aweXome Ray said on Aug. 11 it has secured 7.5 billion won in a Series B bridge financing round, with investors recognizing the technological and commercial potential of its carbon nanotube (CNT)-based extreme ultraviolet (EUV) pellicle membrane.

Strategic investors included S&S Investment, an affiliate of S&S Tech, a manufacturer of photomasks and EUV pellicles, as well as Wonik Investment Partners. Wonik Investment Partners and Hanwha Investment & Securities participated through a jointly managed fund. Other investors included Reinvestment, L&S Venture Capital, KNET Investment Partners, Union Investment Partners, and Ascendo Ventures.

The company said participation by pellicle manufacturers, semiconductor materials and equipment companies, and financial investors demonstrates industry recognition of both the technological competitiveness and commercialization potential of its CNT-based pellicle membrane. It added that the participation of a defense-focused fund jointly managed by Wonik Investment Partners and Hanwha Investment & Securities also highlights the potential application of its CNT fibers and membranes in aerospace and defense.

The proceeds will be used to stabilize production of EUV pellicle membranes, strengthen quality control systems and support customer supply programs. aweXome Ray has established a dedicated cleanroom production line for EUV pellicle membranes in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province, to produce qualification samples and support initial customer shipments. The company said customer evaluations are currently underway and expects initial commercial supply and revenue once qualification is completed.

aweXome Ray is developing CNT-based membranes for EUV pellicles used in advanced semiconductor lithography. Pellicles protect photomasks carrying semiconductor circuit patterns from contamination during the EUV exposure process, requiring both high EUV transmittance and exceptional heat resistance. The company said CNT materials, which are lightweight, thin and highly heat-resistant, are well suited for next-generation pellicles designed for high-power EUV exposure environments.

The company has also strengthened its pellicle business with additional industry expertise. Hong Sung-chul, a senior executive at S&S Investment, joined aweXome Ray's board as an outside director in March. A former Samsung Electronics engineer with experience in semiconductor photomask and pellicle development, Hong will support customer qualification and technical engagement.

In February, Lee Dong-wook, who previously led advanced materials commercialization at LG Chem and EcoPro BM, joined the company as Chief Product Officer (CPO). He oversees the pellicle business division and is responsible for converting research and development achievements into commercial products and customer supply.

aweXome Ray is also participating in a government-funded pellicle technology development project under South Korea's Deep Tech Challenge program administered by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. The company is carrying out a 3.6 billion won research and development project and has been selected for the Korea Technology Finance Corporation (KIBO) Unicorn Bridge program, securing 600 million won in funding and eligibility for up to 20 billion won in technology guarantees. The company plans to combine private investment with government R&D support to advance its technology and accelerate commercialization.

The company is also stepping up preparations for an initial public offering (IPO). After signing an investment agreement with Jeju Special Self-Governing Province in March, it relocated its headquarters to the Jeju Science Park. Having been selected as one of the province's IPO support companies, aweXome Ray is preparing to appoint an IPO underwriter and undergo a preliminary technology assessment. The company aims to pursue a technology-track listing in 2028 while advancing customer qualification and initial product shipments.

Hong Sung-chul, senior executive at S&S Investment, said aweXome Ray possesses differentiated CNT-based EUV pellicle membrane technology and strong commercialization potential.

"With its production line now in place and customer qualification underway, the company has entered the commercialization stage. We will actively support the establishment of a stable supply chain and successful market entry," he said.

Chief Executive Officer Kim Se-hoon said the new production line and funding round represent an important milestone in transforming aweXome Ray from a research-focused company into an advanced materials supplier capable of serving customers.

"We will successfully complete customer qualification, accelerate commercialization of our CNT-based EUV pellicle membrane, and strengthen our competitiveness in the global semiconductor materials market," he said.

Semiconductor ceramics materials suppliers and their customers are expanding technical collaboration while strengthening industry-academia-research partnerships to reinforce the semiconductor supply chain.

The Engineering Ceramics Division (KECD) of the Korean Ceramic Society said on Aug. 11 it hosted the Semiconductor Process Ceramics Materials and Components Innovation Forum Seminar at the IT Medical Convergence Technology Center in Geumo Techno Valley, Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province. The event was jointly organized with the Semiconductor Process Ceramics Materials and Components Innovation Forum and the Gyeongbuk–Gumi Semiconductor Specialized Complex Promotion Team.

The seminar brought together semiconductor manufacturers and equipment companies including Samsung Electronics, SK hynix, SEMES, Lam Research Korea, Wonik IPS, TES, and Eugene Technology. A total of 30 companies participated overall, including ceramics materials and components suppliers such as Wonik QnC, Komico, Mico Ceramics, TCK, Worldex Industry, CMTX, and LKN Engineering.

The seminar focused on "Ceramics and Plasma Chemistry for Semiconductor Manufacturing Processes." Presentations covered plasma resistance characteristics of ceramic materials used in etching and deposition chambers, particle reduction technologies and design strategies for high-durability ceramics. Researchers from Korea Aerospace University, the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS), Kumoh National Institute of Technology, and the Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS) presented their latest research.

Following the seminar, participants held an industry-academia networking session to discuss expanding technical collaboration and joint research among companies and research institutes. The promotion team said it plans to make the seminar a regular event and use it as a platform for future commercial cooperation.

Lee Hyun-kwon, head of the Gyeongbuk–Gumi Semiconductor Specialized Complex Promotion Team, said the event marked the first opportunity for leading semiconductor manufacturers and materials suppliers in South Korea to share commercialization technologies and on-site industry requirements.

He added that the Gyeongbuk–Gumi Semiconductor Specialized Complex will strengthen its role as a collaborative platform linking companies with one another as well as with research institutions.

Avaco said on Aug. 11 it has begun operating a pilot production line, developed in collaboration with affiliate AVATEC, to validate through-glass via (TGV) processes for next-generation semiconductor packaging substrates.

