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Kia's Three Growth Engines Fuel Its Historic Charge Toward No. 1
The long-standing formula of South Korea's auto market — Hyundai Motor No. 1, Kia No. 2 — is showing cracks. Kia has narrowed the sales gap with Hyundai Motor to within striking distance, and foreca...
2026-08-28 금요일 | 김재훈 기자
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SK Biopharmaceuticals Doubles Down: $795M Bet on Second Blockbuster Epilepsy Drug
"SK Biopharmaceuticals has now entered a different league, one in which we compete directly with global big pharma companies in the United States and Europe, not just in Korea."President Lee Dong-hoon...
2026-08-27 목요일 | 양현우 기자
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Naver Bets on AI Infrastructure While Kakao Bets on Agentic AI
South Korea's two leading platform companies, Naver and Kakao, are maintaining similar levels of research and development (R&D) investment relative to revenue in the first half of this year, but t...
2026-08-26 수요일 | 박수연 기자
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GS Stock Hits Record High, Yet Still Trades at Half Its Book Value
GS shares are extending a historic rally.On August 13, the stock closed at KRW 107,400 per share, surpassing the previous all-time high of KRW 103,000 set on April 21, 2011 — during the era of the so...
2026-08-25 화요일 | 곽호룡 기자
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Hyundai Steps Up U.S. Robot Lobbying as China Race Heats Up
Hyundai Motor Group's lobbying expenditures targeting U.S. government agencies have surged sharply.What stands out is that the robotics industry has newly emerged on the lobbying agenda, which had pre...
2026-08-24 월요일 | 김재훈 기자
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LG's Koo Kwang-mo Wagers on Nvidia Alliance to Win the Physical AI Race
LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo's vision for "physical artificial intelligence (AI)" is taking concrete shape. Koo has chosen to combine LG's vertically integrated value chain — spanning components, f...
2026-08-21 금요일 | 곽호룡 기자
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Naver's KRW 14 Trillion, 1GW AI Factory Deal Redraws Its Valuation Formula
Naver is expanding beyond its roots as a search-and-advertising platform company into an artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure provider, prompting a shift in how the market values the company. N...
2026-08-20 목요일 | 박수연 기자
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LG Energy Solution's Subsidy-Driven Profit Masks a KRW 6 Trillion Inventory Problem
Since taking office, LG Energy Solution CEO Kim Dong-myung has held up "qualitative growth" and "substantive management" as his key management principles. Now, however, he faces an obstacle in the for...
2026-08-19 수요일 | 김재훈 기자
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Doosan Fuel Cell's Biggest Order Comes With Its Biggest Loss
Doosan Fuel Cell has secured its largest-ever export contract for solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) stacks. However, given the substantial capital required before such achievements bear fruit, the road to ...
2026-08-18 화요일 | 정진아 기자
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Underdog No More: Cosmecca Korea Outpaces Beauty Giants Kolmar, Cosmax on Growth and Margins
Competition in South Korea's cosmetics contract manufacturing industry is heating up as K-beauty rides a wave of global popularity. While domestic ODM (Original Development Manufacturing) leaders Kolm...
2026-08-14 금요일 | 양현우 기자
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Cosmax Posts First-Ever U.S. Profit — Why Next Year Looks Even Brighter
Cosmax posted its best-ever quarterly results in the second quarter of this year. Most notably, its U.S. subsidiary — the focus of years of investment — turned profitable for the first time since th...
2026-08-13 목요일 | 양현우 기자
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Lotte Chemical Returns to Profit, But Analysts Warn of Fifth Straight Annual Loss
Lotte Chemical posted a second consecutive quarter of operating profit, driven by strong performance in its high-value-added businesses. However, as raw material prices stabilize and the windfall from...
2026-08-12 수요일 | 곽호룡 기자
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POSCO Group Expands Rare Gas Business From Semiconductors to Aerospace and Defense
POSCO Group is expanding its rare gas business — previously centered on semiconductor materials — into the aerospace and defense sectors. The move marks the first concrete achievement, in the form o...
