LG’s Home Appliances

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LG’s Home Appliances Solidifies its No. 1 Position in the U.S. Market

Capturing 22.9% market share

LG Electronics ranked No. 1 in market share in the U.S. home appliances market last year. Recognized for its superior product performance and durability for two consecutive years, LG Electronics overtook Samsung Electronics, which claimed the crown until 2023. It plans to continue to put its utmost efforts into defending its title as the ‘No. 1 home appliance company’ in the new year, based on its cutting-edge technology.

According to the U.S. market research firm Traqline, LG Electronics secured a 22.9% market share in the U.S. market in the third quarter of last year based on the sales of six major appliances, ranking it as the No. 1 home appliance company. These six major appliances include refrigerators, washers, dryers, freestanding ranges, dishwashers, and microwave ovens.

Based on sales in 2024, LG Electronics recorded a 21.1% market share, surpassing Samsung Electronics (20.9%), taking the top spot in the U.S. home appliance market in 2023. LG Electronics maintained its No. 1 ranking in the U.S. home appliance market, recording a 21.2% market share in the first quarter of last year, 21.5% in the second quarter, and 22.9% in the third quarter. During the same period, Samsung Electronics ranked second, followed by GE and Whirlpool in third and fourth place, respectively.

 
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Hanjin

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Hanjin Opens a Logistics Hub in Amsterdam

Result achieved in just four years after reaching KRW 1 trillion
Annual sales expected to grow 43% this year
Production capacity to double within two years

Hanjin has established a logistics hub in the Netherlands to support the efforts of Korean brands, including K-beauty brands, to enter the European market.

Hanjin announced that it has recently opened its European fulfillment center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. A fulfillment center is a centralized hub that handles the entire logistics process following online orders, from storage and packaging to delivery and returns. The center is conveniently located for air and marine transport connections, just 10 minutes by car from Schiphol Airport and an hour from the Port of Rotterdam.

Through this hub, Hanjin plans to provide integrated logistics services to K-brands preparing to enter the European market. Hanjin not only offers them packaging and labeling services tailored to the warehousing standards of global platforms like TikTok and Amazon, but also connects everything from B2C logistics, including own shopping mall’s order management, to last-mile delivery across Europe.
Hanjin will also handle complex issues related to customs clearance and value-added tax, which are major obstacles to entering the European market.


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K-Chemicals

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K-Chemicals Compete on High Value-Added Systems

The Korean government has presented a roadmap to elevate the petrochemical industry to a global top-four position through high value-added. Currently, Korea ranks fifth in the high value-added chemicals industry, following China, the USA, Japan, and Germany. The government aims to surpass Germany and rise to fourth position.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced the 2030 K-Chemical Next-Generation Technology Innovation Roadmap, which aims to achieve high value-added, eco-friendly, and strengthened compliance with global environmental regulations. This Roadmap outlines the following key objectives:
First, the government plans to increase the high value-added ratio of core materials in seven key industrial sectors. The plan is to increase the proportion from 30% this year to 40% by 2030 and 45% by 2035. As a priority, it will advance synthesis and processing technologies. To comply with global chemical regulations, it will also expedite the development of alternatives. The number of alternatives, currently developed at 12 this year, is expected to increase to 100 by 2030 and 150 by 2035.
Secondly, it will invest in eco-friendly transitions to reduce carbon emissions. The petrochemicals industry is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 270,000 tons this year through eco-friendly transitions. It plans to increase reduction of carbon emissions to 1,030,000 tons by 2030. To achieve this, investments will be made in technologies to convert biomass-based raw materials and recycle or reuse waste plastics.
The way in which it plans to achieve this goal is through the ‘chemical industry innovation alliance,’ formed by ‘anchor companies (leading companies)’ and major chemical companies. The alliance will be organized into nine sectors, namely: semiconductors; displays; future vehicles; secondary batteries; aerospace and defense; electronics and communications; advanced platform polymers; eco-friendliness, and regulatory response.

  
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Samsung Electronics

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Samsung Electronics Expands its Automotive Electronics Business

Acquires ZF in Germany, a key autonomous driving company through its subsidiary Harman

Samsung Electronics has acquired ZF’s advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) business for 1.5 billion euros through its subsidiary, Harman.
ZF, founded in Germany in 1915, is a global total electronics company boasting over 100 years of history and technological prowess. It has wide business areas from ADAS, to transmissions, chassis, and even electric vehicle operating components. ZF’s ADAS business, which Harman is acquiring, is ranked No. 1 for its ADAS smart cameras. It already supplies products to numerous automakers through collaborations with various semiconductor companies, including Mobileye. This is expected to contribute to Harman’s future expansion of its sales network.

