logo
LG Uplus, AWS team up to boost Korea's AI cloud ecosystem

LG Uplus, AWS team up to boost Korea's AI cloud ecosystem

Korea Herald10-03-2025

LG Uplus said Monday it will jointly promote an artificial intelligence transformation alliance strategy with Amazon Web Services to foster the domestic AI cloud ecosystem.
At Mobile World Congress 2025, held in Barcelona, Spain, the two companies pledged to collaborate on developing a Korea-specific sovereign cloud, AI platforms and solutions, and AI consulting services.
A sovereign cloud is a cloud service that ensures data sovereignty by storing, processing and managing data within a specific country in compliance with its laws and regulations. LG Uplus said that the joint development of a Korea-specific sovereign cloud will enhance data control and autonomy for domestic businesses.
Additionally, LG Uplus and AWS will optimize the telecom carrier's smaller, telecom-specific language model, ixi-GEN, along with AWS' large language model, Nova. The two companies will also jointly develop Work Agent, an AI service designed to help companies integrate AI into their operations.
This collaboration will enable Korean businesses, even those lacking AI expertise, to adopt AI services rapidly.
LG Uplus plans to enhance its AI-powered customer service center with an advanced customer agent by integrating AI-based recommendation algorithms and the AWS platform.
Under the agreement, LG Uplus will also join AWS' generative AI innovation center as a specialized domestic consulting partner. Moving beyond AI partnerships, the company aims to establish itself as a leading consulting partner specializing in sovereign cloud security and data protection.
'Through collaboration with AWS, we will address the pain points of domestic enterprises struggling with AI transformation. We will continue working with global leading partners to strengthen our (AI transformation) capabilities,' said Kwon Yong-hyun, executive vice president and head of corporate devision at LG Uplus.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Korean shipbuilders suffer 35% drop in orders through May: report
Korean shipbuilders suffer 35% drop in orders through May: report

Korea Herald

time2 hours ago

  • Korea Herald

Korean shipbuilders suffer 35% drop in orders through May: report

South Korean shipbuilders saw a 35 percent year-on-year drop in new orders from January to May, according to shipping industry tracker Clarkson Research Services on Thursday. During the five-month period, Korean shipbuilders secured a total of 3.81 million compensated gross tonnage, representing 24 percent of the global market — second to China, which led with 7.86 million CGT, or 49 percent. The decline is partly attributed to selective order-taking, as Korea's major shipbuilders — HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, Hanwha Ocean and Samsung Heavy Industries — have prioritized high-value-added vessels such as liquefied natural gas carriers rather than container ships. Their docks are currently occupied with orders scheduled for delivery over the next three years. However, the drop in orders is also reflects a sharp downturn in the global shipbuilding market. Total new global orders during the period fell 45 percent from a year earlier to 15.92 million CGT, raising concerns among some industry observers about the possibility of the current market cycle slowing in the coming years. Industry sources noted that many shipping companies are delaying new orders amid uncertainties in global trade and falling freight rates, driven in part by ongoing geopolitical tensions between the US and China. The Shanghai Containerized Freight Index, a widely used indicator of shipping rates, exceeded 3,000 in June last year but dropped to just over 1,200 in May this year. Although it has seen a sharp rise over the past three weeks, securities firms suggest this is a temporary increase driven by the US' short-term tariff deferral on Chinese goods. As a result, Korean shipbuilders saw a decrease in their backlog, with total outstanding orders falling by 8 percent, or 3.09 million CGT, compared to the same period last year. As of early June, HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering — parent company of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and two other smaller shipbuilders — had only achieved 38.7 percent of its annual order target of $18 billion. Samsung Heavy Industries had reached 27 percent of its full-year sales goal of $9.8 billion.

Tim Hortons shuts down first directly operated store in Korea, reflects global brand challenges
Tim Hortons shuts down first directly operated store in Korea, reflects global brand challenges

Korea Herald

time2 hours ago

  • Korea Herald

Tim Hortons shuts down first directly operated store in Korea, reflects global brand challenges

