PRE-MARKET JAPANESE AND SOUTH KOREAN STOCKS NEWS: SK Innovation (096770 KS) will invest USD 380mln in SK Hynix’s (000660 KS) US artificial intelligence affiliate

JAPAN

Nippon Steel (5401 JT) - Co. will raise steel sheet prices for retail and secondary processing manufacturers from May shipments, its first price increase since March 2024 shipments, citing rising raw material, labour and logistics costs. (Nikkei)

Seven & I Holdings (3382 JT) - Co. subsidiary Ito-Yokado is reorganising its Chinese operations and has dispatched a senior executive to oversee efforts to rebuild the business. (Nikkei)

Sumitomo Corp. (8053 JT) - Co. said it has invested in US startup Shine Technologies, which develops nuclear fusion-derived applications such as medical isotopes, and will open a strategic branch in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in April to enable a faster on-the-ground response as the local steel industry faces structural changes and US tariffs. (Nikkei)

SOUTH KOREA

NCSOFT (036570 KS) - Co. will acquire a 70% stake in Germany-based game developer JustPlay GmbH for KRW 301.6bln as part of efforts to expand its mobile casual gaming business. (Yonhap)

Samsung Biologics (207940 KS) - Co. said it has signed an agreement with US pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly (LLY) to establish a biotech incubator in Incheon. (Yonhap)

Samsung Electronics (005930 KS) - Co. is to cancel 87mln of its own treasury shares that it acquired last year. (Newswires)

SK Hynix (000660 KS) - Co. is set to deliver final samples of its sixth-generation HBM4 to NVIDIA (NVDA) shortly, while it was also reported that SK Innovation (096770 KS) will invest USD 380mln in SK Hynix’s US artificial intelligence affiliate. (HankYung/Yonhap)