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[WEEKENDER] What are Korea's flagship K-defense exports?
Korea has emerged as a major player in the global defense market, with its domestically developed weapons systems gaining traction for their competitive prices, advanced technology and fast delivery. From artillery and tanks to fighter jets and missile defense systems, Korean defense companies are expanding their global footprint and reshaping the country’s position in the international arms industry. K9 Thunder The K9 Thunder is Korea’s flagship self-propelled howitzer and one of the country’s most successful defense export items. Designed to provide mobile, long-range artillery fire support for ground forces, the 155-millimeter system can rapidly move, fire and relocate, making it well-suited to modern, highly mobile battlefields. The K9 is now used or being introduced by a growing list of countries, including Poland, Australia, Egypt, India, Norway, Finland, Estonia and Turkey. Poland has emerged as its largest export customer under a major deal to reinforce its artillery capabilities in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Redback IFV The Redback is Hanwha Aerospace’s nex
[TEST DRIVE] Renault Filante blends commanding size with agile drive
Renault Korea’s flagship crossover, the Filante, looks imposing at first glance, but feels surprisingly agile behind the wheel. Its planted ride, refined cabin and better-than-expected fuel economy give the large crossover a distinctive mix of comfort and driving appeal. The Filante was driven for about 400 kilometers on a round trip between Seoul and Daejeon, covering a mix of urban roads and highways. Across the route, the crossover delivered a stable ride and impressive fuel efficiency, making a strong overall impression. The Filante shares some of its design cues with Renault Korea’s popular Grand Koleos SUV, but carries a more upscale and sportier character. Measuring 4,915 millimeters in length and 1,635 millimeters in height, it has a substantial presence. Yet its low, flowing roofline and floating rear spoiler give the large body a sleeker profile, blending elements of a sedan and an SUV. The difference becomes more apparent once the car gets moving. The Filante’s driving character can be summed up in one word: planted. Its E-Tech hybrid powertrain combines a 1.5-liter turbo
This is the best way to migrate to a new iPhone or iPad
Just got a new iPhone 18 Pro or Pro Max? You’ll want to read this first before setting it up.
Poco X8 defies its mid-range class with an IP69K water-resistant body, available in Singapore
Betting big on its durability is the Poco X8’s IP-rated resistances. Yes, multiple ones.
Xiaomi 18 Fold makes its debut at IFA 2026 with wide form factor and XRing O3 chip
Xiaomi’s new wide-screen foldable will launch in China on 7 September.
Sushiro Suntec City is getting a Pokemon makeover
The restaurant will anchor a nationwide Sushiro x Pokemon campaign that features themed dishes and collectables from 10 September to 22 October.
‘Fifty times easier’: Why our best AI founders are moving to America
Amid an AI gold rush, Australia may be losing its ability to hold on to its best and brightest tech talent.
Casetify unveils new iPhone 18 Pro cases, with iPhone Duo cases soon to come
We’re particularly looking forward to those iPhone Duo cases.
Foreigners snap 7-month sell-offs of Korean stocks in August
Foreign investors ended their seven-month sell-offs of Korean stocks in August amid extended geopolitical risks and woes over artificial intelligence (AI) profitability, data showed Friday. Offshore investors scooped up a net 340 billion won ($246 million) worth of local stocks last month, snapping their selling binge for seven consecutive months, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Following their net purchases in August, offshore investors owned 2,281 trillion won worth of local stocks, or 34.8 percent of total market capitalization. By country, investors from the United States were the top buyers in August by purchasing a net 13.4 trillion won, followed by Ireland with 3.2 trillion won of buying, the latest findings showed. In the local bond market, foreign investors sold a net 3.94 trillion won worth of local debt last month. Their holdings of Korean bonds stood at 330 trillion won as of end-August, accounting for 11.4 percent of listed bonds here, the FSS revealed.
