LG Electronics Inc. installs a massive wave-looking media wall composed of OLED display panels at the entrance of its CES booth in Las Vegas on Jan. 3, 2023. (Yonhap)
LAS VEGAS, Jan. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — LG Electronics Inc. will continue to diversify its business portfolio well beyond home appliances and seek new ways to drive growth, its top executive said Wednesday.
“While continuing to invest in its core business technologies like artificial intelligence and 6G, LG is expanding its business into electric vehicle charging, digital health and webOS-based content service,” CEO Cho Joo-wan said during a press event one day ahead of the opening of CES 2023.
“We are actively seeking to collaborate with strategic partners around the world because we can’t do it alone,” he added.
Cho cited the work by LG NOVA, an innovation center based in Silicon Valley, as an example of LG’s efforts on that front.
Since it was established in 2020, LG NOVA has been closely working with startups in various fields, like metaverse, gaming, electric mobility, display solutions and smart lifestyle, to try out new businesses.
The tech company said the goal of LG NOVA was to find new businesses that “deliver the future of sustainability, readily accessible, socially impactful and technologically advanced living for consumers and the community at large.”
As another example of important collaboration, Cho presented on-demand streaming app Paramount Streaming, a division of Paramount Global, with which LG is expanding the number of media content on webOS, the company’s own smart TV operating system.
LG is also making progress in auto parts business, the top executive said, as the division has started to make profits after nearly 10 years of struggling.
LG Electronics CEO Cho Joo-wan speaks at a press conference on Jan. 4, 2023, ahead of the opening of CES 2023 in Las Vegas. (Yonhap)
For the three months ending in September, LG’s electric vehicle (EV) business reported 2.3 trillion won (US$1.87 billion) in sales, up 45.6 percent from a year ago, marking the business unit’s highest quarterly revenue.
Operating profit came in at 96.1 billion won.
The EV business is expected to turn to a profit for the year for the first time since the company entered the market in 2013, on robust demand amid the gradual easing of the auto chip shortage and a subsequent rise in auto production.
The company supplies EV parts and solutions to major automakers, including Mercedes-Benz AG, French carmaker Renault and General Motors, among others.
In 2018, LG acquired leading automotive lighting and headlight systems provider ZKW Group.
LG Magna e-Powertrain, LG’s joint venture with Canadian auto parts maker Magna International Inc., is currently building its third production base in Mexico to supply electric car parts for General Motors.
The construction is scheduled to be completed later this year.
The influential tech trade show CES is set to open in Las Vegas on Thursday and run through Sunday.
(Yonhap)
