"Why Korea? Korea is the market in Asia with the most paid ChatGPT users and one of the most rapidly growing, important markets. Going forward, in the hardware institutional sector, including semiconductors, we will strengthen collaboration with leading corporations such as Samsung and SK, and we are also considering partnerships with local cloud companies."Jason Kwon, OpenAI chief strategy officer (CSO)
Jason Kwon, OpenAI chief strategy officer (CSO), said this at a press briefing celebrating the launch of OpenAI's Korea office, held on the 10th at Pi Factory Studio in Gwangjin District, Seoul, saying Korea is "the optimal place for AI innovation, with world-class infrastructure, innovative corporations, and a fast pace of digital adoption." He said, "We will support the AI transition so that the Korean government can achieve its goal of becoming one of the 'three AI powerhouses' and expand cooperation with Korean corporations."
OpenAI, headquartered in San Francisco, currently has regional offices in 12 locations worldwide, including London, Paris, Munich, Dublin and Brussels. In Asia, after Tokyo, Japan, and Singapore, it chose Seoul as its third base.
As one reason for deciding to enter Korea, Kwon cited the rapid pace at which Korean corporations and individuals are adopting AI. He said, "Weekly ChatGPT users in Korea quadrupled over the past year, and in terms of application programming interface (API) use, Korea ranks in the global top 10." The number of ChatGPT app users in the country recently surpassed 12 million, making it a "national app," and major corporations such as Samsung are using OpenAI's APIs in their in-house systems.
OpenAI said it plans to increase cooperation with domestic corporations with the establishment of its Korea office. Kwon, the CSO, said, "On the hardware side, including semiconductors, we aim to build strong partnerships with SK, Samsung and others." He mentioned GS, Toss, LG Electronics, LG Uplus, KRAFTON, Kakao, KT, Yanolja, TVING and SK Telecom as domestic corporations it is currently working with.
Regarding cooperation with Kakao, he said, "Based on API models, Kakao engineers and OpenAI engineers can collaborate." OpenAI formed a strategic partnership with Kakao in February and is working to link ChatGPT with the Kakao ecosystem.
He also hinted at the possibility of working with domestic cloud providers. Until now, OpenAI had an exclusive contract with its largest backer, Microsoft's Azure cloud service, to run AI models such as ChatGPT, but as its relationship with Microsoft cooled, it recently began using Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services (AWS) as well. Kwon, the CSO, said, "For cloud services, we are also considering partnerships with local corporations." Kakao Enterprise, Naver Cloud and NHN Cloud appear to be potential partners.
He did not rule out investment in AI data centers or participation in a national AI computing center. He said, "The importance of the Korean market will influence how we envision computing partnerships in this region, and that is something we are always reviewing," adding, "We are thinking of a long-term investment relationship with Korea." He added that he also discussed investment with chief executive officers (CEOs) of major corporations he met at the business roundtable during the Korea-U.S. summit last month.
Asked whether OpenAI's entry into the Korean market could conflict with the Korean government's "sovereign AI" policy, he said, "Korea has a unique 'full-stack' capability and favorable conditions for AI sovereignty, so there are opportunities for cooperation." He said, "Historically, Korea has not been a country that makes products solely for itself; it has grown by working with other corporations to make products and exporting them worldwide," adding, "Given these characteristics, OpenAI can be a business partner for the Korean government and corporations."
OpenAI Korea said it will strengthen cooperation with the Korean government through the "OpenAI for Countries" initiative. Starting with the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Seoul National University on the 11th, it plans to ramp up cooperation with domestic academia.
Regarding the size of the Korea office and hiring plans, Kwon, the CSO, said it "will be a long-term journey," declining to disclose specific figures. He said, "We will appoint a head of the Korea office soon."
Meanwhile, as Korea draws attention as a "next-generation AI hub," global AI corporations are successively setting up local offices. Anthropic, described as an "OpenAI rival," established its Korean entity, Anthropic Korea LLC, in Jul., and Canadian AI corporation Cohere opened its Seoul office the same month.