Hyosung Heavy Industries forms US joint venture to make high-voltage circuit breakers
Hyosung Heavy Industries is expanding its U.S. manufacturing footprint through a new joint venture to produce high-voltage circuit breakers in Pennsylvania. The company said June 16 that its subsidiary, Hyosung HICO, signed an agreement with a subsidiary of Quanta Services to establish Hyosung Hico Breaker, a joint venture for gas circuit breakers. The joint venture, incorporated in July, will begin manufacturing high-voltage circuit breakers ranging from 72.5 kilovolts to 800 kilovolts as early as October. Production will take place at Quanta's existing facility in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. Quanta Services is a major U.S. engineering, procurement and construction company specializing in power and energy infrastructure. It serves utilities, power generation and energy storage projects, data centers, telecommunications providers and other customers across the United States. The partnership combines Hyosung's power equipment expertise with Quanta's infrastructure capabilities as the Korean company expands its presence in the U.S. power market. With more than 50 years of experience in high-v
Hyundai Steel earns ISO 37301 certification for compliance management
Hyundai Steel has obtained ISO 37301 certification, an international standard for compliance management systems, recognizing its efforts to align its compliance framework with global standards. The steelmaker held a ceremony Wednesday at its Pangyo office in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, attended by Hyundai Steel Executive Vice President Seo Sang-weon, head of management support, and Korea Fair Competition Federation Chairman Park Jae-kyu. During the ceremony, the two sides shared the results of the certification process and discussed ways to further strengthen Hyundai Steel’s compliance management system. ISO 37301 is established by the International Organization for Standardization. It assesses whether a company has systems in place to comply with laws and internal rules and to identify, prevent and manage compliance risks. As part of the certification process, Hyundai Steel analyzed its business environment and stakeholder requirements, assessed potential compliance risks in key business processes and established measures to manage them and areas for improvement. The company also esta
Samsung Exynos chipset market share rises to 9% in Q2
Samsung Electronics' Exynos application processors (APs) accounted for 9 percent of global smartphone AP shipments in the second quarter, the highest level since the data was first compiled in 2024, industry data showed Friday. The figure was up 2 percentage points from the previous quarter and 3 percentage points from a year earlier, according to market researcher Counterpoint Research. APs, often described as the brains of mobile devices, handle core computing tasks needed to run operating systems and applications. The increase was driven by stronger Exynos shipments across both premium and mid-range smartphones. The flagship Exynos 2600, used in Samsung's Galaxy S26 series, contributed to growth in the premium segment, while Exynos chips used in the Galaxy A57 and A37 supported shipments in the mid-range segment. Taiwan's MediaTek, which makes Dimensity and Helio chipsets for a wide range of smartphones, led the market with a 31 percent share in the second quarter, data showed. U.S.-based Qualcomm, which makes Snapdragon chipsets, followed with 23 percent, while Apple, which designs its
The Met Unveils huge facade sculptures by Liu Wei in partnership with Genesis
Korean luxury automotive brand Genesis has unveiled its latest high-profile cultural initiative at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, filling the grand niches of the museum’s Fifth Avenue facade with four new monumental sculptures by Chinese artist Liu Wei. “The Genesis Facade Commission: Liu Wei, Speculation” opened Thursday (local time) and will remain on view through June 8, 2027, marking the third commission presented through Genesis’ multiyear partnership with the museum. Liu’s four works — “Speculation / Λ,” “Speculation / G,” “Speculation / c” and “Speculation / h” — draw on architectural fragments and bodily forms assembled from fiberglass composite, steel, aluminum alloy, polyurethane paint and bovine rawhide. The sculptures explore fragmentation, transformation and renewal, examining cycles of rupture and repair amid rapid social and cultural change. The human hand appears throughout the commission as a recurring motif, connecting recognizable forms with more fantastical ones while reflecting Liu’s interest in transformation, perception and imagina
Toss tests blockchain system for public payments
