Innholdsfortegnelse for August 05, 2022 i Newsweek International

“We are establishing the world’s first mass production system for small-size sulfide-based all-solid-state batteries.”Keiji Nakamura, President and Representative Director, Maxell Ltd. Established in 1961, Maxell started out as a battery manufacturer, with its name, originally derived from “Maximum Capacity Dry Cell”, having long become synonymous with high-quality Japanese electronics. For over 60 years, Maxell has continued to foster its three Analog Core Technologies to ensure the finest built products: Mixing & Dispersion, Fine Coating, and High Precision Molding & Forming. ‘All-solid-state batteries’ have been earmarked as the next generation of battery innovation. Always at the forefront of battery development, Maxell aims to establish the world’s first mass production system of small-size all-solid-state batteries through its well-developed micro battery and lithium-ion battery manufacturing processing technologies; as well as through collaboration with…

Antics (2004, MATADOR) How does a band follow up a hugely successful debut? “I didn’t want us to overthink making the second record with that whole stereotypical sophomore slump kind of thing,” recalls Kessler. “I was definitely trying to encourage the guys, ‘Let’s write in between individual tours.’... The idea was just to write the second record ahead of having any perceptions about any attention on it.” Our Love to Admire (2007, CAPITOL) Interpol’s third album was the band’s first and only record for a major label. On the road this year, the band is performing “Pioneer to the Falls” from the album. Fogarino says, “It’s a little quintessential in that first mode of Interpol, with a heavy lyrical content and very weighty emotionally, with little rays of hope coming…

South Korea’s position as one of Asia’s strongest economies, as well as its wide-ranging appeal to foreign leisure visitors, robust domestic travel demand, and large diaspora, have made its air transportation sector a major economic contributor. The industry adds gross value added of nearly $50bn to the Korean economy, supporting more than 830,000 jobs, according to the International Air Transport Association. The core sector alone, including airlines and their supply chains, is estimated to support around $30bn of GDP. Before the pandemic, more than 75 airlines operated in the country, serving upwards of 175 destinations, with nearly 750,000 landings and takeoffs a year. Some 183 flights connected to cities in the top ten countries by passenger numbers worldwide. IATA also rates South Korea highly for cost competitiveness in its aviation…

The economic rebound is feeding through into the consumer market, as global management consultancy McKinsey reported in May 2022. McKinsey noted that optimism was returning to consumers, particularly Generation Z and millennials, and that several categories of goods were reporting positive results. Consumers are also increasingly shopping across various channels, from online to bricks-and-mortar; they are also increasingly willing to try new outlets. This dynamic consumer environment should prove a boon for Seoul-based GP Club, one of the world’s leading cosmetics companies. The company was founded by serial entrepreneur and self-made billionaire Kim Jung-woong, who is just 47 but is already one of South Korea’s 50 richest people. A keen gamer as a youth, Kim launched a video-game business when still at school; GP stands for “Games Paradise”. He diversified…

For those involved in the country’s industrial and electronics industries, the current period highlights the strength of the Korean electronics industry. “South Korea has global leading products, like the semiconductor, mobile, and electric battery,” says Seung-Hwan Choi, CEO of PROTEC Co Ltd, which specializes in manufacturing a wide variety of equipment for semiconductor packaging, with a focus on high-precision dispensing and packaging solutions. PROTEC was founded in 1997, and backed by its cutting-edge technology the company has grown to become a global leader in the dispensing and packaging industry, with a strong track record and a reputation for flexibility, speed, transparency and simplicity. PROTEC’s clients now include the likes of Samsung, ASE, Amkor, JCET, LG Innotek, Osram, and Huawei. “We develop equipment for semiconductor packaging and dispensers; and our product…

JOHN HUGHES CREATED THE MOLD FOR TEEN COMEDIES, BUT MANY OF those films were lacking something: diversity. That’s where Billy Porter’s Anything’s Possible (July 22) comes in. “There wasn’t anybody that looked like me in those [Hughes] movies, so I had to superimpose myself onto an archetype that was white.” Porter’s directorial debut tells the story of Kelsa (played by Eva Reign), a teenager who is also trans as she navigates life and love in her senior year. “She is not Molly Ringwald, right? She’s not the typical ingenue in the way that we’re used to receiving it.” Porter says Eva was perfect for the film because of the maturity she brought to the role. “She’s a transgender Black girl who came out before she was 17. That means she…

THE SIGNS OF FINANCIAL GLOOM ARE SEEM-ingly everywhere. Inflation is now at its highest point in more than 40 years. Stocks officially fell into a bear market in June, dropping more than 20 percent from their peak in January. Bonds and cryptocurrency are bleeding red ink too, with Bitcoin losing over half of its value so far this year. And, as if all that weren’t bad enough, economists are now warning in increasingly heated language about the rising risk of recession—a three-syllable term with four-letter-word implications. By one common but unofficial definition of recession—two consecutive quarters of economic contraction—the downturn could materialize within weeks, when estimates of GDP for the second quarter will be released. They’re expected to show the economy shrank by about 2 percent on an annualized basis…

