South Korea

“적자 기업인데 가격 더 내리라네요”...정부 눈치에 몸살 앓는 이 업계

Maekyung | Local Language | News | Nov. 21, 2025 | Regulation

Domestic non-life insurers are facing increasing pressure from the government to lower automobile insurance premiums despite significant financial losses in the sector. Auto insurance holds a relatively high weighting in the consumer price index, prompting the government to push insurers to reduce premiums as a means of stabilizing overall prices. This repeated demand for "win-win financing" and social contributions conflicts with market logic, especially as insurers move from profitable years to a loss of 9.7 billion won last year.

While the government officially states it does not intervene in premium adjustments, insurers remain cautious and often revise rate plans based on government signals. Financial authorities have even contacted major insurers regarding plans to lower premiums next year. Industry insiders express frustration, arguing that the government's approach limits market autonomy and may pose fiduciary risks for listed insurance companies if losses increase without proper action.

The government's demands also extend beyond auto insurance, including newly introduced support measures tied to low birth rates. These measures require insurers to offer discounts on children's insurance premiums and allow premium payment deferrals, creating additional financial burdens. Moreover, a government initiative plans to fund free insurance products for small business owners through insurer contributions, while a proposed tax reform would raise education taxes on financial firms, potentially increasing financial liabilities and adversely impacting insurers' solvency ratios.

The combined effect of these pressures and new fiscal burdens is expected to cost the top non-life and life insurers approximately 350 billion won, further straining their financial soundness and complicating the industry's ability to adjust premiums based on market conditions.

Joongang Ilbo | English | News | Nov. 21, 2025 | Regulation

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is reportedly delaying the planned imposition of semiconductor tariffs, according to multiple unnamed officials. The postponement is driven by concerns that additional tariffs could escalate trade tensions with China and raise consumer prices. Although aides have indicated a slower approach to avoid worsening trade friction, White House and Commerce Department officials have denied any official change in stance on the chip tariffs.

Trump had announced on August 6, 2025, intentions to impose a roughly 100 percent tariff on semiconductors and signaled the tariffs would be announced imminently in mid-August. However, no formal announcement has yet been made. The U.S. recently agreed in a joint fact sheet with South Korea to offer semiconductor tariff rates that are no less favorable than those given to other major trading partners.

The chip tariff plan relies on Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which allows the president to adjust imports when they are deemed a national security threat. Korean technology companies such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix remain closely monitoring the situation.

데이터센터 화재가 남긴 교훈…"AI 시대, 더 단단한 회복력 필요"

Digital Daily | Local Language | News | Nov. 21, 2025 | Critical Infrastructure Failure

Kevin Wollenweber, Cisco Senior Vice President of Data Center and Internet Infrastructure, highlighted the need for stronger resilience in data centers following a recent fire at South Korea's National Information Resources Service that disrupted over 700 systems and took two months to recover. He stressed that as governments and companies increasingly build AI data centers, it is essential to establish an ecosystem focused on increasing reliability and distributing risk.

Wollenweber emphasized that AI requires substantial physical infrastructure, predicting it will become a significant part of data center operations. He reinforced that traditional resilience practices, such as redundancy, distributed operations, and disaster recovery systems, must be enhanced to protect against physical failures like fires, floods, and blackouts. He advocated for building systems capable of continuing operation even if half of a facility is affected and recommended distributing data centers across multiple regions and cities.

Given challenges like population density in Korea, Wollenweber noted that large-scale resilient data centers can be difficult to establish and that even global hyperscalers struggle with risk balancing. He introduced the concept of NeoCloud—businesses that rent AI infrastructure centered around GPUs—and noted that partnerships with companies such as Oracle and NeoCloud are becoming common. This approach could allow capacity transfer from domestic data centers to these providers to improve resilience.

To improve data center reliability in the AI era, Wollenweber proposed a "Scale-Across" strategy, which involves connecting multiple data centers and sites to form large-scale clusters that operate cohesively despite geographic separation. While latency remains a challenge when connecting distant GPUs, next-generation orchestration innovations are emerging to manage workloads effectively by placing latency-insensitive elements outside the main fabric.

Wollenweber also pointed out the industry's undervaluation of network data, advocating for the use of integrated data fabrics like Cisco Data Fabric based on the Splunk platform. This solution consolidates data across systems and clouds, enabling real-time use for AI and intelligence without incurring prohibitive costs. He highlighted the necessity of data and network integration for AI functionality.

Looking ahead, Wollenweber predicted an increase in AI data center technological innovations, driven by hyperscalers, NeoCloud providers, and countries beginning to adopt AI technologies. He sees the AI era as a catalyst for new strategies to enhance data center resilience globally.