German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called for a global political alliance to defend rules-based trade, urging Germany and Indo-Pacific economies to strengthen economic partnerships and diversify supply chains as geopolitical tensions and intensifying U.S.-China competition reshape the global economy. Speaking at the opening of the 19th Asia-Pacific Conference of German Business (APK) in Seoul on Friday, Merz proposed establishing a "global political alliance for rules-based trade" to defend and strengthen the international trading system and coordinate joint action when it comes under threat. “When supply chains become political pawns, when access to key technologies is imperiled or when efforts to secure raw materials become a projection of power rather than of fair partnership, this jeopardizes growth, prosperity and, ultimately, the security,” he said. “Countries that decouple lose security, innovative strength, prosperity and scope for action. We do not wish to withdraw but rather to expand our freedom of action.” Turning to bilateral ties, the chancellor said Germany and Korea

Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) announced Thursday that it had ended negotiations with a consortium of Daewoo E&C and Doosan Enerbility over a construction contract for a 26 trillion won ($19.4 billion) nuclear power project in the Czech Republic, after the two sides failed to reach an agreement on key terms. KHNP said it would begin terminating its cooperation agreement with the consortium and prepare a competitive bidding process to select a new contractor, seeking to minimize disruption to construction of the two Korean-designed APR1000 reactors at the country’s Dukovany site. “KHNP and the construction consortium had worked to reach an amicable agreement through working-level negotiations, a dispute mediation committee and management-level talks, but failed to reach a final agreement,” the state-run nuclear operator said. The breakdown follows about 15 months of negotiations after KHNP signed the main contract with Elektrarna Dukovany II, the Czech state-run company in charge of the project, in June 2025. KHNP said the two sides had already been at odds over key contract ter

Samsung SDI returned to operating profitability in the third quarter of 2026, driven by strong demand for energy storage system (ESS) batteries and growing sales of small batteries for artificial intelligence (AI) data centers. The battery maker reported Thursday an operating profit of 407.8 billion won ($285 million) for the July-September period, compared with an operating loss of 591.3 billion won a year earlier. The figure nearly doubled from 203.8 billion won in the previous quarter, marking its highest quarterly operating profit since the third quarter of 2023, when it recorded 496 billion won. Revenue rose 52.6 percent year-on-year to 4.69 trillion won, up from 3.07 trillion won a year earlier and 20.9 percent from the previous quarter. The battery business generated 4.41 trillion won in revenue, up 55.3 percent from a year earlier, while operating profit reached 361.9 billion won. Strong ESS and battery backup unit (BBU) sales amid the expansion of the global AI data center market, along with increased sales of cylindrical batteries for power tools and electric vehicles (EVs), d

HD Construction Equipment opened a new engine and battery pack plant in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, Wednesday, as it seeks to tap growing demand for high-output power-generation engines for artificial intelligence (AI) data centers. The company held an opening ceremony at its Gunsan campus in the Gunsan National Industrial Complex, attended by HD Hyundai Vice Chairman Cho Young-cheul, HD Construction Equipment CEO Moon Jae-young, provincial officials, lawmakers and business partners, among about 200 people. The new plant was built over about two years at a cost of 116.8 billion won ($87.38 million), on a 62,700-square-meter site within the campus. It features automated production systems, including assembly robots, autonomous mobile robots and equipment that detects quality defects before products leave the line, as well as an integrated control tower for overseeing operations. The facility has an annual production capacity of 1,250 power-generation engines at 1 to 3 megawatts electric (MWe), 120 military engines for tanks and battery packs totaling up to 1,460 megawatt-hours, which

Power equipment makers are expanding U.S. production and securing major supply contracts as the artificial intelligence (AI) data center boom drives demand for equipment ranging from high-voltage transformers to distribution gear, intensifying competition among suppliers for major contracts. HD Hyundai Electric, LS Electric and Hyosung Heavy Industries are stepping up investments in local manufacturing to meet the growing demand from U.S. tech companies building out AI data centers. HD Hyundai Electric is building a second plant in Alabama, scheduled for completion in April. The expansion is expected to boost its extra-high-voltage transformer production capacity by about 50 percent and enable it to manufacture transformers rated up to 765 kilovolts. In July, the company secured a 1.12 trillion won ($836.8 million) supply contract with a global technology company, comprising 567.3 billion won of power equipment and 553.9 billion won of distribution equipment for data center construction. It reported revenue of 1.18 trillion won and operating profit of 284.5 billion won in the third quart

KT is launching an artificial intelligence (AI) platform that automatically selects models for different tasks and bills customers based on token usage, as it seeks to build a new growth business by helping companies control AI costs. The telecom company announced Tuesday that it will roll out KT Token Factory on Friday, offering access to 73 AI models through a single platform, including models hosted on KT's domestic infrastructure and models from major global providers. It plans to expand the lineup to more than 500 models in November through a partnership with OpenRouter, a global AI model marketplace. The platform brings AI model selection, usage management and billing into one service, allowing businesses to access multiple models through a single API rather than signing up for and connecting to each model separately. “Competition is expanding beyond developing better AI models to finding ways to use AI effectively,” Park Sang-won, executive vice president of KT’s AX Business Division, said during a press conference at the company’s headquarters in Seoul. “The key challeng