Daewoo E&C President Kim Bo-hyun has resigned just months after reappointment, with Lee Kang-seok, head of external cooperation, named as his likely successor pending board approval.
ByteDance has launched its new AI video model "Seedance 2.5" in Korea via CapCut, enabling users to create up to 30-second videos from a single text or image prompt.
Youngone signed an MOU with Sam Sung Machinery to deploy 180 Korean-made circular knitting machines at its global plants in Uzbekistan, India, and Kenya, in a deal worth 10 billion won.
Guri Mayor Shin Dong-hwa officially scrapped the city's Seoul merger push after 3 years, shifting focus to relocating Gyeonggi Housing & Urban Development Corporation (GH) to Guri.
Park golf is emerging as a social hub for Koreans in their 50s and 60s, with 243,360 association members and enthusiasts up 115.7% since 2022 amid a super-aged society.
The Gwangju FTA Trade Promotion Center signed an agreement with 8 centers in Korea's West Coast and Jeju regions, expanding its export support network to include Daejeon and Sejong.
President Lee Jae-myung on the 6th urged government ministries and local governments to "mobilize all available personnel and resources and do everything possible to minimize damage from the heat wave." Lee made the remarks at a meeting reviewing the response to the heat wave and drought, which he chaired at the Central Disaster and Safety Situation Room in the Government Complex Seoul that day. "The most important thing the government must do is protect the lives and safety of the people," he said. "Extreme heat we have never experienced before is continuing day after day," Lee said. "As the heat wave is likely to persist for some time, I ask the government to operate an all-encompassing response system with extraordinary resolve until the heat wave eases." In particular, Lee called for authorities to "look more carefully after vulnerable groups such as elderly people living alone and residents of jjokbang (subdivided single-room housing for the poor) districts, and to strengthen protective measures by directly visiting those who have difficulty using cooling facilities to check on their well-being." He also stressed, "Thoroughly inspect worksites to ensure that work stoppages or rest periods during the hottest hours at outdoor sites are properly implemented, and make sure safety rules are strictly observed." He added, "Take every precaution to prevent damage to livestock, farmed fish, and crops, and closely manage the safety of social infrastructure such as roads and railways, as well as the power supply situation." Regarding the drought conditions in the southern regions, Lee said, "As there is no rain forecast for the time being, we must actively pursue measures such as supplying alternative water and operating pumping equipment to ensure there is no disruption in stable water supply." He also instructed, "In areas without piped water, such as islands and mountainous regions, pursue medium- and long-term measures such as developing alternative water sources, in addition to short-term steps like emergency water supply." He continued, "Mobilize all administrative capacity so that the harm to the people from the heat wave and drought can be minimized. I ask each agency to respond with a sense of responsibility so that the public can feel the effects of the response, and to thoroughly look after the health and safety of frontline response personnel such as public officials, police, firefighters, and volunteers."...
U.S. President Donald Trump strongly rebuked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the depletion of the U.S. military's weapons stockpiles, according to reports. The rebuke came because Trump was allegedly not properly briefed even as the situation deteriorated to the point of constraining military operations against Iran, with the inventory of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor missiles falling to as low as one-fifth of its level. According to a report by The Washington Post (WP) on the 5th, citing multiple anonymous sources, Trump pulled Hegseth aside during a cabinet meeting held at Camp David on the 31st of last month and expressed strong displeasure, saying, "I thought the ammunition issue had already been resolved." The remark is interpreted as reflecting Trump's judgment that he had not been sufficiently informed about the fact that inventories of long-range precision-guided weapons and air defense interceptor missiles had plummeted. Shortages in the U.S. military's weapons have surfaced in a series of recent reports. CNN earlier reported that the inventory of THAAD interceptor missiles had fallen to about 20% of the total, while Reuters also reported that the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) and the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) surface-to-surface missiles were effectively depleted. Some analysts suggest that this decline in inventory is one of the reasons behind Trump's recent decision to hold off on additional large-scale airstrikes against Iran. The WP reported that Hegseth denied his own responsibility and attributed problems with munitions management and the presidential reporting system to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg. The controversy over weapons depletion is not the first. In a Senate hearing last July, Hegseth also clashed with Democratic lawmakers over the decline in munitions inventories stemming from a prolonged war with Iran. At the time, he refused to answer what military advice he had given the president, while arguing that the current situation stemmed not from the Trump administration's operations but from military operations during the Biden administration. Some interpret Trump's direct rebuke of Hegseth as a sign that his trust in the secretary is not what it once was. Hegseth was one of the most vocal advocates of military action against Iran, and is known to have persuaded Trump that the war would be a relatively easy operation that could be won in a short period of time. The U.S. government flatly denied the reports. White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt called it "100% fake news," saying, "President Trump has complete confidence in Secretary Hegseth." Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell also rebutted the claims, saying, "Secretary Hegseth misled no one and never shifted blame to Deputy Secretary Feinberg," adding, "Reports of depleted weapons stockpiles and internal conflict are all untrue."...
