Samsung's largest union adopts two-track DS-DX bargaining as membership slides SEOUL, May 28 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics’ largest labor union is rapidly losing members in the aftermath of a contentious wage agreement that exposed deepening rifts between the company’s semiconductor and device businesses, prompting the union to adopt a separate “two-track” bargaining structure for its divisions. Samsung Group Labor Union’s Samsung Electronics branch, the company’s largest and majority union, said Thursday its membership fell May 28, 2026

FuriosaAI taps Broadcom to build third-generation AI inference chip SEOUL, May 28 (AJP) - South Korean artificial intelligence chip designer FuriosaAI said it had forged a strategic partnership with U.S. semiconductor giant Broadcom to co-develop a next-generation AI inference platform, deepening a homegrown bid to challenge the dominance of established players in the booming market for AI silicon. According to the neural processing unit maker on Thursday, the two companies will evolve FuriosaAI's proprietary tensor contraction processor archite May 28, 2026

AJP Focus: The perils of chip boom SEOUL, May 28 (AJP) -The world is at the threshold of the artificial-intelligence revolution, and at the heart of that revolution sits the semiconductor — with Korea at the heart of the semiconductor. Only a few years ago memory prices had collapsed, inventories had swollen, and Samsung Electronics and SK hynix were enduring a brutal downturn alongside the rest of the slowing global economy. Then the AI era rewrote the board almost overnight. The generative-AI surge that fo May 28, 2026

Kakao CEO apologizes to staff as union secures strike right after talks collapse SEOUL, May 28 (AJP) - Kakao CEO Chung Shin-a offered a public apology to employees as the company's union secured the legal right to strike following the collapse of a second mediation session, raising the prospect of the tech giant's first-ever headquarters walkout. Chung issued the apology through an internal notice Thursday, saying she was "sincerely sorry" for failing to quickly dispel growing uncertainty within the company. "Negotiations have dragged o May 28, 2026

Defense Minister Ahn to attend Shangri-La Dialogue, meet Japanese counterpart SEOUL, May 28 (AJP) - South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back will attend the 23rd Asia Security Summit in Singapore from May 29 to 31 and hold talks with defense ministers from several countries, the Ministry of National Defense said Thursday. The Asia Security Summit, also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, is an annual security forum hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Singapore, bringing together defense ministers and senior officials for multilatera May 28, 2026

Hyundai Mobis joins Eclipse Foundation's open-source SDV project SEOUL, May 28 (AJP) - Hyundai Mobis announced it has joined the Eclipse Foundation's Software-Defined Vehicle working group and will contribute to the S-Core project, a global open-source initiative to standardize the software platforms that underpin next-generation connected vehicles. The S-Core project, launched in late 2024 by a consortium of European firms, aims to build a common middleware layer for SDV systems certified to functional safety standard ASIL-B — the firs May 28, 2026

Naver pledges 1 trillion won for creators in AI shift SEOUL, May 28 (AJP) - Naver will pour 1 trillion won ($663 million) into its content creator ecosystem over the next five years, the South Korean internet giant pledged, betting that proprietary data and creator partnerships — not raw model performance — will decide the next phase of the artificial intelligence race. The announced was unveiled at a media round table in central Seoul on Thursday led by Kim Kwang-hyun, Naver's chief data and contents officer, in his fi May 28, 2026

AJP Focus: Seoul's nuclear submarine push raises broader regional security questions SEOUL, May 27 (AJP) - South Korea's new "Jangbogo N" nuclear-powered submarine program is raising questions over whether the project is designed primarily to deter North Korea or whether it could eventually become part of a broader U.S.-led effort to counter China. Officials have described the submarine as a symbol of Seoul's determination to take greater responsibility for its own security. But the move comes after the commander of U.S. Forces Korea recently descr May 27, 2026

AJP Watch: Samsung puts on charm offensive after avoiding strike despite internal rift SEOUL, May 27 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics went on a multitrillion-won spending blitz Wednesday, pledging 5 trillion won ($3.6 billion) over the next five years to nurture talent and support suppliers on the very day it averted a historic strike by agreeing to hand out over 40 trillion won in rewards tied to this year’s blockbuster earnings and soaring share prices. Management and labor formally signed the 2026 wage agreement after union members approved the deal by 73.7 per May 27, 2026

Kakao enters second mediation as labor unrest spreads SEOUL, May 27 (AJP) - Labor and management at Kakao entered a second round of mediation at the Gyeonggi National Labor Relations Commission, with the talks widely seen as a make-or-break moment that could push South Korea's dominant messaging platform into its first-ever headquarters strike. The two sides failed to bridge their differences during a first session on May 18, extending the deadline for a resolution, entering the next round Wednesday. Four Kakao affiliates — K May 27, 2026