The companies completed construction of the pilot line in the first half of this year. The line supports large-format glass substrates measuring 515 × 510 millimeters and integrates laser drilling, etching, seed-layer deposition and optical inspection into a single process flow.

In addition to evaluating the performance of individual production tools, the pilot line is designed to verify process integration and repeatability in mass production. AVATEC, drawing on its manufacturing experience in display glass etching and thin-film processing, will oversee process operation and production stability.

Avaco has been investing in TGV equipment and process technologies since 2023. Its flagship second-generation TGV laser drilling system, AXIUM AP-250K, is capable of processing up to 10,000 via holes per second using dual optical heads. The company said the system achieves tolerances below 5 micrometers, enabling uniform processing across large-area glass panels.

The company has also secured alkaline wet etching technology and seed-layer deposition equipment for post-laser processing. By combining physical vapor deposition (PVD) with hybrid deposition techniques, Avaco is advancing process technologies for controlling high-aspect-ratio structures and forming uniform metal layers, both of which are critical for TGV substrates.

An optical inspection system has also been installed to inspect defects generated during the manufacturing process. The system performs full inspection of TGV hole geometry and processing quality and will be linked with an automated production line to validate quality control systems for mass production. The company added that it has secured a variety of glass materials through non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with major glass suppliers.

The two companies plan to provide TGV glass substrate samples incorporating laser drilling through seed-layer deposition in 2026. The samples will range in size from 100 × 100 millimeters to 515 × 510 millimeters. In 2027, they plan to expand sample offerings to include metallized substrates incorporating laser drilling, etching, deposition, via filling and planarization processes.

Avaco said it is currently discussing technology collaboration and future mass production with multiple overseas customers. Once the pilot line has completed process and equipment validation, Avaco plans to expand its TGV equipment business, while AVATEC will participate in commercialization of glass substrates by leveraging its etching technology and process operation expertise.

An Avaco official said the company believes that validating the entire manufacturing process—not just individual tools—is essential for entering the glass substrate market.

"Through our collaboration with AVATEC, we will organically combine equipment, process technology and mass production expertise to establish an integrated TGV solution capable of delivering the production-ready products our customers require," the official said.

Siemens EDA outlined how artificial intelligence (AI) can reduce semiconductor design time by as much as tenfold, highlighting multi-agent AI as a key technology for addressing the growing complexity of chip development.

Ankur Gupta, Senior Vice President of IC Products at Siemens Digital Industries Software's Electronic Design Automation (EDA) business, presented the company's AI-native design strategy during a media briefing held at Lotte Hotel World in Seoul on Aug. 11.

"Last month, we integrated a broad range of agentic AI capabilities into our EDA platform, including multi-agent workflows, self-verification and long-duration autonomous execution," Gupta said.

Multi-agent AI enables multiple AI agents to divide and coordinate semiconductor design tasks. After engineers specify design parameters such as manufacturing process, voltage and temperature conditions, the agents automatically perform verification, debugging and design modifications. Siemens introduced its AI-powered EDA system, Fuse, in 2025.

According to the company, multi-agent AI can accelerate transistor characterization workloads by up to ten times while reducing token costs by roughly 90%.

"Engineers at large companies are restricting or even suspending the use of large language models because token budgets have become unsustainably high," Gupta said. "The EDA industry recognizes this as a critical challenge and is developing technologies that deliver much higher token efficiency."

Siemens is also collaborating with Nvidia to develop AI-enabled EDA tools. Earlier this year, the two companies announced a strategic AI partnership aimed at integrating AI throughout the semiconductor design flow—from register-transfer level (RTL) design through verification. Under the collaboration, Nvidia's AI infrastructure and Nemotron models will be incorporated into Siemens' EDA software.

Gupta said modern semiconductor designs are reaching unprecedented levels of complexity.

"Today's chips contain more than 200 billion transistors and exceed thermal densities of 100 watts per square centimeter," he said. "Conventional design approaches can no longer keep pace with the speed of the market."

He added that even modest improvements in chip efficiency can have a substantial impact.

"A 5% reduction in power consumption translates into significant energy savings at the system level, making it an important factor in building a more sustainable industry," he said.

Other leading EDA vendors, including Synopsys and Cadence Design Systems, are also incorporating AI capabilities into their design platforms.

Gupta said Siemens differentiates itself through its focus on design verification, emphasizing that the company provides a comprehensive integrity platform.

"In semiconductor design, a single minor error can result in design failure or lower manufacturing yields," he said. "Because such failures can cost hundreds of millions of dollars, building software that customers can trust is the industry's highest priority."

Siemens also said AI can significantly reduce verification time, one of the most time-consuming stages of semiconductor development. According to the company, its EDA tools can accelerate automatic test pattern generation (ATPG) simulation by up to five times for certain workloads. ATPG simulation is used to validate test patterns in virtual environments before they are applied to detect manufacturing defects in semiconductor devices.

HD Hyundai Oilbank said on Aug. 11 it has commercialized South Korea's first engine oil specifically designed for hydrogen internal combustion engines (H2-ICE).

The company said it has begun supplying its XTeer H2-ICE engine oil to hydrogen commercial vehicle manufacturers, including Tata Daewoo Mobility.

HD Hyundai Oilbank began developing lubricant technology for hydrogen internal combustion engines in 2023 and completed product development and performance validation last year.

Hydrogen internal combustion engines operate at higher combustion temperatures than conventional internal combustion engines and generate moisture during combustion, which can accelerate engine wear and degrade lubricant performance.

According to the company, the new engine oil incorporates technologies designed to protect engine components, control moisture and suppress deposits generated during the combustion process.

An HD Hyundai Oilbank official said the company has secured proprietary lubricant technology for hydrogen internal combustion engines and successfully commercialized the product.

The official added that the company plans to expand its portfolio of high-value-added lubricant products targeting the global market.

