Samsung Electronics Co. said Monday it aims to use artificial intelligence (AI) to cut the time needed to develop new semiconductor materials by three years. The company announced the goal at a forum hosted by the Korea Industry Association Forum, where participants discussed the use of AI in industrial research and development (R&D). "We aim to shorten the development period for new semiconductor materials from five years to two years using AI and increase the number of promising material candidates identified by more than fivefold," Choi Young-sang, an official at the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, the company's R&D center, said at the forum. Choi said semiconductor materials consist of multiple thin-film layers, creating more than 100 million possible material combinations for a seven-layer structure. However, researchers can conduct only about 50 experiments a month. "Under the conventional approach, which relies on researchers' experience and intuition, it can take months or even years to identify candidate materials. Data from failed experiments also has not been fully u

P&G Korea is expanding its community outreach by improving access to household products for visually impaired people and recycling plastic waste into public amenities such as benches. P&G Korea, the Korea Consumer Agency and a council of participating businesses jointly held a donation ceremony for household products with braille labels and a safety education session on Oct. 15 to mark the 47th White Cane Safety Day, which honors the achievements of blind and visually impaired people and celebrates the white cane as a universal symbol of their independence. Since 2022, P&G Korea has supported visually impaired people by providing household products and funding the production of braille tags and stickers. The company has donated 15 million won ($10,600) worth of household products, including Downy fabric enhancers and Head & Shoulders hair care products, as well as 2 million won to support the production of braille tags and stickers. This year, P&G Korea held its first household product safety education session for visually impaired students. The session was held for preschool and elemen

Hyundai Glovis is joining forces with Shopee to help Korean beauty brands navigate the logistical hurdles of overseas expansion, betting that smoother shipping and customs procedures can turn global demand for K-beauty into a larger business opportunity. The logistics company said Monday it began operating under an end-to-end logistics partnership with Shopee Korea this month, covering the full supply chain for Korean cosmetics brands seeking to sell through the e-commerce platform. Shopee, which has about 700 million users, is a leading e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia and Taiwan and has a significant presence in Brazil, according to Hyundai Glovis. The partnership will provide sellers with a single point of contact for domestic cargo pickup, air and sea freight, import and export customs clearance, local regulatory approvals and fulfillment services. Hyundai Glovis said the integrated system is intended to shorten delivery times and reduce the burden on cosmetics companies that have traditionally relied on separate providers for different stages of shipping, often creating bottlen

Alibaba Group’s e-commerce platforms generated an estimated 14.17 trillion won ($10.4 billion) in production across Korea’s economy last year through sales of Korean-registered brands to Chinese consumers, according to research released Monday. The study by Choi Seong-jin, a professor at Hanyang University, examined how the Chinese marketplaces Taobao and Tmall, along with other Alibaba platforms, help Korean companies reach overseas customers and expand domestic business opportunities. Transactions involving Korean-registered brands on Taobao and Tmall totaled about 7.1 trillion won in 2025, while sales attributed to Korea after adjustments for overseas distribution and service margins amounted to about 5.43 trillion won, the research found. The estimated domestic value-added effect was 5.06 trillion won, while related employment was estimated at 42,300 jobs. “Overseas sales of Korean brands through global online platforms can expand export opportunities while creating new demand for domestic industries, including raw-material suppliers, packaging manufacturers and logistics servi

Nongshim is taking Shin Ramyun beyond the instant noodle bowl, teaming up with a celebrated Los Angeles chef to give its signature spicy noodles a fine-dining makeover as the brand marks its 40th anniversary. The Korean food company said it was the only Korean food company participating in the Los Angeles Times’ “101 Best Restaurants in L.A.” event, held from Friday through Saturday at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California. The company operated a promotional booth featuring a Korean-inspired tasting lounge, an oversized Shin Ramyun package and anniversary-themed installations designed for photographs. The centerpiece was a pair of dishes developed with Jihee Kim, owner-chef of Perilla LA, a Korean restaurant selected for the Los Angeles Times’ list of the city’s 101 best restaurants for four consecutive years, from 2023 through 2026. One dish, “Shin Ramyun Original with Octopus & Slow-Roasted Tomato,” combines the noodles with octopus, roasted tomatoes and perilla leaves to deepen their savory flavor. The second, “Shin Ramyun Rosé with Burrata & Gim,” pairs the crea