Canadian coffee brand Tim Hortons, operated in Korea by BKR, closed its Cheongna location in Incheon on Sunday, according to industry sources on Friday. This marks the first closure of a directly operated store since the brand entered Korea, coming just over a year after the location opened in April 2024. Industry experts attribute the decision to multiple factors, including declining profitability and the fierce competition within the saturated Korean coffee market. 'We are currently looking for a more suitable location within the Incheon area to better deliver the brand's original Canadian identity and emotional appeal to a broader range of consumers,' a Tim Hortons official said. Likewise, global coffee brands that have seen success overseas are finding it difficult to gain traction in Korea. Several coffee chains with strong brand loyalty in North America and Japan have recently scaled back or withdrawn their operations in the Korean market. US coffee brand Blue Bottle Coffee is also facing challenges in maintaining profitability. Since launching its first Korean store in Seoul's trendy Seongsu-dong neighborhood in 2019, Blue Bottle has rapidly expanded into key commercial districts. However, the brand now struggles under high fixed costs and intense market saturation. Blue Bottle Coffee Korea's revenue rose to 31.1 billion won ($22.9 million) in 2024, a 17 percent increase from 26.4 billion won in 2023. However, operating profit plummeted by 89 percent, reaching just 200 million won. The company also posted a net loss of 1.1 billion won, marking its first annual loss since entering the Korean market. Industry insiders point to the rapid pace of trend shifts and the unique dynamics of the Korean retail environment as key challenges for foreign coffee brands in Korea. 'Just a decade ago, Korea was often seen as a fallback market for global brands that had lost momentum elsewhere,' an industry official from the food and beverage sector said. 'But now, it's the opposite — if a brand can break through and gain a foothold with Korea's trend-sensitive consumers, it's seen as a stepping stone for faster, easier success in other Asian markets.' Such challenges are not limited to the food and beverage sector. Global beauty retail giant Sephora entered Korea in 2019, opening its first store in Parnas Mall in Seoul's Gangnam district. However, it withdrew from the Korean market in the first half of 2024 after just five years, unable to compete with domestic leader Olive Young. Just before its exit, Sephora Korea posted 13.7 billion won in sales in 2023, but suffered a hefty operating loss of 17.6 billion won.

US Treasury keeps Korea on currency manipulation watchlist
US Treasury keeps Korea on currency manipulation watchlist

Korea Herald

time4 hours ago

  • Korea Herald

US Treasury keeps Korea on currency manipulation watchlist

Washington signals potential broadening of forex monitoring policy, raising concerns in Seoul over the roles of public funds South Korea remained on the US Treasury Department's currency-monitoring watchlist updated Thursday, signaling heightened scrutiny over potential currency manipulation accusations. The US Treasury issued the Macroeconomic and Foreign Exchange Policies of Major Trading Partners of the United States report, maintaining Korea on the monitoring list for extra foreign exchange scrutiny. Korea was first added to the watchlist in April 2016. It was dropped from the list in November 2023 but was reinstated in November 2024. The semiannual currency report assesses the trade balances and currency practices of major US trading partners. Countries are automatically placed on the monitoring list if they meet at least two of three conditions: a bilateral trade surplus with the US of at least $15 billion, a current account surplus exceeding 3 percent of gross domestic product, and forex market intervention — in other words, persistent net purchases of foreign currency. Korea remained on the watchlist for posting a $55 billion trade surplus with the US and recording a current account surplus equivalent to 5.3 percent of its gross domestic product. It did not meet the threshold for forex market intervention, as it had intervened in the market to strengthen the Korean won in 2024 by selling the greenback instead of purposely weakening the local currency. 'Korean authorities reported net sales of $11.2 billion for all of 2024, approximately 0.6 percent of GDP and concentrated in the second quarter of the year,' the report stated. The US Treasury warned against any form of market intervention in the report, underpinning, 'Korea should continue to limit currency intervention to exceptional circumstances of disorderly foreign exchange market conditions.' The currency report, issued for the first time since US President Donald Trump took office, was expected to provide insight into the US administration's stance on exchange rates. As anticipated, the US Treasury signaled plans to enhance its scrutiny of trading partners' currency policies and practices in future assessments. It indicated that it may begin monitoring not only traditional forms of foreign exchange intervention but also other tools that could influence exchange rates for competitive advantage, including the use of capital flow management measures, macroprudential policies and activities by government-affiliated investment vehicles such as pension funds or sovereign wealth funds. This expanded scope raises potential concerns for Korea, where major institutional investors such as the National Pension Service, one of the largest pension funds in the world, and the sovereign wealth fund Korea Investment Corporation, play a significant role in cross-border capital flows. The state-run fund operators are major buyers of dollars on the forex market. When making foreign investments, they buy dollars, which adds pressure on the buying side of the greenback, consequently strengthening the dollar and weakening the Korean won. Though both funds do not share their asset allocation by country, significant portions of the NPS and the KIC's investments are tied to the US. As of December, the NPS holds assets worth roughly $210 billion in the North American stock markets and $30 billion in US bonds, while the KIC operates assets amounting to approximately $125 billion in US shares. Since the US flagged forex policy as a discussion item in trade talks in April, market watchers have speculated that the role of the NPS could become a touchy subject in policy discussions with the country. 'The NPS tripled its advance FX purchase limit to $3 billion from $1 billion per month in September 2024 and expanded its swap arrangement with the Bank of Korea from $50 billion to $65 billion in December 2024,' the report stated, explaining the pension fund operator can borrow dollars from the central bank's reserve for overseas investment. The Finance Ministry announced it will continue communicating with the US Treasury to deepen bilateral understanding. "The Korean government will continue to strengthen mutual understanding and trust on foreign exchange policy through communication with the US Treasury,' the Finance Ministry stated through a press release. "Ongoing forex negotiations between the financial authorities of Korea and the US will be carried out carefully and thoroughly,' the ministry stated, referring to the trade talks between Seoul and Washington. Along with Korea, eight other countries, including China, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam and Germany, were on the monitoring list, with Ireland and Switzerland newly added. The US Treasury further stated that no major trading partner was found to have manipulated its currency in 2024.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store