Latest news with #JoyceLee
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
South Korea's Hanwha Ocean targets US Navy orders as Trump seeks shipbuilding ties
By Joyce Lee SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean aims to boost its revenue from overseas military vessels to around 4 trillion won ($2.91 billion) by 2030 and hopes to pick up more repair orders from the U.S. Navy, a senior executive told Reuters. The Asian country is a major global shipbuilder and trade talks with the U.S. on tariffs brought up possible cooperation in the sector after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to restore U.S. shipbuilding. Hanwha Ocean, formerly Daewoo Shipbuilding, is one of the largest shipbuilders in the world with an order book of $31.43 billion as of the end of March. It acquired a U.S. shipyard in Philadelphia last year to expand in the market. Its naval ships business, which has built dozens of submarines and surface vessels used by the South Korean Navy, has won two orders from the U.S. Navy since last year to repair and overhaul its ships for the first time. "I think we may be the biggest shipyard in the world that has taken on these maintenance, repair and overhaul orders from the U.S. Navy," said Steve SK Jeong, head of the Naval Ship Global Business at Hanwha Ocean, days after U.S. Secretary of the Navy John Phelan visited its shipyard. "It is not very profitable, but learning the process of working with the U.S. Navy is valuable, which will help if we win newbuild orders." Hanwha Ocean hoped to win a double-digit number of U.S. Navy maintenance and repair orders before 2030, Jeong said. Trump has vowed to spend "a lot of money on shipbuilding" to restore U.S. capacity, and cited concern over how his country has fallen behind in an industry that is also dominated by China. Still, U.S. laws can make it harder for foreign shipyards even if they have U.S. operations. They are prohibited from building U.S. Navy vessels, due to the Byrnes-Tollefson Amendment of the U.S. Department of Defense Appropriations Act. TRANSPLANTING PROCESSES Hanwha Ocean's Philadelphia Shipyard is trying to get a licence that clears it to build U.S. Navy vessels, but transplanting cutting-edge manufacturing processes honed from competition with other South Korean and Chinese shipyards is not as simple as bringing in some automated welding machines, Jeong said. "I think the U.S. shipbuilding industry hasn't had to compete very much. Facilities are old, and there's a shortage of technicians," Jeong said. "We are looking to modernise facilities, train and equip workers, and bring in our manufacturing process that can build the same ship in, I think, two-thirds the time or less as that of a U.S. shipyard." Jeong said the company is investing in South Korea to use existing facilities and expand naval ship capacity to build five submarines and three surface vessels at the same time by 2029, from two submarines and two surface vessels now. Despite building 17 submarines for the South Korean Navy since 1987, Hanwha Ocean has only actively competed for overseas orders in the last few years as South Korea's low birthrate and shrinking military-age population risk cooling local demand. It is competing to export submarines to Poland and Canada, a frigate to Thailand as well as knocking on the door in markets in the Middle East, South America, North Africa and Southeast Asia, to build up a sustained flow of orders that would bring foreign sales to 4 trillion won by 2030, Jeong said. That would be about four times the size of its 1.05 trillion won of revenue in 2024. ($1 = 1,376.08 won) Sign in to access your portfolio
Time of India
24-04-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Nvidia supplier SK Hynix's Q1 profit soars, flags H2 demand risks from tariffs
By Heekyong Yang and Joyce Lee SEOUL: SK Hynix 's quarterly profit more than doubled on strong AI chip sales and stockpiling ahead of potential U.S. tariffs, but it warned that macroeconomic uncertainties could create demand volatility in the second half of the year. The Nvidia supplier reported on Thursday a 7.4 trillion won ($5.19 billion) operating profit for the first quarter ended March, versus 2.9 trillion won a year earlier. That topped a 6.6 trillion won average forecast by LSEG SmartEstimate, which is weighted toward the more consistently accurate analysts. Quarterly revenue for the South Korean firm jumped 42% to 17.6 trillion won. In the first quarter, the "memory market ramped up faster than expected due to competition to develop AI systems and inventory accumulation demand", SK Hynix said in a statement, while cautioning about volatility stemming from "elevated macro uncertainties such as tariff policy" later in the year. The company, however, said it expects spending by big tech firms on server chips to continue as they seek to capture early opportunities in the artificial intelligence (AI) market. In smartphones, the advancement of AI features in new models is expected to drive replacement demand, boosting sales of high-performance mobile DRAM chips, it added. SK Hynix has been leading a global race to meet explosive demand for high bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a crucial component of AI chipsets made by the likes of Nvidia that help process vast amounts of data to train AI models. The firm has been a main HBM chip supplier to Nvidia as its cross town rival Samsung Electronics has struggled to keep up in the race.
