Major Groups Accelerate AI Transformation Race
The AI transformation (AX) battle has ignited. Major domestic companies are accelerating their competition to fundamentally change how they work and their organizational structures using artificial intelligence technology.
Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong aims to become a comprehensive AI IT company, planning to embed AI in 400 million out of 500 million new products annually. He is directly linking AX to the reorganization of product and business portfolios by expanding investments into robotics, HVAC, automotive electronics, and medical technology. LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo emphasized 'speed' in discussing AX acceleration strategies, directly integrating AI into management processes using the AI model 'EXAONE' and ordering accelerated structural innovation across design, production, and marketing. SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won has set AX as a pillar of its 2026 management goals, emphasizing a 'complete transformation of work methods' using AI and pursuing internal development through the expansion of 'A.dot Biz'. Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun views AI-driven industrial change as a growth opportunity, calling for improvements in corporate structure from a customer perspective and agile decision-making, while pursuing AX integrated with future mobility systems such as SDVs, autonomous driving, robotics, and hydrogen.
Major domestic IT service companies have also unveiled their AX strategies through shareholders' meetings. Samsung SDS plans to invest in AI data centers and GPU servers, leveraging its approximately 6.4 trillion won in cash reserves, and has proposed strategic mergers and acquisitions (M&A) as medium- to long-term growth drivers. At the shareholders' meeting on the 24th, LG CNS CEO Hyun Shin-kyun presented physical AI and AI data centers as core businesses. AI data center development will be pursued in collaboration with affiliates like LG Electronics, LG Energy Solution, and LG Uplus, with LG CNS handling design, construction, and operation. Robot-related technology verification is also underway. SK AX has prioritized securing AX references in manufacturing sites over large-scale facility investments or M&A, recently unveiling its agentic AI-based integrated brand 'AXgenticWire' and embarking on a business structure redesign. Cha Ji-won, Chief AI Officer (CAIO) at SK AX, stated, 'The era where AI assists work is over. Now, AI is at the stage of changing the essence of business; AI is not a technical issue but an execution issue.'
South Korea's three major mobile carriers are also competing in AI transformation. SK Telecom has adopted a 'Full-stack AI' strategy that integrates AI models, data centers, and GPU clouds, and is pursuing infrastructure commercialization by building super-large AI data centers exceeding 1 gigawatt (GW) nationwide, combined with its proprietary super-large language model 'A.X K1'. KT is promoting its enterprise AI operating system 'Agentic Fabric' for applications in call centers, public institutions, and financial consultations, and is pushing a strategy to transition its revenue structure, centered on communication lines, to a software-based subscription model. LG Uplus is expanding functions such as call context understanding and voice phishing detection, centered on 'ixi-O', a voice-specialized AI developed in collaboration with Google Gemini.