firms post strong sales growth in North America despite US tariffs
SEOUL, February 10 (AJP) - Major South Korean companies recorded double-digit growth in North American sales last year despite higher U.S. tariffs, with technology and power equipment firms leading gains, according to corporate data released on Monday. North American revenue at 67 South Korean companies that separately disclose sales results in the region, along with 194 subsidiaries, reached 343.8 trillion won as of the third quarter of last year, up 14.1 percent from 301.2 t
February 10, 2026
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SK and Nvidia chiefs hold AI talks over chicken and beer in Santa Clara
SEOUL, February 10 (AJP) - Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group missing from the famous chicken-beer meeting in Seoul among key Korean tycoons during Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's visit to South Korea last October, had a separate chimaek moment with Huang in Silicon Valley as SK hynix vies with Samsung Electronics for next-generation memory packages to Nvidia's AI accelerators. According to industry officials on Monday, Chey met Huang on Feb. 5 (local time) at a Korean-style frie
February 10, 2026
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Korea joins global AI bet, tripling spending in 2026
SEOUL, February 09 (AJP) - The bill for artificial intelligence is stretching at a staggering pace, and South Korea is joining the race by tripling government spending on AI to 10.1 trillion won ($6.9 billion) this year. Even so, Seoul's commitment is a small splash in a rapidly deepening global pool. Big Tech alone is poised to pour roughly $650 billion into AI-related capital expenditure in 2026. Amazon, Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft plan between $635 billion and $665 billio
February 9, 2026
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Samsung Elec gets head start in HBM4 race, SK hynix plays it cool
SEOUL, February 09 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics has moved a step ahead in the race to commercialize next-generation high-bandwidth memory, shipping early samples of its HBM4 chips and preparing for mass supply, according to industry sources. In the sixth-generation memory standard expected to power future artificial intelligence accelerators from Nvidia and Google, Samsung appears to have gained an early edge over local rival SK hynix, which currently dominates the HBM market. A
February 9, 2026