Elon Musk, who leads SpaceX and Tesla, made a surprise declaration on the 4th (local time). The day drew attention as the first earnings announcement after SpaceX's listing, but what the market focused on was Musk's vision for the future. SpaceX said it would secure more than 2 gigawatts (GW) of computing infrastructure by the end of this year and expand it to around 10 gigawatts by the end of next year. What the semiconductor market focused on was Musk's abrupt declaration that he would use only Nvidia chips in data centers. Through his own social media platform X, he said, "SpaceX has decided to use only Nvidia GPUs. Because they are the best." In the conference call held after the earnings release, he also said, "We think Nvidia's Vera Rubin architecture is the best, so we decided to use only Nvidia products. We think this is the best AI computer, and we value the close collaboration and partnership with Nvidia very much in many respects. We think the NVL72 computer design is a far better design than the standard rack style." Musk's remarks threw cold water on AMD, which had begun its full-fledged pursuit of Nvidia with the shipment of "Helios" in the second half. Helios is an AI server structure that combines AMD's latest GPU, central processing unit (CPU), networking and software into a single equipment structure, and had been cited as a challenger to block the dominance of Nvidia's Vera Rubin NVL72. The NVL72 integrates seven chips, including the Nvidia GPU Rubin and the CPU Vera, into a single system and connects them with NVLink communication technology. AMD Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Lisa Su praised SpaceX as a "very important technology company" in a CNBC interview on the 5th, the day after Musk's remarks. "I have deep respect for Elon Musk and everything he has achieved, and I look forward to continuing our partnership over the long term," she said, appearing to make an effort to reassure investors. As recently as May, Musk had said it was highly likely that Tesla and SpaceX, which he leads, would continue to buy both Nvidia and AMD chips, but he suddenly chose Nvidia. AMD took a direct hit from Musk's unexpected remarks. Even though AMD posted results that exceeded expectations in its earnings announcement held on the same day as SpaceX, its stock price plunged. Why did Musk suddenly say he would use only Nvidia? ◇Judged Optimal for Space Data Centers First, Musk judged that Nvidia chips are the optimal infrastructure to realize SpaceX's vision of building data centers in space. In this conference call, SpaceX said it would launch Starmind AI satellites, which are space data centers, starting next year and equip them with the Vera Rubin NVL72. Following SpaceX's ground data centers, Nvidia chips will also play a key role in space data centers. In March this year, Nvidia unveiled its latest space-accelerated computing platform, which implements data-center-class performance in an environment constrained by size, weight and power. It connects artificial intelligence (AI) to operate seamlessly from ground to space and between space. The "Space-1 Vera Rubin Space Module," a component of the platform, is built on the Rubin GPU. It delivers up to 25 times improved AI computing performance in space-based inference compared with the previous H100 GPU. The "Nvidia IGX Thor," which helps process data on spacecraft, and the Nvidia Jetson Orin, an ultra-compact AI inference module, are also included in the platform. AMD also operates the "AMD Versal AI Edge" series platform targeting the aerospace market, but analysts say SpaceX preferred Nvidia, which uses the latest GPU modules. Nvidia's strengths also include the "CUDA" software optimized to run Nvidia chips, as well as networking equipment. In November last year, AMD said it had advanced packaging technology capable of supporting geostationary satellites, lunar exploration and deep-space probe missions in space for up to 15 years, but it is evaluated as lagging behind Nvidia in terms of the infrastructure full stack (package). AMD is collaborating with Blue Origin, which is regarded as a SpaceX rival. ◇Nvidia's Solid Supply Chain Nvidia's chip supply chain is also cited as a reason Musk chose