South Korean tech news in Q1 of 2023 covered headlines in subject areas as diverse as ocean shipment supply chains, Samsung’s Bitcoin Futures exchange-traded fund, semiconductor industry developments and AI-focused chips, metaverse-based K-Pop artists and more.
Hit the headline links bullet-pointed below to read each Korean tech news item online, in full and free of charge.
January 2023 | February 2023 | March 2023
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Korea Startup Grand Challenge 2023 – applications now open
tech news: March 2023
- South Korea: Sapeon semiconductor chip firm, backed by SK Telecom, memory-chip producer SK Hynix and SK Square, announces fundraising effort with valuation above $400M
- South Korea: Gov’t to boost the country’s space industry with initial investment of near $40M
- South Korea: Samsung Electronics to invest $230BN over 20 years to build 5 semiconductor plants, aiming for world’s largest facility with advanced fabrication, 150 firms producing materials, R&D and more
- North Korean hackers modify tactics to use polished LinkedIn profiles and WhatsApp to target security researchers, posing as recruiters to send hacks disguised as offer documents
“The government itself plans to pitch in $19 billion for R&D, $275 billion for chip packaging and $76 billion for infrastructure. Korea’s industry ministry said the efforts would allow the country to ‘leap forward as a high-tech industrial superpower.'”
- Hackers including North Korean APT groups found to be renting online cloud-based services to mine crypto, producing ‘clean’ bitcoin minus blockchain-based connections used in law enforcement tracing
- Malaysia’s CelcomDigi and South Korea’s SK Telecom ink MoU to develop Malaysia’s metaverse ecosystem, looking at verticals to work on including education, health, retail and entertainment
- Japan lifts export controls on South Korea relating to materials for semiconductor and display production, following Seoul’s withdrawal of WTO litigation
tech news: February 2023
Accenture: The Pulse of the Semiconductor Industry 2023 (pdf link)
- South Korea’s Rebellions Inc to launch AI chip focusing on specific tasks in niche market bid, with gov’t investing over $800M over 5 years for AI R&D in move towards global presence
- South Korea sanctions 4 North Korean hackers and 7 organizations, including those under the DPRK’s military intelligence agency, over cyberattacks and cryptocurrency theft
- South Korea: Busan sets sight on global hub status for digital assets with creation of publicly-run crypto exchange, in part to to attract blockchain companies and foreign investment
- Semiconductor alliance of Taiwan, the US, Japan and South Korea held its first video meeting of senior officials last week, focused on supply chain resilience
“The group’s members are home to the world’s largest contract chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd, South Korean memory chip giants Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and SK Hynix, and key Japanese suppliers of semiconductor materials and equipment.”
- South Korea: Croft gains seed funding with AI-based ‘smart farm’ solutions, monitoring and optimizing greenhouse systems
- “Proofpoint detailed how North Korean state-backed hackers managed to siphon more than $1 billion in cryptocurrencies and other blockchain assets in the 2022 calendar year…”
- North Korea: “…the money raised by North Korea’s criminal cyber operations help finance up to a third of the funds dedicated to its missile programmes.”
Gemini: 2022 Global state of crypto report
tech news: January 2023
- South Korea: SeaVantage gains $1.3M funding with real- time ocean supply chain visibility, allowing better management and tracking of ocean shipments
- South Korea: A look at UBeeslab’s SoccerBee, providing pro-level sporting analysis with GPS-tracking wearables for amateur players
- Major startup event, Slush, to hold spin-off Slush’D gathering in South Korea with Korea Startup Forum selected as on-site organizer
- ICYMI: United Arab Emirates is to invest $30BN in South Korea in the country’s nuclear power, arms and energy sectors, with Korea looking to boost flagging export levels
- South Korea: PeopleFund P2P lending platform raises $20M, connecting borrowers and investors using AI-powered risk management and credit scoring system
- South Korea: Ministry of Science & ICT to invest $12BN to foster 10 deep-tech unicorn startups by 2027, alongside establishing Scale-up National Tech Strategy Center
- South Korea and the metaverse: “In the world’s testing ground for tech, K-pop singers are being spun up out of pixels and doing battle in a virtual universe.”
- ICYMI: Samsung launches Samsung Bitcoin Futures Active ETF in Hong Kong, with hopes for further products as regulations develop
IMF: Towards Central Bank Digital Currencies in Asia and the Pacific
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