Lane Cove residents are planning a street party. The rest of the data centre industry has a problem.
Sep 29, 2026
With the flu spreading earlier than usual this year, market interest is growing in products that may help support immune health, including red ginseng. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the number of patients with influenza-like illnesses reached 25.3 per 1,000 outpatients during the first week of September. This is nearly double the epidemic threshold of 12.9 and up sharply from 13.3 in late August. COVID-19 is also spreading alongside the flu. During the same period, 193 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19, more than triple the number four weeks earlier. Last year, the government issued a flu advisory on Oct. 17, but this year it issued the advisory on Sept. 11 and began its vaccination program on Sept. 21. Against this backdrop, consumers are showing growing interest not only in vaccination but also in products that support immune health as part of broader preventive care, with red ginseng among those drawing increased attention. Red ginseng has been officially recognized by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for seven potential health benefits, inclu
Samsung Electronics and SK Group each made a high-profile show of support for Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang after he received the Van Fleet Award, a prominent honor recognizing individuals who contribute to Korea-U.S. relations. The two companies' efforts underscore the importance they place on ties with the artificial intelligence (AI) accelerator giant as competition for next-generation memory and computing technologies intensifies. Samsung Electronics ran congratulatory videos for Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on a Times Square billboard in New York City on Sunday and Monday (local time), while Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong attended the Korea Society’s annual gala, where Huang received the award, in the city on Monday. The Korea Society honored Huang for his “visionary leadership and transformative contributions” to the AI and semiconductor industries, which it said are central to the evolving Korea-U.S. economic partnership. In his remarks at the gala, Lee highlighted Huang’s role in reshaping the technology industry and the significance of the bilateral partnership. “He has made the
Naver, the Korean tech powerhouse best known for operating the country’s dominant search engine and digital ecosystem, is expanding its global artificial intelligence (AI) push into Latin America. Company executives met with Mexican government officials and business leaders this week to explore joint initiatives aimed at building a regional AI ecosystem and accelerating industrial modernization. Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon and other company executives visited Mexico from Thursday through Friday as members of President Lee Jae Myung’s economic delegation, the company said Tuesday. Choi met with Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon, Mexico’s economy minister, and Rosaura Ruiz Gutiérrez, minister of science, humanities, technology and innovation, as well as officials from the Agency of Digital Transformation and Telecommunications and Mexican IT company Softtek. Choi introduced Naver’s public-sector AI transformation capabilities, sovereign AI strategy and AI factory project being developed with Nvidia and Brookfield, while proposing cooperation on Mexico’s public sector digital transformation a
KB Financial Group's surprise decision to replace its incumbent chairman despite record earnings is under closer shareholder scrutiny, with the world's two largest proxy advisory firms reviewing the nomination ahead of a shareholder vote, industry officials said Tuesday. Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis told The Korea Times that they are currently reviewing company proposals ahead of an extraordinary shareholders meeting scheduled for Nov. 20. Neither has yet issued a recommendation on the appointment of Lee Jae-keun as KB Financial's next chairman. Glass Lewis said it was unable to comment on the nomination at this stage because its research on the company was still underway. ISS similarly said its recommendation would be available once its research is published. "I’m happy to send you our shareholder meeting research and recommendations for KB Financial Group once we publish, which is typically 14-16 calendar days ahead of the shareholder meeting, as noted in our media policy," an ISS spokesperson said. Their recommendations could carry particular weight at KB
SK hynix Inc. has announced that it will expand its support programs for partner companies, including providing upfront funding of up to 50 percent of research and development (R&D) costs. The plan was announced at an event hosted by SK hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung and attended by key executives and representatives of about 100 partner companies on Monday. At the technology development stage, SK hynix will introduce a program under which it will provide upfront funding of up to 50 percent of initial R&D costs. Even if a project fails to result in a successful technology or an actual purchase, SK hynix will make a post-development settlement based on the technological achievements and contributions of the partner company. At the testing and verification stage, SK hynix will provide access to infrastructure, including production lines, to help partner companies verify the performance and reliability of their products. At the mass-production stage, SK hynix will provide low-interest financing through its shared-growth fund and expand its consulting program to include second- and third-tier suppli
US chip giant Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has agreed to acquire World Labs, the artificial intelligence start-up founded by renowned Chinese-American computer scientist Li Fei-Fei, for US$8.2 billion in an all-stock deal, as the company steps up its rivalry with Nvidia. The acquisition, expected to close by the end of this year, would integrate World Labs’ research team and spatial-intelligence model expertise into AMD, according to an announcement on Monday. Li, a Stanford University professor...