Automotive semiconductors (processors) are currently transitioning from a distributed structure to a domain-centric structure and even a centralized control structure.
According to industry sources, the ADAS and centralized controller market is projected to grow rapidly from US$ 42.2 billion in 2025 to US$ 65.7 billion in 2030 and more than US$ 127.6 billion in 2035.

Harman already has a strong portfolio of automotive electronics focused on the in-cabin experience (ICX), including in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), digital cockpits, car audio, and telematics. Harman is expanding into future growth areas by introducing new products focused on enhancing ICX.

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Korean Companies’ TVs

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Korean Companies’ TVs Retained Their Global Leading Position

Samsung maintains its top spot in the global TV market in the third quarter.
LG holds 50% of the OLED TV market.

Samsung Electronics maintained its top spot in the global TV market in the third quarter of this year. LG Electronics also maintained its top spot in the premium OLED TV market. However, Chinese TV manufacturers, driven by price competitiveness, are rapidly catching up and this raises concerns among Korean companies.

According to market research firm Omdia, Samsung Electronics maintained its top spot in the TV market in the third quarter of this year, in both sales and shipments. Its sales share rose to 29%, up from 28.6% in the same period last year. Although LG Electronics’ sales share declined from 16.5% to 15.2%, it still maintained its second place. TCL ranked third (13.0%), and Hisense fourth (10.9%).
This is because Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics maintain high market share in the premium TV market.
Samsung Electronics recorded a 53.1% market share in the market for premium TVs priced at US$ 2,500 or more. It also maintained its top spot in the market for ultra-large TVs, 75 inches and larger, with a 29.1% share. LG Electronics maintained its top spot in the relatively lucrative OLED TV market, both in shipments (49.7%) and sales (45.4%). Samsung’s OLED TVs recorded a 34.9 market share. If the current sales trends of both companies continue, Samsung Electronics will hold the top rank in the global TV market for over 20 years this year, while LG Electronics will hold the top rank in the OLED TV market for 13 consecutive years.
However, based on shipments in the third quarter of this year, Chinese companies have already caught up with Korean companies. The combined market share of Chinese companies in shipments is 31.8%, surpassing the Korean companies’ share of 28.5%.
Chinese companies’ rapid rise in market share is largely because the overall TV market has shrunk. This is because lower-priced products are selling better under the circumstances with decreasing demand. According to market research firm TrendForce, global TV shipments in the third quarter of this year totaled 49.75 million units, a 4.9% decrease compared to the last year. This is the first time that shipments in the third quarter have fallen below 50 million units.

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Accelerating the Transition from EV Batteries to ESS

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Accelerating the Transition of North American Factories from EV Batteries to ESS

Planning to mass-manufacture LFP batteries within the year at LG Ensol’s
Canadian joint plant

Samsung SDI’s U.S. plant also produces ESS.

Battery companies chose the energy storage system (ESS) business as a breakthrough in the declining electric vehicle (EV) market and to capture the market. They are accelerating a two-track strategy that focuses on technological advancement and production efficiency.
LG Chem recently announced that it has signed a joint development agreement with Sinopec, China’s largest integrated energy and chemical company, to develop core materials for sodium-ion batteries. Through this agreement, the two parties plan to jointly research and develop core materials, including cathode and anode for sodium-ion batteries, and secure cost competitiveness.
Sodium-ion batteries are a type of secondary battery utilizing sodium to replace lithium, the main material in existing secondary batteries. Compared to lithium-ion batteries, which have been a mainstay item of Korea’s battery industry, the advantages of sodium-ion batteries include lower prices and easier resource procurement.
Accordingly, the two companies plan to expand their business model by applying the materials they jointly developed to batteries for global ESS and mass-market electric vehicles (EVs).
LG Energy Solution, which has recently been strengthening its attack on the North American ESS market, is relocating its production lines to streamline local ESS production and procurement. This is a conceived plan to increase production of ESS batteries following a sharp decline in North American EV demand due to the U.S. government’s decision to end subsidies of approximately US$ 7,500 per vehicle last September.
According to the battery industry, NextStar, a joint venture in Canada between LG Energy Solution and Stellantis, is converting some of its ternary lithium-ion battery production lines for EVs to lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries for ESS. It plans to begin mass-production of LFP batteries for ESS within the year with the expedited conversion. This will allow NextStar to flexibly respond to market demand fluctuations by establishing ‘a two-line system’ that produces batteries for both electric vehicles and ESS.
LG Energy Solution already converted its plant in Holland, Michigan, into a dedicated LFP-based ESS production base earlier this year, and with this conversion to Canada, it will complete its two major ESS hubs in North America.
Samsung SDI and SK On are also preparing to diversify their income sources by converting existing EV battery production lines to ESS. Samsung SDI converted the EV production line at Star Plus Energy, a joint venture in North America with Stellantis located in Indiana, USA, to ESS, and began mass-production in October.
SK On produces ESS batteries at its SK Battery America (SKBA) plant in Georgia, USA. It plans to supply ESS ordered from Flatiron Energy Development in the USA using its existing production facilities in the United States.