Nvidia. Nvidia is expected to overtake Apple this year to become the largest customer of Taiwan's TSMC, the world's largest foundry (contract chipmaker). This means that as the industrial landscape shifts from mobile to AI data centers, TSMC is prioritizing the production of Nvidia chips. Although Musk is pushing to build Terafab to directly produce his own AI chips for use at Tesla and SpaceX, analysts say it will be difficult to acquire foundry capabilities like those of TSMC, Samsung Electronics and Intel in a short period. After Musk said he would build a factory producing 1 million chips a month, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang took a negative stance at a TSMC event in November last year, saying, "Building an advanced chip manufacturing facility is very difficult. Not only building the factory itself, but the engineering, science and craftsmanship are all very difficult." Analysts say that because Terafab is a formidable undertaking, from Musk's standpoint he would have needed Nvidia, which controls a powerful chip supply chain. ◇Reliant on Nvidia From the Start... A Foregone Conclusion There is also an analysis that, because SpaceX has relied on Nvidia from the start, continuing to use Nvidia chips was the natural course. xAI, SpaceX's AI development subsidiary, has mainly used previous GPUs to Rubin, such as Hopper and Blackwell, to train its AI model Grok. IT media outlet Tom's Hardware noted, "There is no public announcement or evidence that xAI developed Grok with chips from AMD or any other company," adding, "Because xAI's supercomputers have already used Nvidia accelerators for years, the exclusive deal officially announced this time appears to be closer to a formality than a decision reached after much deliberation."...
◆ WAN-IFRA Gold
President Lee Jae-myung on the 6th urged government ministries and local governments to "mobilize all available personnel and resources and do everything possible to minimize damage from the heat wave." Lee made the remarks at a meeting reviewing the response to the heat wave and drought, which he chaired at the Central Disaster and Safety Situation Room in the Government Complex Seoul that day. "The most important thing the government must do is protect the lives and safety of the people," he said. "Extreme heat we have never experienced before is continuing day after day," Lee said. "As the heat wave is likely to persist for some time, I ask the government to operate an all-encompassing response system with extraordinary resolve until the heat wave eases." In particular, Lee called for authorities to "look more carefully after vulnerable groups such as elderly people living alone and residents of jjokbang (subdivided single-room housing for the poor) districts, and to strengthen protective measures by directly visiting those who have difficulty using cooling facilities to check on their well-being." He also stressed, "Thoroughly inspect worksites to ensure that work stoppages or rest periods during the hottest hours at outdoor sites are properly implemented, and make sure safety rules are strictly observed." He added, "Take every precaution to prevent damage to livestock, farmed fish, and crops, and closely manage the safety of social infrastructure such as roads and railways, as well as the power supply situation." Regarding the drought conditions in the southern regions, Lee said, "As there is no rain forecast for the time being, we must actively pursue measures such as supplying alternative water and operating pumping equipment to ensure there is no disruption in stable water supply." He also instructed, "In areas without piped water, such as islands and mountainous regions, pursue medium- and long-term measures such as developing alternative water sources, in addition to short-term steps like emergency water supply." He continued, "Mobilize all administrative capacity so that the harm to the people from the heat wave and drought can be minimized. I ask each agency to respond with a sense of responsibility so that the public can feel the effects of the response, and to thoroughly look after the health and safety of frontline response personnel such as public officials, police, firefighters, and volunteers."...
