CEOs Visiting CES, Deeply Engaged in Future Technologies Mode

Ride an Autonomous Vehicle
and Explain Our New Technology Directly

(From left) Choi Jae-won, Senior Vice Chairman of SK Group; Koo Ja-eun, Head of Future Innovation Division and Chairman of LS Mtron at LS Group; Park Jung-won, Chairman of Doosan Group; Lee Seok-hee, President of SK Hynix; Lee Hae-sun, General President of Coway.

[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] The heads and CEOs of major domestic conglomerates visited 'CES 2020,' the world's largest electronics and IT exhibition held in Las Vegas, USA, to seek new business opportunities.

According to industry sources on the 9th, Choi Jae-won, Senior Vice Chairman of SK Group, visited the CES venue on the opening day, the 7th, along with Kim Jun, President of SK Innovation, and Lee Wan-jae, President of SKC. They toured booths of Samsung Electronics, Panasonic, Audi, Honda, Amazon, Toyota, Ford, Qualcomm, and others to explore new technologies. He paid particular attention to Qualcomm, a leading American ICT company, carefully examining its enhanced portfolio in mobility fields such as autonomous driving.

He also showed interest in the automotive industry by visiting major automakers. At the Audi booth, he actively engaged by sitting in the displayed vehicles. Vice Chairman Choi evaluated this CES by saying, "It seems that the realization of autonomous vehicles has progressed significantly."

Gu Ja-eun, Head of Future Innovation Division and Chairman of LS Mtron at LS Group, also attended CES. Chairman Gu visited exhibition halls of domestic companies such as Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Hyundai Motor, and Doosan, as well as global companies like Microsoft, Amazon, and Schneider Electric, experiencing the latest technology trends of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

At the venue, Chairman Gu emphasized, "In the digital era, the boundaries of industries are becoming unclear, and business areas are being newly redefined. Through this exhibition, we must grasp new technology trends and accelerate innovation for the future." Apart from the CES schedule, he also visited headquarters of global IT companies such as Google, Amazon, and Microsoft, as well as Pivotal Labs, an agile software development consulting firm, to benchmark technologies and management techniques that LS can adopt.

Park Jung-won, Chairman of Doosan Group, participated in CES for the first time this year. He shared his impression, saying, "It seems we still have a lot to do." Executives including Vice Chairmen Park Ji-won and Dong Hyun-soo accompanied Chairman Park. At the event, he personally introduced Doosan's hydrogen fuel cell drone. He emphasized, "The hydrogen fuel cell drone will be launched in the North American market through this CES and will be aggressively targeted in the second half of the year. Collaborative robots have already been sold since last year."

Doosan set sales targets of 10 billion KRW for hydrogen fuel cell drones and 50 billion KRW for collaborative robots this year. Besides Doosan's exhibition hall, Chairman Park thoroughly toured booths of major domestic and international companies. He focused on the latest trends in technologies closely related to Doosan's business, such as artificial intelligence (AI), drones, 5G, collaborative robots, Internet of Things (IoT), and mobility.

Lee Seok-hee, President of SK Hynix, held business meetings with global clients at CES. He introduced SK Hynix's semiconductor solutions in future business areas such as AI, big data, and 5G, indicating intentions to explore future cooperation plans.

SK Hynix set up a private exhibition space at a nearby hotel for business meetings and securing new clients with customers visiting CES. Earlier, on the 2nd, at the SK Group New Year's meeting held at Walkerhill Hotel in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, President Lee told reporters, "CES will focus on business meetings," adding, "These are clients who would understand just by talking."

SK Hynix counts major American global ICT companies known as 'GAFA'?Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon?as well as server manufacturers like Dell Technologies and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) among its key clients. President Lee is expected to discuss specific cooperation plans while starting sales of a new personal SSD product introduced at CES through Amazon in the U.S.

CEOs of small and medium-sized enterprises and startups also attended CES in large numbers. Lee Hae-seon, President of Coway, and Byun Woo-seok, President of Commax, actively showcased AI new technologies on site.

Coway participated in CES for the fifth consecutive year, exhibiting new products such as air purifiers, water purifiers, and clothing purifiers utilizing AI platforms. Especially, the 'Ice Water Purifier 3.0' and 'Ice Carbonated Water Purifier 3.0,' scheduled for release in the first half of this year, were also showcased, receiving positive responses from visitors. Commax introduced various new smart home devices, including biometric recognition door openers and systems connecting to security offices in emergencies.

Startup CEOs also demonstrated excellent technological capabilities aligned with the Fourth Industrial Revolution era. Lee Seung-ho, CEO of 4S Mapper; Sa Young-doo, CEO of TechOnVision; and Shin Kwang-il, CEO of IsProbe, showcased innovative products at CES. 4S Mapper is a startup that developed a 'road pavement management system' based on drone imagery and spatial information. TechOnVision developed a 2PC method split-screen monitor that implements physical network separation using a mobile phone.