AI Agent Competition Heats Up Among Big Tech
Microsoft announced it will integrate "Copilot Cowork," developed in collaboration with rival Anthropic, into its M365 subscription office service. Nvidia plans to launch AI agent open-source platform "Nemo Claw," while Tencent unveiled "WorkBuddy," an AI agent based on OpenClaw, signaling accelerating competition and cooperation among tech giants.
Government Backs AI Chip Startup Rebellions with $1.8 Billion Round
The National Growth Fund will invest 250 billion won in AI semiconductor startup Rebellions' 600 billion won funding round. Combined with Korea Development Bank's 50 billion won, policy funds total 300 billion won, matched by 300 billion won from private investors including Mirae Asset Capital and Mirae Asset Venture Investment.
Korean OCR Startup Achieves 97.9% Accuracy, Surpassing Google
Kim Ji-hyun, CEO of Korea Deep Learning, developed optical character recognition technology using vision-language models that analyze document layout and context simultaneously. Internal tests showed 97.9% accuracy in document structure reconstruction, far exceeding Google Gemini 3's 74.2%. Individual data field matching reached 99.2% versus 79.4%.
The company's "Deep Agent" service, combining OCR with AI agents launched in March 2024, serves approximately 90 clients in finance, logistics, and public administration. Korea Deep Learning completed 12 billion won in early-stage funding last month and targets 8 billion won in revenue this year, double the previous year.
SK Hynix Develops World's First LPDDR6 Mobile Memory
SK Hynix achieved the world's first development of LPDDR6 mobile DRAM using 10-nanometer sixth-generation (1c) process technology. The new chip delivers 33% faster data processing and reduces power consumption by over 20% through automatic voltage-frequency adjustment and sub-channel architecture.
Industry observers expect the chip to be installed in Apple's iPhone 18 and first foldable phone launching in the second half of this year. Nvidia's growing adoption of LPDDR for server AI accelerators is also creating demand rivaling the smartphone market.
LG CNS Invests in U.S. Humanoid Robot Company
LG CNS made a strategic investment in Dexmate, a U.S. humanoid robot company within Nvidia's robotics ecosystem. Dexmate's flagship robot "VEGA" features over 36 degrees of freedom for dual-arm collaborative work, supporting 15kg payload and 20-plus hours of operation per charge.
Paint Makers Pivot to Advanced Materials
Korean paint manufacturers Samhwa Paint, KCC, and Noroo Paint are expanding into semiconductor and battery materials amid prolonged construction sector weakness. Samhwa Paint completed development of high-performance MMB, a key next-generation semiconductor packaging material, with Samsung SDI and began mass production.
