The antitrust watchdog said Tuesday it has received an application from Uber Technologies Inc. regarding its plan to acquire a stake in Germany-based Delivery Hero SE, the parent company of Woowa Brothers Corp., which operates Korea's leading food delivery app. The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said the U.S.-based Uber Technologies has submitted the application for a review regarding its plan to acquire a full stake in Delivery Heros. Woowa Brothers operates the delivery platform, Baedal Minjok, or Baemin.

Hyundai Motor Group has opened its robot training and testing facility for Boston Dynamics’ Atlas humanoid robot as part of efforts to bring the group’s physical artificial intelligence (AI) vision into its global production operations. The carmaker said Tuesday the Robotics Metaplant Application Center (RMAC) has started operations at Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America (HMGMA) in the state of Georgia in the United States. The facility will serve as a major testbed where Atlas is trained in an environment designed to replicate actual automotive production sites before the robots are deployed on factory floors. Atlas is being trained to perform a range of manufacturing-related tasks, including preparing materials for logistics operations and sorting automotive parts according to their assembly sequence. The training is intended to help the humanoid robot handle increasingly sophisticated work in real-world production environments. The facility is expected to play a key role in Hyundai Motor Group’s plan to deploy about 25,000 Atlas robots across its Hyundai Motor and Kia producti

Beauty device and cosmetics developer APR has obtained two international artificial intelligence (AI)-related certifications, establishing a global-level framework for AI governance and product reliability. The company said Tuesday it earned ISO/IEC 42001 certification for its AI management system and Nemko’s AI Trust Mark for the reliability of its AI-assisted product. APR said it is the first beauty company in the world to obtain both certifications. ISO/IEC 42001, established by the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission in 2023, is an international standard for AI management systems. It assesses whether an organization has systems in place to manage risks and opportunities associated with AI and support the responsible development, provision and use of AI systems. APR said it has established 46 types of AI management documents across seven stages for its AI-based personalized care services, covering the entire lifecycle of AI systems, from planning to disposal. It has also implemented a governance structure in which individ

Korean telecommunications and technology services provider LG Uplus said Tuesday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Sodomall, a wholesale and retail distribution platform, to jointly develop artificial intelligence (AI) transformation (AX) solutions tailored to small business owners. Sodomall operates an online-and-offline distribution network that supplies groceries and daily necessities at wholesale prices through nationwide group-buying stores. Under the partnership, the two companies will work together on AI and telecom solutions for in-store use, help small merchants expand their sales channels and identify new business opportunities to revitalize local commercial districts. LG Uplus plans to combine its own telecom and AI infrastructure with Sodomall's online and offline distribution data to help individual merchants forecast product demand. Specifically, the companies will pilot a solution that merges the commercial district analysis feature of LG Uplus' Uri Gage Package — a communications and AI solution built for small businesses — with Sodomall's regional sa

Korea has selected a natural gas-fired combined-cycle power plant in Encinal, Texas, as the first project under its $200 billion strategic investment commitment to the United States. It is also drawing up plans for two further projects related to the construction of eight nuclear reactors and an Alaska liquefied natural gas (LNG) project. Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan briefed the National Assembly's Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs, and Startups Committee on the projects Tuesday, saying the government had decided on the first project following reviews by committees chaired by the industry and finance ministers. “Today, I would like to report on one project the government has decided to pursue,” Kim said during the committee's plenary session. The $22.3 billion project, with planned generating capacity of about 6.3 gigawatts, is aimed at meeting rising electricity demand in Texas as semiconductor plants and artificial intelligence data centers expand in the state. The project will be funded entirely by Korea, while ownership will be split equally between Seoul and Washington. The govern

Facing a sharp slowdown in global electric vehicle demand and fierce price competition from Chinese rivals, Korea is overhauling its battery strategy to recapture its edge in the global market. At a high-level industry summit held Tuesday at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Seoul, officials from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy met with executives from top battery giants, including LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI and SK On. Together, they unveiled the nation’s official Battery Technology Roadmap, outlining a massive public-private push focused on next-generation chemistries and dramatic cost reductions. The strategic shift marks a clear departure from Korea’s long-standing reliance on high-nickel NCM (nickel-cobalt-manganese) cells. While premium NCM batteries established Korean manufacturers as global leaders in high-performance electric vehicles, Chinese rivals have rapidly gained market share by flooding global supply chains with low-cost lithium iron phosphate alternatives. To counter this squeeze, Korea is pivoting toward a "select and concentrate" strate