Washington asks for a cut of Korean chipmakers' 'excess profits': the tariff frame goes profit-side
A single-source Korea Times story that, if true, shifts US-Korea chip diplomacy from tariffs to profit sharing.
yesterday 11 11
Samsung brings forward the opening of the Yongin 1 plant to 2029 - the global computing calendar is compressed
Samsung brings forward by one year the opening of the first module of its Yongin complex (Korea Times, July 12). The signal is clear: pressure on leading-edge capacity is forcing foundries to cut their schedules.
Jul 12, 2026 at 11:17 7 6
SK Hynix's $26.5bn Wall Street landing - memory is the new oil, priced accordingly
SK Hynix's Nasdaq ADR debut raised $26.5bn - the largest foreign share sale ever on a US exchange - and jumped 13% on day one. The signal isn't Korean pride: it's that HBM is now the single most expensive input into AI compute, and the US market wants direct exposure.
Jul 11, 2026 at 11:41 12 8
Trend Micro partners with Anthropic and OpenAI to tackle the Korean security market
Trend Micro is pushing a security offering in Korea backed by its partnerships with Anthropic and OpenAI. The real signal is not the geography: it's the strategy of inserting provider models through the sector integrator.
Jul 15, 2026 at 12:34 12 7
South Korea: Daum's AI research summary runs on a 100% domestic stack
First "full-stack sovereign" commercialization: the Solar model from Upstage on FuriosaAI's RNGD NPUs, without Nvidia.
Jul 15, 2026 at 10:15 12 6
Korea: "big money" exits Samsung/SK Hynix - HBM peak signal?
ETNews reports net institutional outflows from Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, presented as a signal of a peak in the AI memory cycle. To be contrasted with TSMC's +68%.
Jul 13, 2026 at 17:27 8 7
SK Hynix -12%, KOSPI breaks 7000: HBM complex takes a hit
SK Hynix drops 12% in session, KOSPI falls below 7,000 points, circuit breaker activated - the 7th of the year. The physical constraint of AI is felt in the markets, but the memory capex story does not break for all that.
Jul 13, 2026 at 09:13 11 5
Google Cloud × Samsung: Gemini Enterprise in the Device eXperience, the bet on captive distribution
Google Cloud deploys Gemini Enterprise to Samsung DX employees worldwide - described as "its largest agentic deployment in Korea to date." The real challenge: access to a massive user base.
Jul 13, 2026 at 09:12 14 8