Technology news from South Korea in February 2024: XR in South Korean surgery, placing key information directly in front of a surgeon’s eyes; North Korea’s spy satellite believed to be active; last-mile Korean delivery robots approved for sidewalks; the Korean government’s 5-year focus and funding plan for emerging technologies; and more.
For more technology news from across Asia and the Indo-Pacific, you should take a look at our daily editions and weekly newsletters.
South Korea: National Cybersecurity Strategy
- South Korea: Rebellions Inc raised $124M to ramp up development of next-generation, AI-focused semiconductor chips
- South Korea: Ministry of SMEs & Startups moves to bolster venture investment landscape uncertainty with allocation of $684M into investment projects for fiscal year’s first quarter
- South Korea: Rebellions AI-focused semiconductor firm raised $124M Series B, with next-gen chips targeting a price half that of NVIDIA equivalents
- South Korea: Seoul Metro Gov’t partners Google Startup Campus for AI Startup School program for young people, targeting an overall intake of 6000 for education
- KT – Korea Telecom – and partners to build out fiber-optic cable network connecting Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam
“With delivery robots now allowed to use sidewalks
in South Korea, companies are racing to
resolve issues related to the last mile of delivery
to bring goods to the customer’s door.”“Woowa Brothers, operator of the country’s biggest food delivery app, launched a pilot program using delivery robots at a large apartment complex in 2021. When participating restaurants in the complex receive orders from Woowa’s app, they load the order on the Dilly Drive robot, which then makes the delivery automatically.”
“Dilly Drive uses cameras, radar and GPS to travel at 5 or 6 kilometers per hour while avoiding pedestrians. It can cross crosswalks by recognizing whether the signal is green or red. The robot can communicate with the building’s management system, allowing it to ride elevators and bring food and drinks to the customer’s apartment.”
- South Korea: Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs launches $149M Agri-Food Venture Fund, focusing on companies leveraging technology to enhance agricultural productivity
- South Korea: Ministry of SMEs & Startups launches Super Gap Startup Promotion Project plan to identify over 1000 deep-tech startups across 5 years, focusing on emerging techs including semiconductors and AI
- South Korea: TelePix unveils NVIDIA-based AI processor geared for satellites, running 10 trillion operations per second to analyze large datasets in space in real-time
- South Korea: Indonesia’s East Ventures VC introduces first managing partner for $100M East Ventures South Korea fund, formed in partnership with SV Investment
PwC 2024 AI for Business Predictions
- Download: South Korea National Security Strategy, featuring a focus on boosting preemptive and offensive capabilities to counter North Korea’s increasing cyber threats (pdf)
- Samsung wins its first 2nm AI chip order from Japan’s Preferred Networks Inc in switch from PFN’s past TSMC supply of advanced chips
- South Korea’s MediThinQ launches world-first XR-enabled wearable surgical displays, placing critical information directly in from of a surgeon’s eyes
“MediThinQ’s XR solutions present critical information directly in from of the surgeon’s eyes, eliminating the need to divert attention to screens. The first of its kind in revolutionising how medical information is accessed in live surgeries, they are backed by best-in-class image fidelity, latency, reliability, and equipment compatibility.”
- South Korea: Hyundai Motor Group opens 2024 recruitment for ZER01NE Accelerator program, seeking solutions focusing on software defined vehicles, ‘smart factory’ developments, ESG and artificial intelligence
- South Korea: Dolbomdream gains Quest Ventures backing with IoT-backed ‘hugging vests’, offering psychological comfort by simulating the effect of hugs on wearers
EY Parthenon: 2024 Geostrategic Outlook
- South Korea’s largest telco, SK Telecom, partners US AI startup Perplexity for artificial intelligence-driven search engine as an alternative to offerings from Google and Naver
- NK Insider: News, informed analysis, and op-eds curated and presented by North Koreans themselves
- North Korea’s first spy satellite, Malligyong-1, is believed now to be live following orbit changes detected that suggest Pyongyang has control of the craft
“But now we can definitely say the satellite is alive,” Marco Langbroek, a satellite expert at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, wrote in a blog post.
“From Feb. 19-24, the satellite conducted manoeuvres to raise its perigee, or the lowest point in its orbit, to 497 km from 488 km (308.8 miles from 303.2 miles), Langbroek said, citing data from the U.S.–led Combined Space Operations Center.”
- Seoul National University Center for Quantum Information Science Education and US quantum tech firm, IonQ, ink agreement around developing a quantum workforce
- South Korea: DeepX nears $90M funding with specialized AI-focused semiconductors, working with Hyundai Kia Motors Robotics Lab and others to enter mass production
- ICYMI: OpenAI terminates accounts believed to be operated by nation-state cyber-threat actors linked to China, Russia, Iran and North Korea
- Intel, Japan’s NTT and South Korea’s SK Hynix partner on next-gen photonics chips, allowing communication using light instead of using electrons, with sights on semiconductor integration
Critical technologies, globally: February 2024
Asia’s tech news: Other editions
Deloitte: Global Semiconductor Industry Outlook in 2024 –
Email newsletters
Asia’s tech news:
Weekly newsletter on LinkedIn
Indo-Pacific tech:
Weekly newsletter on Substack