 
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Samsung and LG Also Enter the Space Age

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Acquiring Satellite and Communications Patents

Samsung Electronics ranks first, followed by LG.
Focusing on securing satellite communications network technology, KARI ranks first in patent volume, followed by ADD.

It is evaluated that Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are developing their intellectual property (IP) competitiveness in space science and technology. They are preemptively preparing for the “New Space (private-led space development)” era, while securing both quantitative and qualitative competitiveness.

Following Samsung and LG, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), Hyundai Motors, KT, Korea University, and the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) ranked third to eighth, respectively. In the quantitative category, KARI ranked first, followed by ADD, Samsung Electronics, ETRI, and Hanwha Systems.
KARI is evaluated as a key institution in Korea’s space development. It was analyzed that KARI has built the best space patent portfolio in Korea with its development of the multipurpose satellite ‘Arirang,’ the meteorological satellite ‘Cheonlian,’ the lunar probe ‘Danuri,’ and the space launch vehicle ‘Nuri.’
Hanwha Group is considered to be leading the commercialization of space science and technology and the expansion of the private space industry. With the acquisition of Satrec Initiative, a Korean satellite company, in 2021, it has been strengthening its value-chain integration, encompassing satellite manufacturing, launch services, and data utilization.


 
 
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Hyosung Heavy Industries

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Hyosung Heavy Industries Builds Additional Ultra-High Voltage Transformer Plants in the USA

Invests significantly in a plant in Tennessee, USA, five years after the acquisition from Mitsubishi of Japan

Hyosung Heavy Industries carried out an additional investment of approximately KRW 200 billion in its ultra-high voltage transformer plant in Tennessee, USA. With the investment, it has secured the largest production base in the region.
Hyosung Heavy Industries recently announced that it will invest an additional US$ 157 million (approximately KRW 230 billion) in its ultra-high voltage transformer plant in Memphis, Tennessee, expanding production capacity by more than 50% by 2028. Hyosung Heavy Industries acquired the plant from Mitsubishi of Japan in 2020 for US$ 46.5 million (approximately KRW 68 billion).
The Memphis plant is the only facility in the United States that is capable of designing and manufacturing 765kV ultra-high voltage transformers. These transformers are key components that convert voltage in the first stage of power transmission — determining the stability, efficiency, and operational reliability of the power grid.

Since the early 2010s, Hyosung Heavy Industries has maintained a dominant market share in the U.S. 765kV ultra-high voltage transformer market, supplying approximately half of the transformers installed in the local transmission grid. To achieve this, Hyosung Heavy Industries has invested a total of US$ 300 million (approximately KRW 440 billion) through three expansions since acquiring the Memphis plant.
Such investment by Hyosung Heavy Industries is a strategic response to the changing environment of the U.S. market. Recently in the United States, demand for power-grid expansion is skyrocketing, driven by the replacement of decrepit power facilities and the growth of power-intensive industries such as AI data centers. The local transformer market is growing at an average annual rate of approximately 7.7%, from approximately US$ 12.2 billion (approximately KRW 17.8 trillion) in 2024 to approximately US$ 25.7 billion (approximately KRW 37.5 trillion) in 2034.