OpenAI says its model ran commands, wrote files and took credentials from a Medicare portal, going further than the government’s account.
Alibaba Group Holding has become an official technology and cloud partner of NBA team Brooklyn Nets, as the tech giant pushes for a deeper presence in the sports industry. The collaboration was announced on Monday under a multi-year strategic partnership between Alibaba and Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, the parent company of the basketball team. It would also see Alibaba become Brooklyn Nets’ official jersey patch sponsor ahead of the basketball team’s 60th anniversary season, according to a...
Korean conglomerate Samsung Group said Tuesday it will invest a combined $1 billion in Helix Digital Infrastructure, a U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure company backed by private equity firm KKR & Co. Six affiliates — Samsung Electronics, Samsung C&T, Samsung SDS, Samsung SDI, Samsung Life Insurance and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance — will participate in the investment, Samsung said in a statement. Samsung Electronics will invest $500 million, while the other five affiliates will invest a combined $500 million. Helix was launched in June by KKR, the Kuwait Investment Authority, Nvidia and U.S. power producer Vistra Corp., with more than $10 billion in committed long-term capital. The company is led by Adam Selipsky, the former chief executive of Amazon Web Services. Nvidia is a strategic partner, while Vistra is Helix's preferred power partner. The Samsung affiliates will join KKR, Nvidia, Vistra and the Kuwait Investment Authority as founding investors in Helix through the investment, Samsung said. As the AI industry expands rapidly, the importance of infrastructure n
Sep 28, 2026
Korean Air faces a growing maintenance capacity challenge, as its acquisition of Asiana Airlines creates a fleet of more than 230 aircraft at a time when heavy-maintenance slots remain increasingly difficult to secure across Asia. The integrated carrier, scheduled to launch in December, will operate the larger fleet and employ more than 4,000 maintenance workers. It will require more airframe, engine and component maintenance that must be handled internally or secured through outside maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) providers. However, constrained global MRO capacity and a shortage of international heavy-maintenance slots have become a material operational risk to Korean Air. Securing wide-body base-maintenance slots has become particularly difficult across Southeast Asia. Korean Air is responding by expanding its own capabilities. In November last year, the airline and Incheon International Airport Corp. (IIAC) agreed to invest 176 billion won ($130 million) to build a next-generation maintenance hangar at the airport's High-Tech Aviation Complex. The facility will be able to ac
Korea was ranked 12th place in the global artificial intelligence (AI) diffusion scale, with more than 40 percent of the population using the technology in the second quarter, a report from Microsoft Corp. showed Monday. Generative AI usage rate among Koreans aged 15 to 64 rose 3.5 percentage points from the previous quarter, bringing the country up by four ranks as of end-June, according to the global AI diffusion report published by the U.S. software developer. Global usage rate of generative AI was up 1 percentage point from 17.8 percent in the January-March period to 18.8 percent in the April-June period, the report showed. United Arab Emirates (UAE) was the highest in AI adoption, with a usage rate of 73.3 percent. Followed by Singapore at 64.3 percent, Ireland at 49.9 percent and France estimated at 49.6 percent. The AI usage rate was 28.8 percent in the Global North and 16.2 percent in the Global South, widening the adoption gap to 12.6 percentage points. Global North is a term referring to wealthy, industrialized countries, such as the United States, Korea, Japan, Israel and New Z