EcoPro said its investments in nickel smelting projects in Indonesia are generating an average operating margin of 20%, as the company expands its presence in the country to strengthen nickel supply security and improve cost competitiveness.

The company said on Aug. 11 that it held an investment seminar on its Indonesian BNSI project on Aug. 10 at the JW Marriott Hotel Seoul. More than 100 attendees, including EcoPro executives, independent directors and institutional investors, participated in the event.

Since 2022, EcoPro has invested a total of 500 million dollars in four projects within the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP). Through those investments, the company has secured annual rights to procure 29,000 metric tons of nickel.

Chief Executive Officer Song Ho-jun said the first phase of the company's investments has generated an average operating margin of 20%.

"In addition to nickel, we are generating further profits from by-products such as cobalt and chromium," Song said.

Building on the performance of its existing investments, EcoPro will participate as a major shareholder in the BNSI nickel smelter currently under construction in Indonesia's International Green Industrial Park (IGIP). Combining the first and second investment phases, the company expects to secure annual rights to procure a total of 65,000 metric tons of nickel.

The BNSI project is being developed jointly with China's GEM Co., Ltd. and Indonesian nickel mining company PT Vale Indonesia (PTVI). Construction of the smelter began in April last year, with commercial production targeted for the second quarter of next year.

Song said the company also plans to leverage the hydrometallurgical nickel processing technology and operational expertise gained in Indonesia to expand into the urban mining and battery recycling business, in addition to generating returns from the BNSI investment.

SFA has begun shipping manufacturing equipment for LS Cable & System's subsea cable plant in the United States.

The company said on Aug. 11 it held a shipment ceremony for the first 10,000-metric-ton-class turntable destined for LS Cable & System's manufacturing facility in Virginia. Between the fourth quarter of last year and the first quarter of this year, SFA secured turntable supply contracts worth approximately 150 billion won.

SFA will deliver dozens of turntables to the Virginia plant in phases through the end of 2027.

Turntables are used to wind, store and transport completed subsea cables to the next stage of the manufacturing process. Because long-distance subsea cables are highly susceptible to excessive tension and twisting, the equipment must precisely control cable handling. The turntables supplied by SFA measure more than 40 meters in diameter.

Working with LS Cable & System, SFA has developed subsea cable manufacturing equipment, including vertical continuous vulcanization (VCV) systems and turntables. The company has also supplied similar equipment to LS Cable & System's subsea cable plant in Donghae, Gangwon Province.

An SFA official said the company intends to successfully complete the Virginia project by leveraging its experience supplying 3,000-ton-class VCV systems and 10,000-ton-class turntables, while positioning itself to secure additional business opportunities as LS Cable & System expands its US investment.

Qualcomm is expanding the reach of its Snapdragon platform beyond smartphones, positioning the brand at the center of the emerging personal artificial intelligence (AI) era. By extending Snapdragon across smartphones, PCs, automobiles, wearables and extended reality (XR) devices, the company aims to strengthen its market leadership through a unified AI ecosystem.

According to Qualcomm, Snapdragon platforms have now shipped in more than 3.5 billion devices worldwide. Since debuting in smartphones in 2007, Snapdragon has evolved into a consumer platform spanning wearables, PCs, vehicles and XR devices. Qualcomm's next objective is to expand the Snapdragon ecosystem to enable AI agents to operate seamlessly across multiple devices, replacing today's fragmented, device-specific experiences.

Cristiano Amon, Qualcomm's chief executive officer, underscored that vision during Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Unpacked 2026 event on July 22.

"Personal devices will become the ultimate destination for AI agents," Amon said. "That means high-performance, power-efficient on-device computing and reliable connectivity will become increasingly important, and Qualcomm provides the technologies needed to make that possible."

Samsung unveiled several Snapdragon-powered personal AI devices during the event. The Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra and Galaxy Z Flip8 are powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy, while the Galaxy Watch9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra2 use the Snapdragon Wear Elite platform. Samsung's Intelligent Eyewear smart glasses also incorporate Qualcomm's Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1 platform.

Qualcomm's strategy of expanding the Snapdragon ecosystem reflects a broader shift in the way consumers experience digital services. In the past, smartphones served as the primary gateway to digital experiences, while wearables largely complemented or extended smartphone functionality.

The rise of agentic AI is changing that paradigm by enabling consistent digital experiences regardless of device form factor. Personal AI systems can understand a user's intent and context, allowing them to deliver personalized services across multiple devices. During his keynote address at MWC 2026, Amon said the industry was moving beyond a smartphone-centric ecosystem.

"Until now, everything revolved around the smartphone," he said. "Going forward, every device will exist around the AI agent."

Competition among mobile chipmakers is also shifting toward AI-driven user experiences. Industry participants increasingly emphasize the importance of AI agents delivering continuous, coordinated experiences across multiple devices rather than maximizing performance on a single product.

Kim Won-joon, executive vice president and head of development at Samsung Electronics' Mobile eXperience (MX) Business, echoed that view.

"A premium experience can no longer be defined by a single product," Kim said. "The intelligence that connects all devices together is what defines a premium experience."

To deliver a consistent digital experience across multiple devices, sufficient computing performance and stable connectivity are essential. Qualcomm says it is positioning Snapdragon as a platform capable of providing a unified AI experience regardless of device form factor by optimizing central processing units (CPUs), graphics processing units (GPUs), neural processing units (NPUs) and connectivity technologies within a single integrated system.

One example is the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy, which combines Qualcomm's proprietary Oryon CPU architecture, Adreno GPU, Hexagon NPU and FastConnect 7900 connectivity system, all optimized specifically for Galaxy smartphones. The platform is designed to deliver flagship-class performance and responsiveness while maintaining high power efficiency.