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
South Korea's impeached President Yoon faces court ruling to decide his fate
By Joyce Lee and Ju-min Park SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's Constitutional Court will rule on Friday whether to remove or reinstate impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol over his short-lived martial law declaration that sparked a crisis in a country seen as a democratic success story. Yoon's fate has been hanging in the balance after the court defied expectations of a swift decision on whether to oust him for violating his constitutional duty or reinstate him, instead deliberating for more than five weeks in tight secrecy. The court is scheduled to deliver its ruling at 11 a.m. (0200 GMT) in a nationally televised session. Yoon is not expected to attend, but if he is stripped of his presidency, an election must be held within 60 days. If his powers are restored, Yoon faces the challenge of helping Asia's fourth-largest economy navigate the fallout from the stiff tariffs imposed by the United States, its main security ally. The ruling will cap months of political turmoil that have overshadowed efforts to deal with the new administration of U.S. President Donald Trump at a time of slowing growth. Separately, 64-year-old Yoon faces a criminal trial on insurrection charges. The embattled leader became the first sitting South Korean president to be arrested on January 15 but was released in March after a court cancelled his arrest warrant citing questions over the procedural legitimacy of the investigation. The crisis was triggered by his December 3 declaration of martial law, which he has said was needed to root out "anti-state" elements and the opposition Democratic Party's alleged abuse of its parliamentary majority that he said was destroying the country. He lifted the decree six hours later after lawmakers defied efforts by the security forces to seal off parliament and voted to reject it. Yoon has said he never intended to fully impose emergency military rule and tried to downplay the fallout saying nobody was hurt. South Korean parliamentary lawyers seeking Yoon's removal compared him to a dictator during the trial at the Constitutional Court, which currently has eight judges with one seat vacant. Under the Constitution, at least six of them must agree for Yoon to be removed. The wait of more than a month for the decision has exacerbated tensions between the ruling party, with many of its members calling for Yoon's reinstatement, and the opposition, which has said his return would deal a serious blow to the country's constitutional order. It has also deepened division among the public, with large crowds packing Seoul streets in rallies for and against Yoon's removal, and increasingly heated rhetoric. Police are bracing for potential violence and plan to mobilise more than 14,000 officers in the capital. The deep divisions suggest Friday's ruling will do little to ease the tension, analysts have said. Experts also question whether Yoon, who has been badly bruised by personal scandals and political feuds, would be effective in the remaining two years of his term even if his powers were restored. The majority of the public backs Yoon's removal, according to opinion polls, although support has ebbed since the initial days after the martial law declaration. A Gallup Korea poll released last week showed 60% of the respondents saying Yoon should be ousted.
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
North Korea denounces 'absurd' denuclearisation pledge by US and allies
By Joyce Lee and Hyonhee Shin SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea's foreign ministry said on Tuesday that it will keep bolstering its nuclear force, denouncing a recent joint pledge by the United States, South Korea and Japan for its denuclearisation, according to state media KCNA. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and Japanese Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi held talks on Saturday on the sidelines of a security conference in Munich and issued a statement, reaffirming their commitment to North Korea's complete denuclearisation. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. Pyongyang's foreign ministry criticised the countries for pursuing an "outdated, absurd" plan, warning against seeking what it called "foolish acts inciting collective hostility and conflicts." "As long as the U.S. and its vassal forces' hostile threat exists, the DPRK's nukes are means for defending peace and sovereignty and a means for legitimate self-defence entrusted by the constitution of the state," an unnamed ministry spokesperson said in a statement carried by KCNA, vowing to continue strengthening its nuclear force. The spokesperson was referring to North Korea's formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. South Korea's foreign ministry urged the North to cease its illicit weapons programmes and return to the path to denuclearisation. "North Korea will never be recognised as a nuclear weapons state," ministry spokesperson Lee Jae-woong told a briefing. "We hope that they will realise that the development of nuclear weapons and missiles will only hinder their own security and economic development." The three-way meeting was their first since the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump, who held unprecedented summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his first term and has touted their personal rapport. South Korean lawmakers, after being briefed by the National Intelligence Service, have said that Pyongyang's recent missile tests were in part intended to "show off its U.S. deterrent assets and drawing Trump's attention." Also in Seoul, South Korea's military said on Tuesday it has deployed a domestically developed new bunker buster missile named the Korean Tactical Surface to Surface Missile (KTSSM). The missile - nicknamed Ure, which means thunder in Korean - is capable of conducting simultaneous, precision strikes in a short span of time against North Korea's long-range artillery systems that could threaten the greater Seoul area in the event of a contingency, the military said in a press release.
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Tokyo tech IPO soars but Seoul deal tanks 10% in volatile Asian markets
By Scott Murdoch and Joyce Lee SYDNEY/SEOUL (Reuters) -Shares of a small Japanese technology firm shot up nearly 60% on its first day of trade on Wednesday, while Seoul's largest initial public offering (IPO) in three years tanked almost 10% as volatility driven by geopolitics again gripped Asia's equity markets. South Korea's LG CNS shares dropped from opening bell and traded in negative territory for the session, failing to arrest the recent trend of weak debuts for the Seoul market. The IT, cloud and AI services provider's shares closed at 55,800 won, down from their issue price of 61,900 won. Shares of Next Generation Technology - the first IPO debut of 2025 in Tokyo - traded 58% higher before paring some gains across the day. It raised 1.3 billion yen in the IPO ($8.49 million), according to its regulatory filings. The strong first day performance came as Tokyo's Nikkei nudged up 0.1% on Wednesday, In Seoul, the Kospi gained 1.1%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.44% higher later Wednesday as China's main equities indices traded lower. The prospect of a trade war between the U.S and China as tit-for-tat tariffs between the world's top two economies has raised investor concerns about financial market volatility over the near term. Asian deal makers were hopeful the region's equity capital markets would perform better in 2025 as global interest rates began to fall and more Chinese IPOs were given regulatory sign off. LNG CNS last month priced its IPO at the top of its targeted valuation range, raising 1.2 trillion won ($827.1 million). At closing, the firm's market valuation was about 5.4 trillion won. The IPO is the largest since LG Energy Solution raised $10.74 billion in 2022. Last year, South Korea raised $2.85 billion worth of IPOs, according to LSEG data, up slightly from $2.79 billion in 2023. LG CNS' offering was one of the few by South Korean firms to draw strong demand in recent months against the backdrop of an IPO market slump since the second half of last year, analysts said. The retail portion of the initial public offering was oversubscribed nearly 123 times, while more than 2,000 institutional investors made bids worth 76 trillion won during the bookbuilding last month, according to the company. However, LG CNS's weak market debut has continued a trend of similarly disappointing listings since last year, which analysts said could further discourage investors and other companies from coming to market. ($1 = 1,450.8900 won ($1 = 153.1300 yen)