2026-08-11 화요일 | 정진아 기자
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LS, L&F Reunite Founding Families in Business After 18 Years
Two of Korea's most prominent business families — the Neungseong Koo clan and the Gimhae Heo clan — have joined hands again, 18 years after their corporate split. The result is LS-L&F Battery So...
2026-08-10 월요일 | 정진아 기자
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"LG Innotek's Stock Rally Leaves Dividend Yield Behind"
LG Innotek's dividend yield is projected to fall below 0.1% as its stock price has surged nearly fourfold over the past year. The company has set a plan to raise its payout ratio by 10 percentage poin...
2026-08-07 금요일 | 곽호룡 기자
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Korea's New Inheritance Tax Rule Targets Just 130 of 1,500 Undervalued Stocks
The South Korean government has unveiled a "stock price suppression prevention act" aimed at normalizing the capital market and resolving the "Korea discount." However, the measure is facing fierce cr...
2026-08-06 목요일 | 이성규 기자
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"Hanwha's Youngest Son Promoted, Puts New Holding Company to the Test"
Kim Dong-seon, vice chairman of Hanwha Vision, has been abruptly promoted to president ahead of the launch of a new holding company. The move is interpreted as reinforcing his responsibilities and aut...
2026-08-04 화요일 | 박슬기 기자
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Behind KAI's KRW 26 Trillion Backlog: Three Years of Cash Burn
Many factors influence corporate value, and an objective assessment requires weighing a range of variables. Through the "Altman Z-Score," the Korea Financial Times seeks to examine, from multiple angl...
2026-08-03 월요일 | 정진아 기자
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Coway's Profits Keep Rising — So Why Aren't Shareholders Smiling?
Coway posted record-high earnings in the first quarter of this year and is signaling another strong quarter in the second, putting it on track to cross KRW 5 trillion in annual revenue. Yet despite th...
2026-07-31 금요일 | 양현우 기자
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What Activist Funds' Korean Targets Have in Common: Poor Capital Allocation
The common trait among companies targeted by activist funds is inefficient capital allocation. More than 600 companies with similar financial structures have also been identified. As activist funds ar...
2026-07-30 목요일 | 이성규 기자
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Riding the U.S. Transformer Boom, ILJIN Electric Keeps Production in Korea, Not America
Iljin Electric(President & CEO You Sangseok) has improved its earnings even amid the pressure of U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs, opting to rely on its domestic Hongseong plant rather than build a...
2026-07-29 수요일 | 정진아 기자
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How a Korean War Legacy Is Powering LS Electric's Utah Bet
"Bring the Miracle of Gapyeong to Utah!"LS Electric Chairman Koo Ja-kyun, who is leading the company's push into the U.S. power equipment market, has drawn attention by emphasizing local investment an...
2026-07-28 화요일 | 정진아 기자
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Why Is Kia's Stock Lagging Despite Beating Hyundai on Earnings?
Kia posted record first-half sales this year, driven by an expanded electrified lineup, despite uncertainties such as U.S. tariffs. The gain stands out even more considering that its "older brother," ...
2026-07-27 월요일 | 김재훈 기자
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Inefficient Capital Allocation Holds Back Hyundai Motor's Stock Despite Record Profit
Despite posting record-breaking earnings, Hyundai Motor is facing criticism that inefficient capital allocation is holding back the enhancement of its corporate value. Chief among the concerns are non...
2026-07-24 금요일 | 이성규 기자
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"Turned to a Millstone by the Chasm": SK's EV Trio — When Will Normalization Come?
As the electric vehicle era dawned, the SK Group established or acquired SK On (batteries), SK Nexilis (copper foil), and SK Signet (chargers) through its holding company and intermediate holding comp...
2026-07-23 목요일 | 김재훈 기자
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HD Hyundai vs. Hanwha Ocean: The Battle for Thailand's Frigate Contract
The Royal Thai Navy is set to select a preferred bidder as early as the end of this month for its 4,000-ton-class frigate acquisition program. Among domestic shipbuilders, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries ...
2026-07-22 수요일 | 정진아 기자