IMAGIS said Chief Executive Officer Lee Dong-seop, who was appointed in March, has resigned after serving for just four months.

The company disclosed on July 31 that its board approved the resignation at a meeting held the same day. Lee stepped down before completing his term, which was scheduled to run through March 2029. The company did not disclose the reason for his departure.

Chairman Kim Jung-chul will return as chief executive. Born in 1964, Kim has led IMAGIS since the 2000s and is currently the company's largest shareholder with an 18.43% stake.

In March, IMAGIS appointed Lee, a former SK hynix executive, as CEO. At the time, the company said it planned to expand into physical AI and robotics-based solutions, adding that the appointment was intended to drive revenue growth and strengthen management accountability.

Since then, the company has secured a major new order. On June 8, IMAGIS announced an automotive semiconductor supply contract worth approximately 5.8 billion won. The deal was equivalent to 43.71% of the company's revenue of about 13.2 billion won in the previous year and marked a significant win as the company seeks to recover from three consecutive years of losses since 2023.

IMAGIS has projected revenue of 21.0 billion won for 2026, which would represent its highest annual sales since 2017.

The leadership change comes as the company works to capitalize on growing opportunities in automotive semiconductors and next-generation AI-related applications.

Samsung Electronics' next-generation gallium nitride (GaN) power semiconductor foundry project has encountered a setback during trial production, raising concerns that commercial production may be delayed beyond this year. The issue emerged after some test chips reportedly failed to operate under extended high-temperature conditions.

According to multiple industry sources on July 31, Samsung has established a dedicated 8-inch GaN semiconductor foundry line at its Giheung campus in Yongin with monthly capacity of approximately 1,300 to 1,500 wafers. The company recently conducted trial production of chips designed by fabless semiconductor companies. During testing, some of the chips reportedly stopped functioning after being exposed to temperatures of 100 to 200 degrees Celsius for roughly 1,000 hours.

GaN semiconductors are commonly used in high-voltage applications of up to 1,200 volts and in environments exceeding 200 degrees Celsius. Their ability to operate reliably under high-temperature conditions has made them increasingly attractive for electric vehicles, robotics and data center applications. Industry sources said the reported reliability issues could limit the usability of chips manufactured using the current process.

Samsung is said to be investigating the root cause of the problem. Industry sources identified the wafer manufacturing process as a leading area of focus. According to those sources, process modifications introduced to achieve targeted device performance may have contributed to the reliability issue.

GaN devices are typically fabricated on epitaxial wafers, in which a GaN layer is grown on a silicon (Si) wafer through an epitaxy process. If the quality or structure of the GaN layer is not fully optimized, defects can become more pronounced under high-temperature and high-voltage operating conditions. Samsung manufactures its own epitaxial wafers using metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) equipment.

A person familiar with the matter said Samsung may have focused on achieving the target threshold voltage of 2 to 3 volts for power semiconductors while overlooking potential effects on device longevity. GaN semiconductors generally require a threshold voltage of around 2 volts. If the threshold voltage is too low, the device may respond to very small currents and become more susceptible to operational errors.

Samsung reorganized its LED business in 2023 and established the Compound Semiconductor Solutions (CSS) division to focus on GaN semiconductors. The division originally planned to launch a dedicated GaN foundry line in 2025. However, weaker-than-expected conditions in the power semiconductor market prompted Samsung to postpone the schedule to the end of 2026.

Industry sources now believe the latest reliability issue could push the timeline back by several additional months. One Samsung GaN foundry customer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Samsung had already entered the market later than competitors because the company prioritized major businesses such as memory semiconductors. Companies including Infineon Technologies, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments and Innoscience have already been shipping GaN semiconductors commercially for one to two years.

Some fabless semiconductor companies are reportedly evaluating alternative foundry partners until Samsung resolves the issue. Potential alternatives include GlobalFoundries, Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation and X-FAB. Unlike silicon semiconductors, where mask costs are typically high enough to encourage production at a single foundry, compound semiconductor mask costs are relatively lower, making it less burdensome to work with multiple manufacturing partners.

