Samsung moves first on HBM4 in bid to regain AI memory edge

Samsung Electronics will begin shipments of its next-generation high bandwidth memory, HBM4, after the Lunar New Year holiday, becoming the first memory maker to commercialize what is widely seen as a game-changing chip for AI computing, industry sources said Sunday. Samsung plans to start shipping HBM4 to Nvidia as early as the third week of February, for use in the US chip giant’s next-generation AI accelerator platform, Vera Rubin. The move marks a strategic rebound for Samsung, which had fac

Feb. 8, 2026

Samsung chief highlights 30 years of sponsorship at Winter Olympics

Marking Samsung Electronics’ decadeslong Olympic sponsorship, Chair Lee Jae-yong is strengthening global ties through sports diplomacy at the recently opened Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics, engaging with world leaders and top executives. According to Samsung Electronics on Sunday, Lee attended the gala dinner hosted by the International Olympic Committee for the opening of the Games, representing Samsung Electronics as the only Korean company and a longstanding member of The Olympic Partner Prog

Feb. 8, 2026

'AI's real challenge is data, not infrastructure': NetApp CEO

As South Korea doubles down on artificial intelligence, one of Silicon Valley's longest-running enterprise data CEOs says most organizations are overlooking the real bottleneck. "Eighty-five percent of the time in an AI project is spent finding, organizing and preparing data, before you even start working on the solution," said George Kurian, chief executive of NetApp, a US-based firm that builds the infrastructure behind enterprise data platforms. Speaking with The Korea Herald during a visit t

Feb. 8, 2026

Naver CEO brushes off AI project loss as earnings hit record

Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon said Friday the company sees no impact on its AI business, even after it failed to advance to the second phase of the government-led sovereign AI foundation model project. Speaking during an earnings call earlier in the day, Choi emphasized that the decision was the government’s to make and that the company respects the outcome. “We fully respect and humbly accept the government’s judgment regarding the sovereign AI foundation model project,” she said. “However, we do not

Feb. 6, 2026

Lee meets with young scientists, discusses expansion of alternative military service

President Lee Jae Myung held a meeting with young researchers and science students Thursday and discussed ways to expand alternative military service options as part of a broader reform to the military system. During the meeting held at Cheong Wa Dae, Lee said his administration was reviewing an overhaul of the military, including measures to substitute mandatory military service for other forms of service. "As young men are obliged to serve in the military, they unavoidably face career breaks f

Feb. 5, 2026

Korea moves to fast-track investment bill to fend off US tariffs

South Korea’s rival parties are moving to form a special parliamentary panel to fast-track legislation tied to US-bound investment, as Seoul makes a last-ditch effort to counter renewed tariff threats from Washington. Yeo Han-koo, the country’s chief trade negotiator, said Thursday that the bipartisan effort would help Seoul press Washington to hold off on formal steps to raise tariffs. “The biggest reason the US has cited for raising tariffs on South Korea is the delay in legislating the specia

Feb. 5, 2026

AI chip race shifts to memory, boosting Samsung, SK hynix

Intel is gearing up to challenge Nvidia's dominance in the artificial intelligence accelerator market, but its chief executive says the industry's most decisive constraint lies elsewhere — and it overwhelmingly favors Korea's memory champions. Speaking at an AI summit in San Francisco earlier in the week, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan warned that a global shortage of advanced memory could persist for at least two more years. As AI systems scale rapidly, he said, memory demand is accelerating faster than

Feb. 5, 2026

Samsung Electronics becomes first in Korea to break W1000tr market cap

Samsung Electronics on Wednesday became the first company in South Korean history to surpass a market capitalization of 1,000 trillion won ($689 billion), as a sharp rally fueled by the global artificial intelligence boom pushed its shares to record highs. Samsung shares closed up 0.96 percent at 169,100 won, after touching an intraday high of 169,400 won. The gains pushed the company’s market value to above 1 trillion won at the close, according to exchange data. The surge in Samsung shares als

Feb. 4, 2026

Samsung, SK paths diverge on high-bandwidth flash

As the artificial intelligence market pivots toward inference, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are moving to develop high-bandwidth flash, a so-called extension of high-bandwidth memory, though their strategies in this next phase of the AI memory race diverge. With HBM now a key component of AI chips, the two Korean memory makers are seeking an early foothold in the next-generation memory cycle. “The NAND market has faced a prolonged slowdown driven by weak demand and falling prices, but HBF co

Feb. 4, 2026

Overseas transfer of map data could cost Korea up to $136b, study warns

South Korea could face up to 197 trillion won ($136 billion) in cumulative economic losses over the next decade if it approves the overseas transfer of its detailed national map data without robust safeguards, according to a new academic study presented Tuesday. The projection comes at a critical moment as South Korea’s government prepares to decide on long-pending applications from Google and Apple to export 1:5,000 base map data, a granular geographic dataset that includes detailed building ou

Feb. 4, 2026

Samsung, LG laptop prices jump as AI-driven memory crunch bites

Retail prices for new high-end laptops from top Korean electronics brands have jumped sharply this year, as a global memory chip shortage driven by soaring demand from the artificial intelligence sector continues to push up component costs across the consumer electronics industry. Samsung Electronics' newly launched Galaxy Book6 Pro now tops out at 3.51 million won ($2,420), a 25 percent increase from the highest-tier model in last year's Book5 Pro series, which peaked at 2.81 million won. It is

Feb. 3, 2026

LG Innotek to unveil Nexlide lighting in Munich workshop

LG Innotek said Tuesday it will showcase its latest vehicle lighting solutions under the Nexlide brand at a lighting workshop in Munich on Wednesday and Thursday. Hosted by Driving Vision News, the workshop brings together global automakers and leading automotive electronics suppliers to share views on emerging trends and technologies in vehicle lighting. LG Innotek will highlight its upgraded Nexlide Pixel technology, which improves resolution by shrinking the size of individual light-emitting

Feb. 3, 2026

KT advances Korea’s fastest quantum key distribution system

KT Corp. said Tuesday it has developed Korea’s fastest quantum key distribution system, capable of generating 300,000 encryption keys per second — twice the rate of its previous model and a major step forward in domestic quantum communication technology. QKD systems rely on the principles of quantum mechanics to produce encryption keys that cannot be duplicated, effectively blocking eavesdropping attempts on physical communication lines. “This is the fastest QKD system developed using domestic t

Feb. 3, 2026

Samsung faces greater pressure to raise Galaxy S26 prices

Samsung Electronics is entering the launch window for its Galaxy S26 series under even greater pricing pressure as rising memory costs weigh on its mobile division’s profitability. In contrast, rival Apple appears better positioned to hold iPhone prices steady. In the fourth quarter of 2025, Samsung’s Mobile eXperience and Networks division posted revenue of 29.3 trillion won ($20.1 billion) and operating profit of 1.9 trillion won, down 9.5 percent from a year earlier. Operating margin slipped

Feb. 2, 2026

‘The gap is more than five years’: Why China still trails in memory

As China’s rapid advance in memory chips fuels concerns over a potential challenge to market leaders such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, a veteran DRAM expert says the technology gap remains far wider than commonly perceived — and may be growing rather than narrowing. “The gap is not two or three years. In my view, it is more than five,” said Shim Dae-yong, an electrical engineering professor at Dong-A University, in an interview with The Korea Herald. “In DRAM, especially advanced memory,

Feb. 2, 2026