The chipset also enables intelligent camera functions, enhanced gaming performance and AI-powered connectivity for more responsive real-time AI experiences. It supports video playback at up to 8K resolution (7,680 × 4,320) at 60 frames per second, while compatibility with AV1 and H.265 codecs helps reduce battery consumption during extended video streaming.

The Snapdragon Wear Elite platform introduces another industry first by integrating an NPU into a wearable processor. It can run AI models with up to 1 billion parameters directly on the device without relying on cloud connectivity. This enables AI agent capabilities such as contextual awareness, natural voice interaction and continuous personal activity logging.

The platform also incorporates Qualcomm's first multimode connectivity architecture integrating six next-generation communication technologies into a single chip. It supports 5G RedCap, designed for lower-power 5G connectivity, micro-power Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 6.0 for precise device-to-device communication, allowing continuous collection of contextual signals to enhance personal AI experiences.

Similarly, the Snapdragon AR1 platform for smart glasses combines an ultra-lightweight, low-power design with sufficient processing capability to support AI agents. It integrates an NPU, a visual analysis engine and enhanced memory to provide stable wireless streaming and AI-powered computing within compact wearable devices.

Snapdragon has already established a strong position in the premium mobile market. According to Qualcomm, 61% of South Korean consumers identify Snapdragon as a key factor in improving the experience of premium Android devices.

By expanding the Snapdragon ecosystem across a broader range of connected products, Qualcomm aims to strengthen its competitiveness in the personal AI era while reinforcing its leadership in the intelligent device market.

Chinese display maker BOE is seeking to supply organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels for Apple's iPad Air, following Samsung Display's lead into the product lineup.

According to industry sources on Aug. 11, BOE is developing OLED panels for the next-generation iPad Air, which is expected to be unveiled in the first half of next year. Development is taking place at the company's B12 production facility in Chongqing, China, where its sixth-generation OLED production line is located.

Apple has selected Samsung Display as the primary supplier of OLED panels for the iPad Air and is expected to begin mass production around the end of this year or early next year. BOE is aiming to secure a secondary supplier position alongside Samsung Display. The company has not yet reached the mass production qualification stage and is expected to submit samples for evaluation before undergoing Apple's qualification process. A final decision on commercial supply is expected around the end of this year. Initial shipments could be limited to models for the Chinese market or refurbished devices.

Industry sources expect BOE's mass production qualification to be determined in November or December. Apple typically grants production approval one to two months before mass production begins. If BOE fails to qualify, Samsung Display is expected to become the sole supplier for the initial production run.

BOE has previously supplied OLED panels for Apple's iPhone lineup. In the IT OLED segment, including iPads, however, South Korean manufacturers such as Samsung Display and LG Display have maintained the leading positions.

The new iPad Air is being developed in 11-inch and 13-inch versions. It is expected to adopt a hybrid OLED panel combining a glass substrate with thin-film encapsulation (TFE). The display will likely use a single-stack red-green-blue (RGB) emitting structure, while the thin-film transistor (TFT) backplane will be based on low-temperature polycrystalline silicon (LTPS). The panel is also expected to support a 60-hertz refresh rate.

Apple has differentiated the iPad Air from the iPad Pro by adopting a single-stack OLED architecture and LTPS technology, reducing panel costs while maintaining OLED display quality. As Apple expands OLED adoption from the iPad Pro to the iPad Air, the tablet OLED market is expected to continue growing.

According to market research firm Omdia, shipments of OLED panels for tablets are projected to increase 39% to 15 million units this year from 10.9 million units last year. By contrast, liquid crystal display (LCD) panel shipments are expected to remain largely flat, with OLED driving overall growth in the tablet display market.

"BOE is developing OLED panels with the goal of entering the iPad Air supply chain," an industry source said. "Whether it ultimately secures supply orders, and in what volume, will depend on Apple's evaluation and mass production qualification results."

Separately, BOE is also seeking to supply OLED panels for Apple's MacBook Pro from its B16 8.6-generation OLED production line in Chengdu. However, the company is reportedly still facing challenges in stabilizing manufacturing yields, making commercial shipments to Apple unlikely in the near term. Industry sources expect BOE to enter Apple's MacBook Pro OLED supply chain after 2028.

Samsung SDI said on Aug. 11 it will end its battery joint venture with General Motors (GM), bringing to a close the partnership two years after the companies agreed to establish the venture. Following the transaction, the remaining joint ventures between South Korean battery makers and global automakers in the United States will be Ultium Cells, operated by LG Energy Solution and GM, and StarPlus Energy, operated by Samsung SDI and Stellantis.

Samsung SDI disclosed in a regulatory filing that it will terminate its joint venture agreement with GM. The company will acquire GM's entire 49.99% stake in Synergy Cells Holdings, converting the venture into a wholly owned subsidiary. The company plans to rename it Samsung SDI Synergy Cells Holdings.

Samsung SDI did not disclose the purchase price for GM's stake.

"Under the agreement between the two companies, it is difficult to disclose specific details," a Samsung SDI official said. "The investment scale and production plans after the transition to a wholly owned operation have not yet been finalized."

As of the filing date, Samsung SDI's cumulative investment in Synergy Cells totaled 275.3 billion won.

Samsung SDI and GM agreed in March 2023 to build a battery manufacturing plant in the United States and signed a definitive agreement to establish the joint venture in August 2024. The companies had planned to invest approximately 3.5 billion dollars to build a battery plant with annual production capacity of 27 gigawatt-hours (GWh) in New Carlisle, Indiana, with mass production originally scheduled to begin in 2027.

The project was delayed as North America's electric vehicle (EV) market expanded more slowly than expected. In particular, after the US government eliminated the federal consumer EV tax credit under Section 30D last September, automakers scaled back EV investment and production plans. GM reduced planned EV output and revised its product strategy to place greater emphasis on hybrid vehicles. Battery manufacturers have also begun redirecting part of their US EV battery production capacity to the energy storage system (ESS) market.