A Samsung Electronics representative said the company is still in the pre-production stage and is working through normal development challenges.

"It is part of the process of addressing trial-and-error issues before mass production," the representative said. "It is too early to determine whether these findings constitute a defect."

SK hynix said it was unable to disclose additional shareholder return plans because of restrictions related to its American depositary receipt (ADR) offering and US securities regulations. The company expects to provide more specific details after the ADR process is completed in early August.

During the company's second-quarter earnings conference call on July 29, Song Hyun-jong, president of SK hynix's Corporate Center, said regulatory requirements tied to the ADR offering limited the company's ability to disclose new material information.

"Due to regulations and procedures related to the ADR offering, there are restrictions on providing additional material information that was not disclosed during the offering process," Song said. "We are reviewing various shareholder return options and will share specific plans with the market once they are finalized."

The restrictions are understood to stem from communication rules under Section 5 of the US Securities Act of 1933, which limit communications that could be interpreted as an offer to investors during a registered securities offering.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) broadly interprets communications that could stimulate public interest in an issuer or its securities as potential offers. Violations of these restrictions are commonly referred to as "gun jumping."

The term originates from track-and-field competitions, where an athlete starts running before the starting gun is fired. In securities markets, it refers to the disclosure of new material information not included in an offering prospectus before the registration process is completed, potentially influencing investor decisions or market sentiment.

Because shareholder return measures such as share buybacks or special dividends could affect investment decisions, SK hynix was limited in what it could disclose while the registered offering remained in progress.

The company is expected to provide more detailed shareholder return plans after the ADR-related procedures conclude in early August.

Under Rule 174 of US securities regulations, prospectus delivery requirements remain in effect for up to 25 days after a newly registered public offering. During that period, investors must continue to receive offering-related information while post-offering procedures are completed.

An SK hynix spokesperson said the company expects to announce more specific shareholder return measures once the ADR process is finalized. The remaining post-offering procedures are expected to be completed on August 4.

SK hynix reported record quarterly results in the second quarter, posting revenue of 79.3187 trillion won and operating profit of 60.5426 trillion won. Despite the strong earnings, the company's share price fell nearly 10% on the day of the announcement, as investors were disappointed by the absence of additional shareholder return plans.

At the company's annual shareholders meeting earlier this year, Kwak Noh-jung, president of SK hynix, said the company aims to strengthen its financial position by building net cash to 100 trillion won over the long term while continuing to consider dividends and share repurchases.

As of the end of June, SK hynix held 69.37 trillion won in net cash, up from 35.01 trillion won at the end of March. The company is expected to reach 100 trillion won in net cash by the end of the third quarter.

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won has made his first-ever direct open-market purchase of SK hynix shares, a move interpreted as a display of his commitment to responsible management following the company's record quarterly earnings.

According to a regulatory filing on DART, the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system, Chey purchased 3,620 common shares of SK hynix on the open market on July 30. Based on the stock's closing price of 1,322,000 won that day, the purchase was valued at approximately 4.79 billion won.

The transaction increased Chey's direct ownership of SK hynix shares from zero to 3,620 shares. Total holdings by the company's largest shareholder and related parties increased from 146,124,531 shares to 146,128,151 shares, while the ownership stake remained unchanged at 20.00%.

The purchase marks the first time Chey has directly acquired SK hynix shares in the open market. The move is seen as a display of responsible management, reflecting confidence in the company's mid- to long-term growth potential and corporate value amid the recent decline in the share price.

SK hynix reported record quarterly results on July 29, posting revenue of 79.3187 trillion won and operating profit of 60.5426 trillion won for the second quarter, both all-time highs on a quarterly basis. After the announcement, however, the shares weakened as profit-taking coincided with a correction in the South Korean stock market.

The purchase has also drawn attention because it came after the Seoul High Court, in a remanded case on July 24, ordered Chey to pay 944 billion won in property division to Roh Soh-yeong, director of Art Center Nabi. Analysts said the move demonstrates Chey's willingness to invest in a key group affiliate despite the substantial financial burden from the ruling.