Johnnie Walker, the scotch whisky brand owned by British drinks giant Diageo, has named Rosé of K-pop girl group BLACKPINK as its new brand partner, the company said Monday. The brand will run campaigns celebrating the Grammy-nominated singer’s creativity in Korea, Britain, Indonesia, China and other markets. The partnership kicks off Monday with a brand event at Bar 81 in Signiel Seoul, a luxury hotel in Lotte World Tower, Korea’s tallest building. At the event, Rosé will present her signature cocktail, the “Twist of Something Highball,” made with Johnnie Walker Black Label. The cocktail will later be served at other bars in Seoul, including venues on the Asia’s 50 Best Bars list and bars run by champions of World Class Korea, a Diageo-sponsored bartending competition. Through the partnership, Rosé will add her own style to collaborations exploring new expressions of the brand in culture, design and creativity, the company said. “I’m happy to expand my creative boundaries and try something new that connects different worlds through this collaboration with Johnnie Walker,

Korean burger and chicken chain Mom’s Touch will enter Kazakhstan, expanding its presence in Central Asia after entering Uzbekistan last year, the company said Monday. Mom’s Touch said it signed a master franchise agreement with Mom’s Touch Central Asia LLP, the restaurant arm of Kazakh food company Shin-Line Group. Under such agreements, a local partner gains the rights to open and operate stores and to sub-franchise in a given territory. The two companies aim to open more than 50 stores over the next 10 years. The first store is targeted for the first half of next year. The deal also covers neighboring Kyrgyzstan. Mom’s Touch said it will first establish the brand in Kazakhstan, Central Asia’s largest economy, and then gradually consider entering nearby markets. Founded in 1995, Shin-Line is Central Asia’s top ice cream maker, with a market share of more than 40 percent across the region. It exports to about 10 countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, a grouping of former Soviet republics, through its own cold-chain logistics network. It also operates more than

Samsung SDI said Monday that its U.S. subsidiary, Samsung SDI America, has signed a 1-gigawatt-hour agreement to supply energy storage systems (ESS) to Alpha Omega Power, a U.S. utility-scale battery storage developer and independent power producer. The latest deal brings the total volume of agreements between the two companies to 1.5 gigawatt-hours, including an initial contract signed late last year. Alpha Omega Power plans to deploy the systems in large-scale power projects aimed at strengthening grid reliability and meeting rising electricity demand. Construction is scheduled to begin next year in the Western Electricity Coordinating Council and Electric Reliability Council of Texas markets. Under the latest agreement, Samsung SDI will supply its Samsung Battery Box 1.7, an integrated ESS equipped with nickel-cobalt-aluminum batteries. All cells and modules will be manufactured at the StarPlus Energy plant in Kokomo, Indiana, with deliveries scheduled to be completed by the end of this year. Samsung Battery Box 1.7 offers 17 percent higher energy density than its predecessor, Samsung

Unionized workers at South Korean steelmaker POSCO will launch an "indefinite" strike next week unless the company makes an acceptable offer in wage negotiations, the union said Monday. The warning came after wage talks between POSCO and the union broke down over the weekend. "Starting at 7 a.m. on Nov. 2, workers in non-core production lines at the company's plants in Pohang and Gwangyang will go on strike, excluding those in the blast furnace, heating and steelmaking lines," union spokesperson Park Chun-su said over the phone. The union remains open to negotiations if the company makes any meaningful new proposals before the strike begins, he said. "If the union launches the planned strike, the company will immediately activate an emergency operational response system and adjust production volumes to minimize the impact on customers and domestic demand industries," POSCO said in a statement. In September, unionized workers at the two plants in southern South Korea staged two rounds of partial strikes, marking the first industrial action by POSCO workers since the company was founded in

Shareholder return policies of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are gaining market attention ahead of their announcements for third-quarter earnings, as investors see them as a key way to address the mismatch between the chipmakers' record-breaking profits and their sluggish share prices. Samsung Electronics is set to announce its three-month financial results during its earnings call on Thursday, while SK hynix said it will announce its results on its earnings call on Wednesday. Earnings are expected to be exceptionally strong, as surging demand for memory chips and continued supply bottlenecks have driven up average selling prices across the memory chip market. In its earnings guidance released Oct. 8, Samsung Electronics estimated third-quarter revenue of 195 trillion won ($146.96 billion) and operating profit of 107.4 trillion won. If realized, the company will become the first Korean company to surpass 100 trillion won in quarterly operating profit. SK hynix is expected to post 98.23 trillion won in revenue and 76.96 trillion won in operating profit during the same period, according