GM and Stellantis are now the only automakers maintaining battery joint ventures with South Korean manufacturers in the United States. Ford Motor dissolved its BlueOval SK joint venture with SK On last year and no longer operates a battery joint venture in the country.

Both GM and Stellantis have also reduced the scope of their battery partnerships with South Korean companies. Last year, GM transferred the Ultium Cells battery plant under construction in Lansing, Michigan, to LG Energy Solution, which acquired the facility and related assets for 3.1354 trillion won and converted it into a wholly owned plant. In February this year, Stellantis ended its joint venture with LG Energy Solution in Canada, NextStar Energy, with LG Energy Solution acquiring Stellantis' 49% stake for 100 dollars.

Samsung SDI plans to operate the Indiana facility independently and use it as a manufacturing base for a range of products, including ESS and EV batteries. The company may prioritize ESS battery production because growing orders in the US market are increasing the need for additional manufacturing capacity.

Samsung SDI is already allocating a larger share of its US production to ESS batteries than to EV batteries. Three of the four production lines at StarPlus Energy Plant 1 have been designated for ESS batteries, and the company is considering adding another ESS production line to meet rising demand.

During its second-quarter earnings conference call on July 30, Samsung SDI said confirmed ESS orders already cover a significant portion of its production capacity through 2029.

"If projects with a high probability of being awarded in the second half are included, demand is expected to exceed production capacity beginning in 2028," the company said.

The termination of the joint venture is expected to have only a limited impact on South Korean battery equipment suppliers. Because construction of the Indiana plant had already been delayed, major production equipment orders had not yet been placed, and equipment manufacturers had not begun manufacturing the relevant systems.

Although Samsung SDI and GM are ending joint operation of the factory, the companies will continue collaborating on battery development. They have signed an agreement to jointly conduct early-stage development of next-generation prismatic batteries for electric vehicles.

Hanwha Solutions said on Aug. 11 it has commercialized a power cable material containing 50% post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic feedstock.

The company said it has completed customer qualification for CHBA-8241RC, a high-density polyethylene (HDPE)-based jacket material for power cables made with recycled plastic feedstock.

CHBA-8241RC is a proprietary composite material developed by Hanwha Solutions. According to the company, it maintains electrical performance comparable to conventional products while reducing carbon emissions by approximately 34% per kilogram of material.

Hanwha Solutions completed product development and pilot production last year. In the first half of this year, it finished production trials and quality validation with cable manufacturers. The company said the commercialization expands its cable materials portfolio from ultra-high-voltage insulation materials to environmentally friendly cable jacket compounds.

Hanwha Solutions is also expanding its recycled polyethylene (rPE) business using waste plastics. Its related products have obtained Global Recycled Standard (GRS) and ISCC PLUS certifications and are used in applications including consumer electronics packaging, cosmetic containers and industrial recycled packaging bags.

Synopex said on Aug. 11 it has received marketing approval from South Korea's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) for its hemodialysis (HD) machine, paving the way for domestically developed products to enter a market that has been entirely dependent on imported systems.

Hemodialysis is a treatment that removes waste products and excess fluid from the blood of patients with chronic kidney disease. The procedure relies on several key medical devices, including hemodialysis machines, dialyzers and water purification systems.

With the approval, Synopex said it has completed the localization of the three core medical device solutions used in hemodialysis: dialyzers (hemodialysis filters), portable water purification systems for hemodialysis machines and HD machines. The company had previously obtained MFDS approvals for 11 hemodialysis filter products, a continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) system for critically ill patients and a portable water purification system for hemodialysis equipment.

The HD machine was developed under a national project led by the Korea Medical Device Development Fund (KMDF) in collaboration with researchers from the Department of Nephrology and the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Seoul National University Hospital. In 2024, KMDF designated the localization of the three core hemodialysis medical devices as one of its 10 flagship national projects.

Synopex is developing an upgraded follow-up model of its CRRT system for critically ill patients. It is also working on a mass-production version of its HD machine equipped with hemodiafiltration (HDF) functionality. The company plans to seek regulatory approval and commercialize the HDF-equipped model in the future.

Kang Chang-ho, head of Synopex's Artificial Kidney Sales Division, said the MFDS approval for the HD machine marks "a historic starting point" in establishing medical sovereignty in South Korea's hemodialysis device market, which has long relied entirely on imported products.

He added that the company is preparing for mass production of the HD machine alongside its dialyzers and water purification systems, which are already being introduced to the market.

Wacker Chemicals Korea said on Aug. 11 it has launched RainGuard, a premium water-repellent treatment for building exteriors designed to reduce moisture penetration and improve the durability of exterior walls.

The new product, LC4004WR RainGuard, is a water-based penetrating water repellent that maintains water vapor permeability, allowing moisture inside building materials to escape. It can be applied to concrete, brick and mortar using spray, roller or brush application methods.

Without forming a separate coating film on exterior surfaces, the product reduces water absorption by approximately 20% to 25% compared with conventional products, according to the company. It also increases the water contact angle by about 10%, enhancing the beading effect. Wacker said early water-repellent treatment is important because prolonged exposure to moisture can lead to reduced thermal insulation performance, efflorescence and cracking in building exteriors.

The product was developed using Wacker's silane- and siloxane-based water-repellent technology from Germany. The water-based emulsion preserves the breathability of building materials while providing excellent beading performance and weather resistance. It is designed for use as a water-repellent treatment for mineral-based exterior building materials.

Samsung Electronics has opened a permanent exhibition highlighting the technological and design evolution of its Galaxy foldable smartphones over the past seven years.

The company said on Aug. 11 that it began operating the Foldable Heritage exhibition on Aug. 10 on the third floor of Samsung Gangnam. Permanent exhibition spaces have also opened on the first floors of Samsung Store Hongdae and Samsung Store Cheongdam.

The exhibition is divided into three sections: Galaxy Fold & Flip Story, Design Story and Tech Story.