U.S. President Donald Trump strongly rebuked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the depletion of the U.S. military's weapons stockpiles, according to reports. The rebuke came because Trump was allegedly not properly briefed even as the situation deteriorated to the point of constraining military operations against Iran, with the inventory of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor missiles falling to as low as one-fifth of its level. According to a report by The Washington Post (WP) on the 5th, citing multiple anonymous sources, Trump pulled Hegseth aside during a cabinet meeting held at Camp David on the 31st of last month and expressed strong displeasure, saying, "I thought the ammunition issue had already been resolved." The remark is interpreted as reflecting Trump's judgment that he had not been sufficiently informed about the fact that inventories of long-range precision-guided weapons and air defense interceptor missiles had plummeted. Shortages in the U.S. military's weapons have surfaced in a series of recent reports. CNN earlier reported that the inventory of THAAD interceptor missiles had fallen to about 20% of the total, while Reuters also reported that the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) and the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) surface-to-surface missiles were effectively depleted. Some analysts suggest that this decline in inventory is one of the reasons behind Trump's recent decision to hold off on additional large-scale airstrikes against Iran. The WP reported that Hegseth denied his own responsibility and attributed problems with munitions management and the presidential reporting system to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg. The controversy over weapons depletion is not the first. In a Senate hearing last July, Hegseth also clashed with Democratic lawmakers over the decline in munitions inventories stemming from a prolonged war with Iran. At the time, he refused to answer what military advice he had given the president, while arguing that the current situation stemmed not from the Trump administration's operations but from military operations during the Biden administration. Some interpret Trump's direct rebuke of Hegseth as a sign that his trust in the secretary is not what it once was. Hegseth was one of the most vocal advocates of military action against Iran, and is known to have persuaded Trump that the war would be a relatively easy operation that could be won in a short period of time. The U.S. government flatly denied the reports. White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt called it "100% fake news," saying, "President Trump has complete confidence in Secretary Hegseth." Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell also rebutted the claims, saying, "Secretary Hegseth misled no one and never shifted blame to Deputy Secretary Feinberg," adding, "Reports of depleted weapons stockpiles and internal conflict are all untrue."...
Elon Musk, who leads SpaceX and Tesla, made a surprise declaration on the 4th (local time). The day drew attention as the first earnings announcement after SpaceX's listing, but what the market focused on was Musk's vision for the future. SpaceX said it would secure more than 2 gigawatts (GW) of computing infrastructure by the end of this year and expand it to around 10 gigawatts by the end of next year. What the semiconductor market focused on was Musk's abrupt declaration that he would use only Nvidia chips in data centers. Through his own social media platform X, he said, "SpaceX has decided to use only Nvidia GPUs. Because they are the best." In the conference call held after the earnings release, he also said, "We think Nvidia's Vera Rubin architecture is the best, so we decided to use only Nvidia products. We think this is the best AI computer, and we value the close collaboration and partnership with Nvidia very much in many respects. We think the NVL72 computer design is a far better design than the standard rack style." Musk's remarks threw cold water on AMD, which had begun its full-fledged pursuit of Nvidia with the shipment of "Helios" in the second half. Helios is an AI server structure that combines AMD's latest GPU, central processing unit (CPU), networking and software into a single equipment structure, and had been cited as a challenger to block the dominance of Nvidia's Vera Rubin NVL72. The NVL72 integrates seven chips, including the Nvidia GPU Rubin and the CPU Vera, into a single system and connects them with NVLink communication technology. AMD Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Lisa Su praised SpaceX as a "very important technology company" in a CNBC interview on the 5th, the day after Musk's remarks. "I have deep respect for Elon Musk and everything he has achieved, and I look forward to continuing our partnership over the long term," she said, appearing to make an effort to reassure investors. As recently as May, Musk had said it was highly likely that Tesla and SpaceX, which he leads, would continue to buy both Nvidia and AMD chips, but he suddenly chose Nvidia. AMD took a direct hit from Musk's unexpected