Meanwhile, real estate market in the country has been growing fast, creating strong opportunities for construction companies and real estate developers. MDM Group is a leading Korean real estate development and finance group engaged in a variety of businesses related to real estate: from planning to marketing, operation, finance, investment, and asset management. Over the years, the group has sold over 40,000 residential units, and developed over 4.4 million m², and is considered one of South Korea’s most important companies. “It’s been 24 years since we began operating and we’ve achieved 7.3 trillion Korean won in total asset so far and are ranked the 57th largest Korean company according to the Fair Trade Commission,” says Joo-Hyun Moon, MDM Group’s founder and chairman. This is a long way from the group’s…

We have been gradually changing the mainstream business of Korea,” says Woo-Hyun Lee, vice chairman & representative director of OCI Company Ltd, which manufactures specialty chemicals and materials and is on track to become a global leading green energy and chemical company. Lee adds: “In the 50s and 60s we had the garment and shoe industries; Samsung’s first business was making sugar. In the 1970s we started building apartments and construction materials became important, and in the 1980s we started making automobiles and semiconductor home appliances. Every 10 years Korea’s mainstream revenue-generating business model has been updated.” OCI has seen this process firsthand, and has been part of the change. Founded in 1959 as Oriental Chemical Industries, OCI has expanded and adapted over the years and now provides optimal solutions…

PeriscopeHEALTH BY THE TIME A YOUNG MOTHER-TO-BE GOT TO Dr. Tony Ogburn one night in July, the prognosis for the baby was grim. The pregnant woman had come in through the obstetric emergency room at DHR Health, a busy medical center in Edinburg, Texas, complaining of severe cramping and bleeding. Clinicians quickly determined she was in labor. The 4-month-old fetus was not nearly developed enough to survive outside the womb, but it had already come partway through the cervix into the birth canal. If the mother didn’t complete this miscarriage soon, he and his team concluded, she would suffer a major hemorrhage, placing her life in jeopardy. In his 30 years as a practicing OB-GYN, Dr. Ogburn, an affable 63-year-old with thick white hair, wouldn’t have thought twice about operating…

NEWSWEEK AND GLOBAL DATA AND RESEARCH FIRM Statista are proud to introduce America’s Best Petcare Brands 2022, our second annual ranking of the leading products, services and retailers for pets. We surveyed over 20,000 pet owners and asked them about the quality and value of products and services in 68 categories ranging from food and treats to grooming they had purchased or researched themselves and whether they would recommend those brands to friends and family. We then made 308 awards to 203 brands (a brand could be awarded in more than one category). Americans spend a lot of money every year on companions with fur, feathers or scales. According to the American Pet Products Association, Americans spent a total of $123.6 billion on their pets in 2021, a new record,…

South Korea has ambitions to join the ranks of the world’s largest arms exporters, with defence exports exceeding imports for the first time in 2021. Local defence contractors are hoping to ride this wave, having relied until now heavily on domestic defence needs. “We have a steady business being the communication backbone provider to the Korean military,” says Eugene Kim, chairman of Huneed Technologies, a developer and manufacturer of defense communication systems and airborne systems. Recently Kim has been also elected as the chairman of the Korean Defense Industries Association(KDIA) which is the governing body of all of the 645 Korean defense companies. South Korea ranked 10th in the world for military spending in 2020, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. This has created a strong platform for…

Korea’s competitiveness is our competitiveness,” says Young-Dal Kim, CEO of IDIS Holdings, which owns the largest video surveillance brand and manufacturer in South Korea. Originally known as Intelligent Digital Integrated Security Co., Ltd, IDIS was founded in 1997 with a strong focus on digital video recording (DVR) technology. Within just a few years IDIS grew to become the world’s number one DVR vendor, designing and manufacturing recorders for some of the best-known security brands. By the mid-2000s the company had begun a series of in-house innovations and acquisitions that expanded its focus beyond DVRs to include next-generation cameras and network video recording offerings, as well as industrial display technologies. Twenty-five years after its founding, IDIS is now at the forefront of strengthening safety and security, designing, developing, and manufacturing end-to-end…

Founded in 1983 and headquartered in Hwaseong, Foosung is engaged in the production and sale of basic compounds used in the manufacturing and sale of refrigerant gases, gases for semiconductors and battery materials, among other things. “Our products are well lined up with the fast-growing energy transitions,” says Yongmin Kim, vice chairman of Foosung. “We have invested in semiconductors and materials for over 15 years. The demand is growing now, and we want to pursue this opportunity,” he adds. Over the years Foosung has built its operations from scratch, becoming one of the few manufacturers in the world involved in all aspects of the chemical production chain; the company is among the very few manufacturers able to treat fluoride products from beginning to end. In recent years the company has…