EDGC will acquire its subsidiary to improve finance and management efficiency

Korean genomics company EDGC will acquire EDGC HealthCare, its subsidiary famous for the COVID-19 detection kit, DiaPlexQ, to improve finance and management efficiency. The merger is expected to be completed on Aug. 6, an EDGC official said Wednesday.

"The merger is expected to bring about more investment into EDGC's genetic technology for predicting, detecting and treating diseases," the official told The Korea Times. "It is also expected to increase the company value and shareholders' interests."

A prognosis method, which uses gene sequencing to detect cancerous cell-bound circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) hidden in circulating free DNA (cfDNA) in blood, is among EDGC's best-known technologies.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, EDGC HealthCare has exported its coronavirus detection kits and rapid antibody test kits, which can deliver results in just two minutes, to more than 50 countries, including the United States and Germany. The company's revenue and operating profits this year are estimated to be about 120 billion won (#97.2 million) and 25 billion won, respectively, a major leap from 41.4 billion won and 1.3 billion won in 2018.

"Thanks to EDGC's global network, EDGC HealthCare could export its coronavirus test kits to the United States and Europe," EDGC HealthCare CEO Lee Myung-hee said in a statement.

"We expect the merger to strengthen business support for test kit sales overseas."

SK Telecom Develop QRNG Chipset for Mobile Phones

SK Telecom said it has developed what it claims is the industry's first miniaturized quantum random number generator (QRNG) chipset for mobile phones and that the technology will soon be widely integrated in diverse industries including AI and autonomous vehicles.

The chipset is the industry's smallest QRNG (2.5 x 2.5mm). It helps accelerate data transmission and strengthens privacy by generating unpredictable and pattern-less pure random numbers that are applied in identification and certification procedures, SK said.

The chipset uses a light-emitting diode (LED) to create photons that are captured by the CMOS image sensors. The photons are then transformed to produce random numbers, making it impossible for a third party to infiltrate the system.
Since 2016, SKT, with its partners BTREE and Switzerland-based ID Quantique (IDQ), have been developing the QRNG chipset for mobile phones.

After SKT acquired IDQ in 2018, the development process gained further momentum, allowing the company to take the title as world's first producer of this state-of-the art technology
A miniaturized  mobile chipset 2.5mm x 2.5mm. / Courtesy of SKT
The quantum cryptography solution is widely recognized for its implementation in Samsung Electronics' latest mid-tier smartphone the Galaxy A Quantum, which was released on May 22.

According to SKT, the Galaxy A Quantum is the first smartphone with a QRNG chipset, which drastically strengthens mobile communication security by generating random numbers based on quantum crypto technology.

In 2018, SKT and BTREE also collaborated in developing QRNG chipsets that were embedded in internet of things (loT) products and driverless vehicles. They were 5mm x 5mm. The technology was the foundation in successfully commercializing and miniaturizing the mobile QRNG chipset (2.5 x 2.5mm).

The QRNG chipset began in the form of a USB in 2016, but has evolved over the years, going through over a million test runs just for the mobile unit.

The IDQ provided the quantum random number sequence technology while BTREE was in charge of the semiconductor aspect.

BTREE, which was established in 2014, specializes in image sensors and semi-conductor chipsets and has been supplying products to leading semi-conductor manufacturers.

Currently, the company is brainstorming ways to slim down the mobile QRNG chipset to better satisfy global smartphone manufacturers.

"The width and the length of the chip are fine, but we are trying to slim down the thickness, which currently stands at 0.8mm. But we want to get it down to 0.7mm and later further down to 0.6mm as that is what the smartphone manufacturers are requesting," Tom Kim, vice president of BTREE, told reporters at the company in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province.

SKT, in cooperation with its partner companies, plans to continue expanding quantum security-based services and create new business opportunities in various areas such as 5G networks, IoT, autonomous driving and cloud computing. It also plans to supply its mobile ORNG chipsets to other global smartphone manufacturers.

"We are supplying our product to global smartphone, loT, and driverless vehicles companies," Uhm Sang-yun, country manager at IDQ, said. "We will need time to evaluate the stability of the product, but we have satisfied Samsung's standards, so we believe it could satisfy other companies as well."

LG Chem Ranked Second in the Chinese Electric Vehicle Battery Market

LG Chem ranked second in the Chinese electric vehicle battery market for the January-March period this year, according to industry data. Market tracker the China Battery Enterprise Alliance said Thursday that LG Chem supplied EV batteries in China with a combined capacity of 2,087 megawatt-hours, surpassing local competitor BYD’s 1,943 megawatt-hours. Another local competitor, CATL, was in first place with 6,173 megawatt-hours.

“LG Chem equipped 39,393 Tesla Model 3s built in Shanghai with its batteries,” a CBEA official said. The arrival of LG Chem has destabilized BYD, which had long held the No. 2 position in the market, the official added.

In May, Tesla Model 3 sales broke the 10,000 mark in China, recording 11,095 vehicles, a 205 percent increase from the previous month, according to the CBEA official.

Tesla aims to produce 150,000 Model 3 sedans at its Shanghai factory this year.

This is not the first time LG Chem benefited from Tesla’s strong sales. In the first quarter, LG Chem supplied 14 percent of the batteries for 88,461 Tesla EVs globally. Propelled by Tesla’s strong sales, LG Chem supplied EV batteries with a total storage capacity of 6.3 gigawatt-hours, topping the global battery market for the period.

Source : koreaherald.com