1. Semiconductors
SK Hynix is expected to report record quarterly results when it publishes its third-quarter figures on 28th October, with operating profit forecast at around 77 trillion won and an operating margin of roughly 78% — both all-time highs. Samsung Electronics will follow on 29th October with its division-by-division breakdown. Meanwhile, SK Hynix announced it is halting plans to explore a pre-IPO process and eventual listing of its subsidiary Solidigm; the news prompted the company's share price to reverse earlier losses and turn positive during intraday trading on 23rd October.
2. Power Equipment
HD Hyundai Electric will exhibit at Smart Energy Plus 2026, held at COEX in Seoul from 28th to 30th October. Its showcase includes an SF6-free gas-insulated switchgear rated at 420kV — the first of its kind in South Korea and only the third in the world — alongside a phase-shifting transformer. The company's head of international sales described transformer demand driven by AI data centres not as a temporary super-cycle but as a structural "new normal." A capacity expansion at its Ulsan factory is due for completion in the fourth quarter, while a second plant in Alabama is scheduled to begin operations in the first half of 2027, increasing local transformer production capacity by 50%.
3. Shipbuilding
HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (HD KSOE) announced on 20th October that it had won an order from HMM for eight 13,000-TEU LNG dual-fuel container vessels worth a combined 1.9196 trillion won. HD Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan will build two of the ships, with the remaining six assigned to HD Hyundai Samho in Yeongam; all are to be delivered sequentially by 2029.
In a separate announcement on 23rd October, HD Hyundai said it had agreed on 22nd October to establish a joint venture with American construction group Kiewit, to be named HD Kiewit Shipbuilding. The partners plan to break ground in 2027 on a site along the Gulf of Mexico coast, with operations targeted for 2029. The facility — South Korea's first shipyard on American soil — will produce support vessels for the US Navy, commercial ships, and prefabricated blocks and modules for other domestic yards. At full capacity it is expected to employ approximately 3,000 local workers.
4. Defence
South Korea's defence exporters are coming up against stiff competition in Europe, where local manufacturers are promoting domestic production and supply-chain integration. Hyundai Rotem's K2 main battle tank is bidding for a Romanian armour contract worth roughly 9.7 trillion won, competing against Germany's Rheinmetall and the Franco-German consortium KNDS. Meanwhile, Hanwha's L-SAM long-range air-defence system is contending for a Swiss contract valued at around 8 trillion won, where it faces Eurosam's SAMP/T NG and other rivals.
A structural disadvantage looms: the European Union's SAFE funding instrument — a programme designed to co-finance defence procurement — requires at least 65% of components to be sourced from within the EU, placing Korean suppliers at a disadvantage. Industry officials argue that concluding a basic procurement agreement between South Korea and NATO, and establishing local production and maintenance facilities in Europe, are the most effective responses.
5. Nuclear Energy
South Korea's Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, Kim Jeong-kwan, held a video conference on 20th October with his Czech counterpart to review progress on the Dukovany project, expressing his hope that Korean firms would also participate in the planned Temelín units 3 and 4. Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) secured a right of first negotiation over Temelín 3 and 4 as part of last year's contract for Dukovany units 5 and 6, though construction has yet to be formally sanctioned.
At a parliamentary audit on 19th October, KHNP president Kim Hoe-cheon confirmed that the company's small modular reactor (SMR) programme remains on schedule, and that geological surveys have commenced at Gijang county — designated as the site for South Korea's first SMR. Seoul has also expressed concern that a proposed EU Industrial Acceleration Act could restrict non-EU firms from participating in European nuclear markets, and has asked Prague to assist in diplomatic efforts to soften any such restrictions.
6. Retail
Shinsegae Group will hold its annual "SSG Day" sale from 30th October to 8th November, with 18 affiliates participating including E-Mart and Shinsegae Department Store. This year, E-Mart will offer discounts throughout the entire ten-day period, including domestic beef (hanwoo) at half price. Separately, a parliamentary audit confirmed that Coupang Eats had declined to accept a corrective recommendation from South Korea's Fair Trade Commission regarding a clause in its terms of service that calculates brokerage commissions on the pre-discount price of orders.
7. Capital Markets
The KOSPI shed 3.52% on 22nd October, closing at 5,533.77 — erasing in a single session the 3.29% gain recorded the previous day. Institutional investors were net sellers of 462.1 billion won, with programme trading accounting for a further 298.5 billion won in net sales. Foreign investors were net buyers of 61.4 billion won, as were retail investors at 380.2 billion won. Large-cap semiconductor and secondary battery stocks fell across the board, and the KOSDAQ index also declined by more than 3%.