Toss, Korea’s dominant financial super-app, has completed a proof of concept with the state-run Korea Minting, Security Printing and ID Card Operating Corp. for a blockchain-based public payment infrastructure connecting digital currency with existing payment systems, the companies said Friday. The project follows a memorandum of understanding signed in April and examines whether blockchain-based digital currency can work with existing public payment infrastructure. Toss and Korea Minting, Security Printing and ID Card Operating Corp. built a separate test environment for local love gift certificates and implemented the full payment process, from charging gift certificate tokens with blockchain-based digital currency to payments and merchant settlements. The system uses Optimism, an ethereum layer 2 network, to process transactions while linking digital currency transfers with transactions handled by existing payment systems. The companies also tested Privacy Boost, a privacy solution designed to protect sensitive transaction information from exposure on a public blockchain during paym
Hyundai E&C to lead gov't push for 100-megawatt green hydrogen plants
Global construction giant Hyundai Engineering & Construction (E&C) is stepping up its clean-energy push, heading a state-backed project to engineer large-scale green hydrogen facilities capable of generating over 100 megawatts of zero-carbon fuel. Hyundai E&C said Friday that its HMG Construction Research Institute will lead the project, which is being promoted by the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment. The project aims to develop a comprehensive design package covering plant systems, core processes and operating configurations for large-scale hydrogen production, with the goal of bringing the technology to a level suitable for demonstration and commercialization. Hyundai E&C will lead a consortium that includes Hyundai Engineering, Hyundai Motor, Hanwha Global, Korea Midland Power, Mirae Standards Research Institute, Seoul National University and Korea University. Hyundai E&C will be responsible for developing the basic engineering package and conducting an economic feasibility assessment, according to the company. The project will also use artificial intelligence and dynamic si
Hanwha Systems joins Korea's national space debris tracking system
Hanwha Systems said Friday it has signed a contract with the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) to join, as the private-sector developer, a national system for tracking and predicting collisions among objects in orbit. The deal, signed Sept. 9, makes Hanwha Systems a system developer for the Korean Space Situational Awareness system (K-SSA) — a project under the Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA), the country's space agency. Space situational awareness refers to observing and analyzing the position and orbit of objects in space to detect and forecast risks such as collisions or objects falling back to Earth. The company said the number of satellites in low Earth orbit has grown sharply in recent years, raising the risk of collisions between spacecraft and both artificial and natural objects in orbit — from defunct satellites to debris and meteoroids — and adding urgency to efforts to protect national space assets. Under the project, KASI will serve as the lead research institute, setting the mission, operating concept and system requirements for the K-SSA system
Hankook Tire extends OE supply deal with Europe's Schmitz Cargobull
Hankook Tire & Technology said it has signed a four-year deal to keep supplying original equipment (OE) tires — tires installed on vehicles at the factory, before they reach dealers — to German trailer manufacturer Schmitz Cargobull, extending a partnership that dates back more than a decade. Under the agreement, which runs from July 2026 through June 2030, Hankook will supply truck and bus radial (TBR) tires for Schmitz Cargobull's new trailers across Europe, the company said. Hankook first began supplying OE tires to Schmitz Cargobull in 2013 and has since expanded the range of products it provides. Schmitz Cargobull, headquartered in Germany, is Europe's largest trailer manufacturer, with production plants across the continent, including in the United Kingdom, Spain, Lithuania, Romania and Turkey. The company makes refrigerated semi-trailers and dump trailers, among other commercial vehicle equipment, and is a major supplier to Europe's logistics industry. The tires supplied under the deal will use Hankook's Smartec platform, its top-tier TBR technology line. Products include the
Hanwha deepens ties with Abu Dhabi in digital finance