The Galaxy Fold & Flip Story section showcases the evolution of Samsung's foldable devices and technologies, beginning with the original inward-folding Galaxy Fold, introduced in 2019, through the Galaxy Z Trifold and the recently launched Galaxy Z Fold8. The exhibition also highlights the development of Galaxy AI and other software technologies.

The Design Story section reveals the development process behind the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra, Galaxy Z Fold8 and Galaxy Z Flip8, featuring early design sketches, mock-up testing, aspect ratio studies and the decision-making process behind the products' final designs. The Tech Story section focuses on advances in foldable display and hinge technologies, including Samsung's Flex Titanium technology used in the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra and Galaxy Z Fold8, presented through product displays and video demonstrations.

Visitors can also watch videos of durability tests conducted during product development, including folding, water-resistance and impact testing. In addition, Samsung is displaying disassembled Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra and Galaxy Z Fold8 devices to showcase their internal components and structural design.

Park Jung-mi, Executive Vice President and Head of Samsung Electronics Korea, said the exhibition was designed to allow visitors to experience the company's accumulated foldable technologies and development process over the past seven years.

LG Electronics has secured an in-house testing qualification for cybersecurity requirements under European wireless device regulations, allowing it to proceed with certification based on its own test results without sending products to overseas testing organizations.

LG Electronics said on Aug. 11 that its Software Testing Center under the chief technology officer (CTO) organization has been designated by TÜV Rheinland as a testing laboratory for cybersecurity requirements under the European Union's Radio Equipment Directive (RED).

The RED requires wireless communication products sold in Europe to meet security and safety requirements. Cybersecurity provisions related to network protection, personal data protection and financial fraud prevention were strengthened in 2025.

With the new qualification, LG Electronics' Software Testing Center can conduct the relevant certification tests internally. TÜV Rheinland will review the company's submitted test results and data and can issue certification without conducting a separate test.

The process allows LG Electronics to reduce the time and cost required from product development through certification and launch because prototypes no longer need to be sent to overseas certification bodies. It also limits the amount of product information that must leave the company. For business-to-business (B2B) operations such as automotive components and HVAC systems, the company expects to shorten certification procedures for products customized to client requirements.

LG Electronics has continued to expand its software regulatory compliance capabilities. In 2019, it obtained international accredited testing laboratory status in the software field from the Korea Laboratory Accreditation Scheme (KOLAS) and subsequently broadened its testing scope to home appliances, automotive functional safety and cybersecurity.

The company is also seeking accredited testing laboratory status for the European Union's Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), which is scheduled to take effect in 2027. The CRA establishes cybersecurity requirements for products containing digital elements regardless of whether they support wireless communications.

LG Electronics is also strengthening its product security framework. Through LG Shield, the company manages product security from the development stage through post-launch operation. It provides patches for vulnerabilities discovered after release and is applying post-quantum cryptography technologies designed to address future threats from quantum computers.

South Korean semiconductor company Fadu announced on Aug. 10 that it is recruiting junior-level engineers, ranging from new graduates to professionals with up to eight years of experience.

The company will accept applications through Aug. 23 as part of an effort to secure top talent and strengthen its future technology competitiveness.

Applicants will undergo a coding test later this month, followed by interviews in September. Successful candidates are expected to join the company in November and work at Fadu's headquarters in Seoul's Gangnam district.

The recruitment program is expected to hire more than a dozen employees. Eligible candidates include bachelor's degree graduates as well as engineers with up to eight years of experience in hardware or embedded software development.

Open positions include firmware development, firmware verification and test engineering roles.

The selected employees will analyze customer requirements for Fadu's enterprise solid-state drive (eSSD) products and help incorporate those requirements into product development. Responsibilities will also include analyzing eSSD test results, identifying root causes of issues and proposing improvements.

Iron Device said on Aug. 10 that cumulative sales of its SMA1305 smart power amplifier for Samsung Electronics mobile devices and tablets have exceeded 100 million units, reaching the milestone four years after shipments began.

The company began supplying the SMA1305 in January 2022. According to its latest tally, cumulative shipments surpassed 100 million units as of March this year, equivalent to an average of approximately 25 million units supplied annually.

On average, two SMA1305 chips are installed in each mobile device, while tablets typically use four units per device.

"The achievement demonstrates that our technology is being recognized in the global market," said Lee Young-taek, a director at Iron Device. "We also have high expectations for sales of follow-up products."

The SMA1305 is a mixed-signal semiconductor used in smartphones and tablets. The chip amplifies audio signals to drive speakers and incorporates Iron Device's proprietary speaker protection algorithm, which the company says improves performance and reliability compared with competing products. The device also integrates low-noise, low-power design and audio signal processing technologies to maximize system efficiency.

Iron Device develops chips that combine analog, digital and power technologies on a single device. The company has recently expanded into the on-device AI market, targeting applications in smart glasses and humanoid robots.

"Audio products are evolving beyond simple sound input and output devices into AI sensors capable of understanding their surroundings," the company said. "We define audio as a core interface for interacting with the real world and are developing technologies accordingly."

Meta has launched its paid artificial intelligence (AI) coding service, Muse Code, marking the company’s entry into the developer market.

On Aug. 5, Meta unveiled its latest Muse Spark 1.2 model alongside Muse Code, an AI coding agent. Muse Spark 1.2 is an updated version of the previous model optimized for software development tasks. According to Meta, the model was trained with significantly increased compute resources and a broader range of training environments, improving its capabilities in code generation, complex debugging and codebase comprehension.

While Muse Spark is a general-purpose model, Muse Code is a standalone terminal-based AI coding agent tool. Meta said it trained Muse Spark 1.2 and Muse Code together. Muse Code, the company’s first AI coding agent, is powered by the latest Muse Spark 1.2 model and has been released in beta for macOS and Linux.

