LG CNS invests in Cha Biotech to scale AI-driven healthcare SEOUL, January 15 (AJP) - LG CNS said on Thursday it is moving to scale up its digital healthcare business through a strategic partnership with Cha Bio Group. The IT services firm, led by Chief Executive Hyun Shin-gyun, said it signed a partnership agreement with Cha Biotech. The deal includes a 10 billion won ($7.4 million) equity investment and cooperation on artificial intelligence transformation and digital transformation projects. Hyun and Cha Won-tae, vice chairman of Cha January 15, 2026

Samsung working with US labs to develop next-generation clothes dryer SEOUL, January 15 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics said on Thursday that its research into next-generation clothes-drying technology has been selected for official support by the U.S. Department of Energy. The South Korean electronics giant said the project aims to develop a high-performance dryer that sharply reduces energy use while maintaining drying efficiency. Samsung is working with Oak Ridge National Laboratory of the U.S. and the University of South Carolina’s depart January 15, 2026

SK hynix determined to defend lead through talent and HBM investment SEOUL, January 14 (AJP) - Over the past year, South Korea’s memory chipmaker SK hynix has nearly quadrupled its market value and overtaken Intel in sales to become the world’s third-largest semiconductor company after behind Nvidia and Samsung Electronics. The turning point came in 2025, a decisive year for the AI-driven chip upcycle. Global semiconductor sales jumped 21 percent to $793 billion, led by AI processors, high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and networking chips, ac January 14, 2026

After EV slowdown, Korea's battery giants pivot to robots via solid-state cells SEOUL, January 14 (AJP) - After years of EV-led expansion, South Korea's battery makers are confronting a harsher reality as global electric-vehicle sales cool and clean-energy strategies fragment across regions. In response, the industry is doubling down on solid-state batteries — betting that humanoid robots, rather than cars, may offer an earlier and more reliable route to commercialization. POSCO Future M, the battery materials arm of POSCO Group, said this week it has January 14, 2026

South Korea's finance chief links pension strategy, digital assets to currency stability SEOUL, January 14 (AJP) - Despite a record current-account surplus, South Korea’s currency market has become more volatile, driven by imbalances in capital flows rather than trade, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Koo Yoon-cheol said Wednesday. Koo made the remarks Tuesday in a video address to a symposium hosted at the Korea Federation of Banks building in Seoul, while on a visit to the U.S. The event focused on changes in the foreign-exchange market January 14, 2026

KEPCO eyes US market with Columbia grid project SEOUL, January 14 (AJP) - Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) said Wednesday it has signed a technology cooperation agreement with the city of Columbia, S.C., as it looks to expand its business in the U.S., the world’s largest electricity market. KEPCO said it signed a memorandum of understanding on power distribution grid technology cooperation on Jan. 13, local time, at Columbia City Hall. The agreement was signed by Jung Chi-kyo, KEPCO’s executive vice president, January 14, 2026

Korean payroll growth stagnates in 2025 amid weak domestic demand, youth job scarcity SEOUL, Jan. 14 (AJP) — South Korea’s labor market held up on the surface in 2025, with employment and participation rates reaching record highs, but stagnant payroll growth, manufacturing job losses and the highest youth unemployment in three years underscored lingering fragility, government data showed Wednesday. According to the Ministry of Data and Statistics, the number of employed people aged 15 and older reached 28.769 million in 2025, up 193,000, or 0.7 percen January 14, 2026

Hyundai Rotem pivots toward robots, hydrogen in organizational overhaul SEOUL, January 14 (AJP) - Hyundai Rotem, a South Korean manufacturer with operations spanning defense, rail and plant engineering, has reorganized its business to position robots and hydrogen as its primary growth engines. The company said Wednesday that it has carried out a broad restructuring aimed at strengthening competitiveness in robot and hydrogen technologies. Central to the overhaul is the creation of a dedicated unit that consolidates both businesses into a single strate January 14, 2026

HD Construction Equipment lands excavator orders across Africa, Asia SEOUL, January 14 (AJP) - HD Construction Equipment, HD Hyundai’s construction machinery unit, said Wednesday that it has signed contracts with mining developers in Ethiopia to supply 120 large excavators for gold mining projects. The order includes 70 DEVELON-branded 36-metric-ton excavators and 50 HYUNDAI-branded 34-metric-ton models. HD Construction Equipment said it commanded about 80 percent of Ethiopia’s excavator market last year, maintaining its leading po January 14, 2026

Import prices extend gain on weak won, softer oil prices offset the rise Dec SEOUL, Jan. 14 (AJP) - South Korea’s import prices rose for a sixth consecutive month in December, though the pace of increase softened as falling global oil prices partially offset the impact of a weak won, data from the Bank of Korea (BOK) showed Wednesday — signaling lingering inflationary pressure likely to feed through to consumer prices with a lag. According to the BOK’s export-import price index (preliminary, in won terms; 2020=100), the import price index January 14, 2026