Hanwha Group’s financial affiliates are expanding ties with Abu Dhabi across digital finance, stablecoins and cross-border payments, as the group seeks to build a broader foothold in the Middle East’s financial center. Hanwha Life Insurance, Hanwha General Insurance, Hanwha Asset Management and Hanwha Investment & Securities signed separate agreements with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) and Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), covering digital finance and financial infrastructure. Hanwha Life signed a partnership with ADIO to collaborate on developing digital financial services, strengthening ties between the Korean and Abu Dhabi financial and capital markets and exploring opportunities in digital banking. Hanwha Asset Management, meanwhile, signed a tripartite partnership with ADGM and Hana Financial Group on stablecoins and financial infrastructure to develop cross-border payment and remittance solutions linking Korea and Abu Dhabi. The four financial affiliates also signed a partnership with ADGM for Abu Dhabi Finance Week 2026, building on discussions at last year’s event ab
Coway launches slim office chair combining recliner, massage functions
Coway has launched the Berex Triple Chair 2 Slim, a multifunctional chair that combines the functions of an office chair, recliner and massage chair. The new product reflects growing demand for space-saving furniture as housing costs rise and one- and two-person households become more common, the home appliance maker said. The Triple Chair 2 Slim is 9 percent smaller in volume than the previous model, making it easier to fit into tight spaces. It also features hidden wheels that give the chair a cleaner look while making it easier to move. The chair is designed for people who spend long hours sitting, such as those working from home or studying. The massage balls are tucked inside the backrest when the massage function is not in use, reducing pressure on the back. The head cushion supports the head and neck, while the seat height can be adjusted by up to 5 centimeters to suit different body types. The backrest can be reclined from 110 degrees for working to 150 degrees for relaxing. Users can also adjust the backrest and leg rest separately for a more comfortable position. The chair also f
Top Chinese AI models make 10% of OpenAI, Anthropic revenue despite high valuations: report
Chinese artificial intelligence models from seven major developers combined generate only about 10 per cent of the revenue reported for OpenAI and Anthropic, even as investor enthusiasm remains intense, according to US-based research firm Rhodium Group. The Chinese AI models earned an estimated US$10.7 billion in annual recurring revenue (ARR) from March to August, a fraction of the more than US$100 billion combined for OpenAI and Anthropic, according to the Rhodium report published on...
Chip foundries better insulated in an AI slowdown than Asia-Pacific tech peers, S&P says
As market fears mount over waning Big Tech spending and calls to slow down frontier artificial intelligence development, Asia-Pacific semiconductor foundries are better positioned to withstand a potential downturn in AI investment than other tech hardware firms in the region, according to S&P Global Ratings. In a report published on Thursday, the rating agency said it had stress tested four key Asia-Pacific sectors – foundries, memory manufacturers, cooling component suppliers and original...
China to see major shift to Huawei for AI model training in 2027: deputy chair
Huawei Technologies expects a major domestic shift towards its artificial intelligence computing infrastructure for model training next year, as its Ascend processors gain ground on Nvidia in China despite supply constraints, according to rotating chairman Eric Xu Zhijun. “I believe that starting from next year, a lot of the AI model training will be based on the SuperPoD or SuperCluster based on Ascend 950DT,” Xu told reporters during the Huawei Connect 2026 conference in Shanghai on...
The iPhone 18 Pro Max leads early Singapore sales as Burgundy dominates
Gain City says the iPhone 18 Pro Max accounted for 78 percent of its iPhone sales since doors opened, with queues forming from 5.30am and Burgundy the colour of choice.
SIMBA puts Huawei Wi-Fi 7 inside its new 10Gbps broadband gateway
SIMBA is making Huawei central to its latest 10Gbps broadband offer, with Wi-Fi 7 built into the optical network router and adds mesh nodes to extend whole-home coverage.
Apple iPhone 18 Pro, Pro Max and iPhone Duo: Singapore prices and availability
Apple’s new Pro iPhones arrive in Singapore on 18 September, while the foldable iPhone Duo follows in October with prices starting at S$3,099.
The billionaire who can’t stop writing essays that freak out everyone
One of Dario Amodei’s key jobs is selling his company’s product to a public that is simultaneously enticed and horrified.