remarks. Even though AMD posted results that exceeded expectations in its earnings announcement held on the same day as SpaceX, its stock price plunged. Why did Musk suddenly say he would use only Nvidia? ◇Judged Optimal for Space Data Centers First, Musk judged that Nvidia chips are the optimal infrastructure to realize SpaceX's vision of building data centers in space. In this conference call, SpaceX said it would launch Starmind AI satellites, which are space data centers, starting next year and equip them with the Vera Rubin NVL72. Following SpaceX's ground data centers, Nvidia chips will also play a key role in space data centers. In March this year, Nvidia unveiled its latest space-accelerated computing platform, which implements data-center-class performance in an environment constrained by size, weight and power. It connects artificial intelligence (AI) to operate seamlessly from ground to space and between space. The "Space-1 Vera Rubin Space Module," a component of the platform, is built on the Rubin GPU. It delivers up to 25 times improved AI computing performance in space-based inference compared with the previous H100 GPU. The "Nvidia IGX Thor," which helps process data on spacecraft, and the Nvidia Jetson Orin, an ultra-compact AI inference module, are also included in the platform. AMD also operates the "AMD Versal AI Edge" series platform targeting the aerospace market, but analysts say SpaceX preferred Nvidia, which uses the latest GPU modules. Nvidia's strengths also include the "CUDA" software optimized to run Nvidia chips, as well as networking equipment. In November last year, AMD said it had advanced packaging technology capable of supporting geostationary satellites, lunar exploration and deep-space probe missions in space for up to 15 years, but it is evaluated as lagging behind Nvidia in terms of the infrastructure full stack (package). AMD is collaborating with Blue Origin, which is regarded as a SpaceX rival. ◇Nvidia's Solid Supply Chain Nvidia's chip supply chain is also cited as a reason Musk chose Nvidia. Nvidia is expected to overtake Apple this year to become the largest customer of Taiwan's TSMC, the world's largest foundry (contract chipmaker). This means that as the industrial landscape shifts from mobile to AI data centers, TSMC is prioritizing the production of Nvidia chips. Although Musk is pushing to build Terafab to directly produce his own AI chips for use at Tesla and SpaceX, analysts say it will be difficult to acquire foundry capabilities like those of TSMC, Samsung Electronics and Intel in a short period. After Musk said he would build a factory producing 1 million chips a month, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang took a negative stance at a TSMC event in November last year, saying, "Building an advanced chip manufacturing facility is very difficult. Not only building the factory itself, but the engineering, science and craftsmanship are all very difficult." Analysts say that because Terafab is a formidable undertaking, from Musk's standpoint he would have needed Nvidia, which controls a powerful chip supply chain. ◇Reliant on Nvidia From the Start... A Foregone Conclusion There is also an analysis that, because SpaceX has relied on Nvidia from the start, continuing to use Nvidia chips was the natural course. xAI, SpaceX's AI development subsidiary, has mainly used previous GPUs to Rubin, such as Hopper and Blackwell, to train its AI model Grok. IT media outlet Tom's Hardware noted, "There is no public announcement or evidence that xAI developed Grok with chips from AMD or any other company," adding, "Because xAI's supercomputers have already used Nvidia accelerators for years, the exclusive deal officially announced this time appears to be closer to a formality than a decision reached after much deliberation."...
Youngone signed an MOU with Sam Sung Machinery to deploy 180 Korean-made circular knitting machines at its global plants in Uzbekistan, India, and Kenya, in a deal worth 10 billion won.
Korea's August interim corporate tax prepayment is projected to reach 46.1 trillion won this year, up 30 trillion won from last year, potentially adding downward pressure on the won-dollar exchange rate.
CJ Freshway's Q2 operating profit fell 14.2% to 23.5 billion won on Sikbom platform investment, while revenue rose 4.5% to 923.1 billion won on food ingredient and catering growth.
Daily puzzles and brain teasers
ByteDance has launched its new AI video model "Seedance 2.5" in Korea via CapCut, enabling users to create up to 30-second videos from a single text or image prompt.
Kim Tae-young
Kim Ki-hyuk
Seo Ji-hye
Kim Ki-hyuk
Park golf is emerging as a social hub for Koreans in their 50s and 60s, with 243,360 association members and enthusiasts up 115.7% since 2022 amid a super-aged society.
Moon Ye-bin, AX Content Lab
Park Min-young, Senior Reporter
Yang Jun-ho
Yang Jun-ho
Park Min-young, Senior Reporter
Yang Jun-ho
Daily puzzles and brain teasers
The Editorial Board (Opinion)
Shin Kyung-lip (Commentary)
Seoul Economic Daily (Commentary)
Shin Kyung-lip (Commentary)
The Editorial Board (Commentary)
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