One notable aspect of the announcement was the complete absence of references to open source. The shift is unusual for Meta, which has positioned itself as a leading advocate of open AI ecosystems in recent years.

Whereas the company previously pursued indirect monetization through the expansion of the open ecosystem around its open-weight Llama models, Muse Code represents an attempt to generate revenue directly from an in-house business.

Meta highlighted several technical features of Muse Code, including autonomous development workflows, persistent asynchronous background agents and local event logs.

An autonomous workflow feature allows the system to handle planning, coding, testing and result verification in a single process after receiving a user request—a standard capability among advanced AI coding tools. However, persistent asynchronous background agents represent Meta's key strategic move as a late entrant to the AI coding market.

Persistent background agents distribute workloads across multiple AI agents operating simultaneously in the background during a development session. While most competing AI coding tools also support background agents, those systems typically create new helper agents for each task.

In contrast, Muse Code keeps specialized background agents continuously active (warm) throughout an entire session. According to Meta, maintaining agents in a warm state rather than creating them for individual tasks helps avoid redundant information gathering.

This feature could significantly address practical inefficiencies in code development, as creating a new sub-agent for every task forces the system to repeatedly reread the same files.

Under this feature, large-scale tasks are distributed and processed in parallel by sub-agents operating within isolated Git worktrees. This architecture preserves the advantages of parallel execution while preventing state contamination, such as file deletion or modification by other agents on the same files.

Generally, a Git repository has only one working directory, but a Git worktree is a Git feature that enables multiple separate directories—each checking out different branches—to share a single repository (.git history) simultaneously. Each sub-agent operates within its own worktree (an independent directory with an independent branch), ensuring physical isolation from file changes made by other agents. Once work is complete, branches can be merged sequentially, confining conflict management strictly to the integration phase.

Although the technology itself is not new, many products still process subtasks sequentially within a single worktree or rely on file locking and execution ordering for parallel processing. Adopting worktree isolation as a core architecture increases implementation complexity and cost, requiring branch creation and management, merge strategies, conflict handling and cleanup logic.

For that reason, technology media outlet VentureBeat praised Meta’s decision to offer the architecture as a built-in capability at the harness level, despite its relatively limited adoption across the industry.

Meta also highlighted its local event log system, which records model calls, tool usage, approvals and code edit histories to enable task resumption even after crashes. The append-only event log allows developers to replay their entire work history from start to finish to resume work following a failure. This substantially resolves operational issues and serves as a foundation for audit trails.

Overwrite-style event logs make it impossible to determine prior actions, the process taken to reach the current state, or pending tasks. In contrast, foreign media outlets have praised Muse Code's append-only event log system for preserving the entire history sequentially for reconstruction at any time. This forms the foundation for developer efficiency, operational problem-solving, failure recovery and root-cause analysis (RCA) audit trails.

However, Muse Code does have weaknesses. First, its initial release is restricted to a terminal interface. Competing products such as Anthropic’s Claude Code offer terminal, IDE, desktop and web interfaces, while OpenAI’s Codex is supported across CLI tools, IDE extensions and cloud services.

Meta also released benchmark results comparing Muse Spark 1.2 and Muse Code against competing AI models, including Grok 4.5, Claude Opus 5, GPT-5.6 Terra and Gemini 3.6 Flash. The choice of comparison models sparked controversy, as Meta avoided top-tier models from competitors in favor of second-tier options.

According to Meta, Muse Spark 1.2 and Muse Code (harness) achieved a score of 82.9% on Terminal Bench 2.1, narrowly outperforming OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 Terra and Codex at 81.8% and SpaceX (xAI)’s Grok 4.5 and Grok Build at 81.6%. However, it trailed Anthropic’s Claude Opus 5 and Claude Code, which scored 86.7%.

On the Deep SWE 1.1 benchmark, Muse Spark 1.2 ranked behind Claude Opus and OpenAI GPT-5.6 Terra. This drew criticism from the developer community, with some arguing that the system would show lower performance when compared against GPT-5.6 Sol.

AI tech news site Kingy AI further claimed that Meta’s reported benchmark scores were slightly higher than actual verified figures, publishing a side-by-side comparison between Meta’s claims and verified evaluation scores.

The timing of the announcement has also raised suspicion. Muse Code was unveiled less than a month after the release of Muse Spark 1.1. Observers interpret this as an attempt by Meta to regain momentum after Moonshot AI’s Kimi K3 stole the spotlight with overwhelming performance immediately following the ambitious Muse Spark 1.1 launch.

Despite these concerns, Muse Code’s pricing structure is viewed as a major advantage that offsets doubts about its market positioning. Meta is attempting to compensate for its late entry into the coding tool market with an aggressive pricing policy.

Critics note that the pricing strategy is more disruptive than the technology itself. Under the Standard Tier, Muse Spark 1.2 API access for Muse Code costs $1.25 per million input tokens and $4.25 per million output tokens, with cached inputs priced at $0.15 per million tokens. Meta also pledged not to use prompts or generated outputs for model training.

A second pricing option, the Contributor Tier, is available at just $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.20 per million output tokens. In exchange, developers must allow Meta to use their code for future model training.

Financial pressure appears to be driving this aggressive pricing strategy. While Meta reported second-quarter revenue of $60.8 billion, up 28% year over year, operating income fell 8% to $18.8 billion, and operating margin declined from 43% a year earlier to 31%. Capital expenditures (CAPEX) reached $31.08 billion for the quarter alone, with full-year guidance reaching up to $145 billion.

Meanwhile, entering the developer market effectively means entering the enterprise market. Alexander Wang, chief AI officer (CAIO) of Meta Superintelligence Labs and head of Muse Code development, emphasized the product's enterprise capabilities, noting that requests for Zero Data Retention (ZDR) features have already begun arriving. Remarks from CAIO Alexander Wang suggest that ZDR is currently implemented in Muse Code as an optional capability available to enterprises upon request.