Doosan Corp. bets $700 mil. on chip substrate material biz
Doosan Corp., the holding company of Doosan Group which also operates an electromaterials business, will invest 970 billion won ($702.6 million) to expand its production capacity for copper clad laminates (CCLs), a key material for advanced semiconductor substrates. Doosan Corp. said in a regulatory filing Thursday that its board approved investment to expand the domestic and overseas production capacity of its electromaterials business unit. Under the plan, the company will invest 970 billion won by Dec. 31 next year to expand its production capacity in Korea and overseas. The investment is the largest in Doosan Corp.’s history and accounts for about 8 percent of its equity capital. CCL is a key material used in advanced chip substrates and printed circuit boards (PCBs) found in virtually all electronic devices. The market for the material has remained strong in recent months as demand continues to outpace supply across the broader semiconductor value chain. Doosan Corp. will spend 420 billion won to expand its domestic production lines for CCLs used in optical transceivers — device
LG chairman stresses 'prompt, tenacious execution' in AI investment
LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo stressed “prompt and tenacious execution” in making investments in artificial intelligence (AI) businesses, asking affiliate CEOs to treat AI as a key factor that will determine the group’s future competitiveness. According to the group, Thursday, Koo made the comments during a meeting with LG affiliate presidents at the group’s training center in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, a day earlier. The meeting was attended by Koo and over 40 top executives of LG Electronics, LG Display, LG Innotek and other key affiliates. Participants explored how AI is bringing changes to the industrial and technological landscape and discussed investment priorities and execution plans to secure future competitiveness. “AI is no longer an area where we can selectively choose whether to respond,” Koo said. “It is the key pillar that will determine our future competitiveness. I ask our CEOs to focus on prompt and tenacious execution so that we can win in the future competition driven by AI.” During the meeting, participants reviewed past investments in areas including
KT joins state project to build AI-driven 'dark factory' solutions
KT said Thursday it has joined a government-led research project to develop design and construction solutions for "dark factories" — fully automated, unmanned plants that run around the clock using artificial intelligence (AI) across every stage of production. The project falls under a Ministry of Science and ICT initiative to build a research and development ecosystem for a software platform based on collaborative intelligence and physical AI. It aims to build a dark factory near Jeonbuk Innovation City in North Jeolla Province. Besides KT, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, LG Energy Solution, Harim Foods, Shinsung E&G and the Korea Productivity Center are taking part as joint research institutions. KT will develop a system built on modular edge AI data center infrastructure — compact, distributed AI data centers pre-assembled on factory floors — to generate and verify Sim-Ready synthetic data, or digital data usable in virtual simulation environments, along with an integrated environment for operating AI agents. Through the research, KT aims to resolve error
CJ ENM eyes European growth with major brand push in Poland
CJ ENM, the Korean entertainment powerhouse behind hits like "Parasite" and Studio Dragon dramas, is widening its reach into Central and Eastern Europe. Following its participation in the 2026 Korea-Poland Brand Week in Warsaw on Tuesday and Wednesday, the media company announced plans Thursday to accelerate content distribution and forge local production alliances across the region. The event was hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and organized by the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA). During the two-day event, CJ ENM signed a memorandum of understanding with the Korean Cultural Center in Poland and KOCCA to expand the reach of Korean content in the country. Under the agreement, the company plans to widen exchanges with European institutions and broaden the footprint of Korean content through screenings, promotional events and other programs. CJ ENM ran experience booths tied to its dramas "Lovely Runner" and "The Legend of Kitchen Soldier," letting visitors engage directly with the shows. It also held a special screening of "The Legend of Kitchen Soldier," alongsi
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![[WEEKENDER] K-defense exports enter new phase](https://newsimg.koreatimes.co.kr/2026/09/08/1f1e24e0-65a5-4e93-9881-e7eb54e7e78f.jpeg)
![[WEEKENDER] What are Korea's flagship K-defense exports?](https://newsimg.koreatimes.co.kr/2026/09/10/a4002ffe-dba9-4db9-93d9-c16c82194cc4.jpeg)
![[TEST DRIVE] Renault Filante blends commanding size with agile drive](https://newsimg.koreatimes.co.kr/2026/09/10/8c617c5a-b0f2-47a3-9fc4-65ffdc84498a.jpeg)

