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DRAM Prices are Soaring Following HBM’s Triple-Fold Rise in Half a Year

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The memory market dominance will be changed Samsung Electronics sees ‘green light’ for next year’s earnings Restructuring for high-performance, high-profi t structure

 The competition to expand artifi cial intelligence (AI) infrastructure is shifting investment and demand, which have been concentrated on high-bandwidth memory (HBM), to general-purpose DRAM. As global companies accelerate the expansion of their computing infrastructure, demand for HBM- oriented high-performance memory is shifting to DRAM for general-purpose servers.

Memory-demand companies are responding by expanding long-term contracts and pre-orders, and DRAM prices have nearly tripled in just half a year. Samsung Electronics’ semiconductor (DS) sector’s operating profi t is projected to triple next year compared to this year.
Global cloud providers including Open AI, Google and Amazon are continuing to expand their AI servers to improve computing effi ciency.
Consequently, the average DRAM capacity per server is expected to increase by more than double digits next year compared to last year, and demand for overall server DRAM is expected to increase by more than 20%.

While demand for DRAM is rapidly increasing, supply is limited due to increased investment in HBM. This is because Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are continuing to invest in memory facilities focused on HBM. Both companies plan to focus on mass-production of HBM4 from the end of this year to next year, so it is diffi cult to rapidly increase general DRAM production capacity. An industry insider commented, “With facilities concentrated on HBM, general-purpose DRAM production capacity is rapidly decreasing. As Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix reduce production of older semiconductors, the entire market is shifting to high-performance products.”
TrendForce forecasts that the price of DRAM in the fourth quarter of this year will increase by 13~18% compared to the previous quarter. UBS also raised its forecast for fi xed transaction price increases of DRAM from 5% to 17%, stating, “The memory market has entered a supercycle that comes once in a decade due to the surge in demand for AI servers.”


 
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All-Solid-State Batteries: Samsung SDI allies with BMW

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Tripartite cooperation on all-solid-state batteries Samsung to produce cells and install them in BMW vehicles Solid Power, a U.S. materials company, is participating Higher safety than lithium-ion
A game changer that will shake up the market

Samsung SDI of Korea, BMW of Germany, and Solid Power of the United States have joined forces to develop all-solid-state batt eries, known as ‘the dream batt ery,’ that is lighter, stronger and longer-lasting. Samsung SDI announced that it has signed a three-party business contract with BMW and Solid Power for the development and demonstration of all-solid-state batt eries.
Solid Power, a batt ery materials company, will supply solid electrolyte, the raw material. Samsung SDI will use this to produce all-solid-state batt ery cells with increased energy density and safety. BMW will then develop batt ery modules and packs based on these and demonstrate their performance. The goal is to install all- solid-state batt eries in BMW’s next-generation test vehicles to verify their actual performance. All-solid-state batt eries, unlike existing lithium-ion
batt eries, utilize solid materials instead of liquid electrolytes. This reduces the risk of fi re caused by electrolyte leakage and eliminates the need for individual cell sealing. They are highly stable and light so it is called ‘a game changer’ to reshape the dominance of the next- generation batt ery.
The only issue, however, is price. The cost of manufacturing all-solid-state batt eries is estimated to be three- to fi ve-times higher than liquid-based lithium-ion products. Moreover, the facility costs required to produce all-solid-state batt eries are estimated to be 10 to 20 times higher than those for lithium-ion batt eries. Consequently, no electric vehicles equipped with all-solid-state batt eries have yet been launched. However, the tripartite alliance between Samsung SDI, BMW, and Solid Power is seen as a strategy to overcome these technological and cost barriers.

Samsung SDI has maintained a close relationship with BMW since it was selected as a supplier of EV batt eries for BMW in 2009, and this agreement further enhances their technological cooperation.
Joo-young Go, head of the ASB Commercialization Team at Samsung SDI, explained, “Competitive batt ery technology directly leads to innovation in electric vehicles. We will continue to closely collaborate with global partners to lead the commercialization of all-solid-state batt eries.”
Martin Schuster, Vice President of Batt ery Cells at BMW Group, remarked, “With Samsung SDI’s participation, we can further accelerate the development of next-generation batt ery cell technology. This global cooperation will once again demonstrate BMW’s ultimate goal of providing
cutt ing-edge batt ery technology.” Meanwhile, John Van Scoter, President and CEO of Solid Power, emphasized, “We will work with global automakers and leading batt ery companies to commercialize all-solid-state batt ery technology.”
The prospect of the all-solid-state batt ery industry is very positive. The global all-solid-state batt ery market is projected to grow nearly sevenfold over the next fi ve years, from $148 million this year to $963 million in 2030.

  
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