ZDR is an agreement where the AI service provider immediately deletes user inputs (prompts) and outputs (responses) from servers upon completion of API call processing, storing them in no form whatsoever. While the Standard Tier already includes a commitment not to use prompts and data for training, ZDR goes one step further.

Under standard tiers, logs are temporarily stored on servers for a set period before deletion, whereas ZDR prevents storage entirely from the outset, eliminating risks associated with data leaks, hacking or future legal disputes. This is essential for regulatory compliance and intellectual property (IP) protection, both of which are major hurdles for enterprise adoption of AI coding tools.

Organizations handling sensitive source code representing trade secrets or operating under strict legal requirements regarding data retention on third-party servers demand ZDR capabilities. Without ZDR, deployment in highly regulated industries remains difficult regardless of model performance, making the feature an essential requirement for AI models and coding tools targeting the enterprise market.

Kakao plans to introduce an agentic artificial intelligence (AI) service that can identify food-ordering intent within KakaoTalk conversations and connect users from menu recommendations to payment through a partnership with Coupang Eats.

The company disclosed during its second-quarter 2026 earnings conference call on Aug. 6 that it has signed an agent-to-agent (A2A) partnership agreement with Coupang Eats. Under the envisioned model, KakaoTalk’s on-device AI will analyze conversational context and user preferences to recommend menu items, while the Coupang Eats agent will handle ordering and payment functions.

The two companies are currently discussing implementation details. Beginning with food delivery, Kakao plans to expand its agentic AI ecosystem into other frequently used consumer services, including commerce, reservations, travel and payments.

KakaoTalk will incorporate the company’s on-device AI model, Kanana 2 1.3B, along with long-term memory technology. The system is designed to understand schedules and interests scattered across multiple conversations as a unified context and provide increasingly personalized services based on accumulated user behavior and preferences. Kakao plans to introduce related experiences gradually in the second half of the year and is targeting more than 10 million monthly active users (MAUs) for its AI services by year-end.

Kakao said it will focus its resources on AI services that directly interact with consumers rather than infrastructure businesses such as AI data centers, graphics processing units (GPUs) and cloud computing. The company believes large upfront investments and ongoing capital expenditures are required for AI infrastructure, while rapid technology refresh cycles for GPUs and AI servers make the long-term sustainability of current profitability uncertain.

As a result, Kakao intends to prioritize AI services at the user interface level rather than capital-intensive infrastructure investments. The company plans to strengthen its in-house capabilities across the AI value chain, from models to services, leveraging its strengths in business-to-consumer (B2C) platforms.

Kakao reported second-quarter revenue of 2.0985 trillion won and operating profit of 277.0 billion won, both record highs for a single quarter. The figures increased 9% and 36%, respectively, from a year earlier.

Revenue from the platform segment rose 17% year over year to 1.2303 trillion won. Talk Biz revenue reached 643.2 billion won, while advertising and subscription revenue hit a quarterly record of 399.9 billion won. Business messaging revenue and display advertising within KakaoTalk grew 20% and 28%, respectively.

Revenue from the content segment totaled 868.2 billion won, remaining broadly in line with the previous year. Music and media revenue increased, while story revenue declined 16%.

“Considering the direction of Kakao’s AI strategy and the speed of execution, we expect the foundation for AI mass adoption to be established by the end of this year and full-scale monetization to begin next year,” Chief Executive Officer Chung Shin-a said.

Kakao aims to increase the share of AI-related revenue within its Talk Biz segment to double-digit percentages by 2028 through transaction fees, subscriptions and AI-powered advertising, positioning AI as a key driver to reignite Talk Biz growth and serve as a major revenue source.

Kakao reported record quarterly revenue and operating profit for the second quarter, driven by continued growth across its platform businesses. Strong performance from Talk Biz, mobility and payments operations also strengthened the company’s financial capacity to invest in artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives.

The company said on Aug. 6 that second-quarter revenue reached 2.10 trillion won, while operating profit rose to 277.0 billion won on a consolidated basis under Korean International Financial Reporting Standards (K-IFRS). The figures were up 9% and 36%, respectively, from a year earlier.

Revenue from the platform segment totaled 1.23 trillion won, an increase of 17% year over year. Within the segment, Talk Biz generated 643.2 billion won, accounting for 52% of platform revenue. Advertising and subscription revenue rose 14% from a year earlier to 399.9 billion won.

Business messaging revenue increased 20% as demand from advertisers in the financial sector expanded. Display advertising on KakaoTalk also grew 28%, supported by higher user engagement and the performance of new advertising products.

Talk Biz commerce revenue reached 243.2 billion won, up 10% from the same period last year. Combined gross merchandise value from services including Gift and Talk Deal increased 9% to 2.7 trillion won during the quarter. Self-purchase transactions through the Gift platform rose 39%.

Revenue from other platform businesses, including mobility and payments, climbed 22% year over year to 587.0 billion won. The mobility business benefited from growth in its core operations and last-mile logistics services. Kakao Pay posted record quarterly revenue and operating profit, supported by higher financial-service revenue and growth in payment and platform services.

Revenue from the content segment increased 1% from a year earlier to 868.2 billion won. Music revenue rose 8% to 558.4 billion won, while media revenue increased 5% to 99.1 billion won. Story revenue totaled 210.7 billion won.

Operating expenses rose 6% year over year to 1.82 trillion won.

Kakao said it plans to gradually introduce agentic AI services within KakaoTalk that connect everyday activities such as ordering, reservations and payments. The company will work with partners in commerce, reservations, travel and payments while expanding its ecosystem through its open platform, PlayMCP.

As an initial example, Kakao plans to establish an environment in which users can complete food ordering and payment directly within a KakaoTalk chat room through an agent-to-agent (A2A) partnership with Coupang Eats. The company said an on-device AI model will understand conversational context and seamlessly connect users to ordering and payment functions.