AI NewsWaveOct. 30 AI Briefing: Hyundai Motor Group Confirms Investment in Saemangeum AI Data Center
Key points
- Hyundai Motor Group confirms investment in Saemangeum AI data center
- LG CNS and Hanmi Semiconductor report third-quarter earnings
- AI adoption cases and physical AI data partnership continue
Hyundai Motor Group is moving ahead with its Saemangeum AI data center project. On the 30th, five affiliates (Hyundai Motor, Kia, Hyundai Mobis, Hyundai Engineering & Construction and Hyundai AutoEver) confirmed their participation. The group plans to set up a dedicated special purpose company (SPC) in November, break ground in March 2027 and begin operations in early 2030. The project is part of the Saemangeum AI Valley, which is worth about 9 trillion won.
LG CNS said on the 30th that it posted third-quarter revenue of 1.6643 trillion won and operating profit of 138.2 billion won. Revenue rose 9.3% and operating profit rose 15.0% from a year earlier. According to iNews24, revenue from the AI and cloud business was 961.5 billion won, and AI Newspaper (인공지능신문) reported that this business accounts for about 58% of total revenue.
Hanmi Semiconductor received a plaque of appreciation from SK hynix for its contribution to developing HBM production equipment and supporting mass production. According to Chosun Biz, the two companies began working together in 2015 on the development of a thermal compression (TC) bonder for HBM production. According to Digital Daily, Hanmi Semiconductor's third-quarter revenue was 181 billion won and operating profit was 90.8 billion won, with an operating margin above 50%.
Korea Deep Learning said on the 30th that it worked with IBK Industrial Bank of Korea's Financial Consumer Support Department to automate voice phishing damage relief work using a vision-language model (VLM), cutting document processing time by 88%. According to AI Times, the project was selected for the Excellence Award in the AI service proof of concept (PoC) category of the 2026 Public Institution AI Innovation Challenge.
Samsung Electronics launched the budget smartphone Galaxy A18 LTE in Korea on the 30th. It comes in models for the three mobile carriers and an unlocked model. According to IT Chosun, it has a 6.7-inch large display, a 50-megapixel camera and a 5,000mAh battery, and supports AI features such as Google Gemini and Circle to Search. Chosun Biz reported in its headline that the phone is priced in the 420,000 won range, while Digital Today reported in its headline that it is priced in the 400,000 won range.
Crowdworks said on the 30th that it signed a partnership with Poseidon, a blockchain-based AI data infrastructure company, to build and supply physical AI training data. According to Techworld News, the two companies will jointly build real-world data such as egocentric video shot from a human point of view and robot manipulation data, and according to VentureSquare, they plan to supply it to global big tech and robotics companies.
SK Telecom is using AI and drones to restore forests in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, which were damaged by wildfires last year. SKT said on the 30th that it held a seminar on the 29th with Yuhan-Kimberly, Forest of Peace and Inverlab to share the status of the restoration and future plans. Bloter reported that seeds are being sown even on steep slopes that people can hardly reach, and that changes in vegetation are being monitored.
Trillion Labs said on the 30th that it will hold the 2026 Trillion Agent AI Hackathon at Dream Plus Gangnam in Seoul from Nov. 19 to 20. In the competition, participants will use Trillion Labs' open-source model to develop AI agents and try to improve model performance. Digital Daily reported in its headline that participants will compete on AI agents and OCR optimization.