South Korea's February exports surge 29% to record high on semiconductor boom
South Korea's exports jumped 29.0 percent in February from a year earlier to $67.45 billion, marking the highest tally for the month on record, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Sunday. The result was especially striking given that the Seollal, or Lunar New Year, cut working days by three compared with the same month last year, a factor that typically weighs on shipment volumes. On a daily average basis, exports soared 49.3 percent to $3.55
Chipflation (2): Winners — component makers; losers — consumers
Chipflation is, at its core, a story about economic rents. When demand concentrates on a scarce, indispensable input, the suppliers of that input capture retu
SK hynix, Sandisk launch joint effort to standardize 'HBF' memory for AI
South Korean chipmaker SK hynix and U.S. data storage company Sandisk have partnered to standardize a next-generation memory technology dubbed High Bandwidth Flash (HBF) to target the expanding artificial intelligence inference market. The two companies held a kick-off event for the HBF standardization consortium on Thursday at Sandisk's headquarters in Milpitas, California. To advance the initiative, they will form a dedicated joint workstream under
Galaxy S26: a phone with "nunchi" – and a price to match
“Nunchi” is one of those Korean words that resists direct translation. It refers to a kind of social intuition — the ability to read the ambience, anticipate needs, and move before being asked. Those who lack it are considered daft; those who possess it are quick, nimble, perceptive. With the new Samsung Galaxy S26, Samsung Electronics is attempting to embed that instinct into hardware. After nearly three decades of phone-making, Samsu
Samsung Electronics becomes first South Korean company to hit $1 trillion market cap
Samsung Electronics has become the first South Korean company to reach a market capitalization of over US$1 trillion. As of Thursday's market close, Samsung Electronics' market value was tallied at $1.03 trillion. Only 13 companies worldwide have market caps of $1 trillion or more. The milestone lifted the electronics giant to No. 12 globally in terms of market value, surpassing supermarket chain Walmart and pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly.
Samsung Electronics ushers in agentic AI phone era with Galaxy S26
The drizzle over the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco did not stop more than 1,200 journalists and influencers from crowding into the domed venue Wednesday for Samsung Electronics’ latest Unpacked event — a return to the same stage where the company once declared it was preparing for a “new decade” of mobile. This time, instead of dazzling hardware theatrics, Samsung framed the Galaxy S26 series as its first truly “agent
SK hynix okays $16 bn investment into Yongin chip facility to stay ahead in HBM race
SK hynix said Wednesday it will invest more than 21 trillion won ($15.7 billion) in new semiconductor production facilities at the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster, as it moves to expand capacity and stay ahead in the high-bandwidth memory race amid the artificial intelligence boom. According to a regulatory filing with the Financial Supervisory Service, the company plans to invest 21.61 trillion won in the construction of Phases 2 through 6 of its first fabri
Except for chips, Korea now a laggard behind China in next-gen industries
With the exception of semiconductors, South Korea has slipped into laggard status behind China across most next-generation industries, from robotics and electric vehicles to batteries and autonomous driving, a government-backed report warned Tuesday, underscoring a widening competitiveness gap that is no longer narrowing. A study released by the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade (KIET) found that China now holds comprehensive value-chain a
For 2026 rematch with Apple, Samsung fields AI photo studio for short-form gen
Familiar scenes were repeated at the 2026 Milan–Cortina Winter Olympics: medalists capturing once-in-a-lifetime moments by flipping open pocket-sized Samsung phones. Despite strong sales of its foldable fleet, Samsung Electronics lost its decade-long position as the world’s top smartphone vendor last year to Apple, buoyed by the popularity of the iPhone 17 lineup. Samsung readies a rematch with the unveiling of its flagship Galaxy S26 seri