LG CNS posts record Q1 earnings on cloud, AI growth
Korean IT solutions provider LG CNS said that on Monday, it achieved its highest-ever first-quarter sales and operating profit, driven by the accelerating adoption of cloud and artificial intelligence solutions across industries.
Its first-quarter sales reached 1.21 trillion won ($840 million), an increase of 13.2 percent compared to a year earlier. Operating profit came in at 78.9 billion won, up 144.3 percent from a year ago.
The IT solutions provider said its sales have continued to grow steadily for eight consecutive years since 2018.
Sales from the company's cloud and AI business surged 30.1 percent on-year to 717.4 billion won, accounting for about 59 percent of total sales and solidifying its position as LG CNS' key growth engine.
In the AI sector, notable growth was recorded particularly in the financial and manufacturing industries.
In the manufacturing sector, the company is actively upgrading production facilities into AI-powered intelligent factories, with major projects underway for clients including S-Oil.
The cloud business also maintained strong momentum, buoyed by increasing demand for cloud migration across diverse sectors such as gaming, logistics and finance.
LG CNS has further reinforced its leadership in the data center sector, both domestically and abroad, entering a phase of rapid revenue growth.
Meanwhile, sales from the smart engineering sector, encompassing smart logistics, smart factories, and smart cities, totaled 206.3 billion won.
Revenue from digital business services, including system integration projects, reached 287.7 billion won, bolstered by new large-scale orders in the financial and public sectors.
LG CNS is actively investing to secure future growth. To gain an early lead in the emerging agentic AI market -- considered a future pillar of AI technology -- the company is advancing service development in partnership with global AI leaders such as Cohere and Weights & Biases.
Additionally, it plans to strengthen its cloud and AI transformation partnerships with global tech giants including AWS, Microsoft and Google Cloud, aiming to accelerate its expansion in Korea, the US and the Asia-Pacific region.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Korea Herald
34 minutes ago
- Korea Herald
Hanwha wins US approval to acquire full stake in Austal
Hanwha Group said Tuesday it has received approval from the US government to acquire up to 100 percent of shares in Austal Limited, a global maritime defense company headquartered in Australia. The clearance was granted on Friday by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, the US agency responsible for reviewing the national security implications of foreign investments. Although Hanwha initially sought to increase its stake in Austal from 9.9 percent to 19.9 percent, the US government authorized the group to acquire up to full ownership. CFIUS stated there were "no unresolved national security concerns" regarding the proposed investment. Hanwha's acquisition aligns with its broader plan to integrate its advanced shipbuilding technologies and defense capabilities with Austal's global operations. 'This approval marks an important milestone that reflects the trust and support we've earned from the US government,' said Michael Coulter, CEO of Hanwha Global Defense. 'It recognizes our technological capabilities and performance in collaboration with the US and its allies. By combining Korean shipbuilding expertise with the US defense industry, we aim to strengthen the competitiveness of American shipbuilding.' The company is also awaiting regulatory approval from Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board to increase its stake in Austal. If successful, Hanwha aims to expand joint projects in both the US and Australian defense markets while contributing to the long-term competitiveness of the global shipbuilding industry.
Korea Herald
34 minutes ago
- Korea Herald
Naver builds digital twin platform for Saudi smart city project
Korean internet giant Naver said Tuesday that it has completed the construction of a large-scale digital twin platform for three major cities in Saudi Arabia -- Mecca, Medina and Jeddah -- as part of the Middle Eastern nation's smart city ambitions. A digital twin is a virtual replica of a real-world place that uses high-resolution 3D models to help plan and manage cities more effectively. The newly created platform spans about 6,800 square kilometers -- more than 11 times the size of Seoul -- and incorporates data on over 920,000 buildings. It combines ultra-high-resolution 3D imagery with real-time data streams, enabling urban planners, engineers and administrators in Saudi Arabia to optimize city management and development. The platform offers a range of analytical features based on 3D modeling, including terrain analysis for land grading and slope measurement, skyline and sunlight exposure analysis for landscape, and view assessments and simulations for natural disasters such as flooding. It also allows for real-time integration of building design data to verify compliance with local construction regulations. The project is spearheaded by Balady, Saudi Arabia's urban development authority, which plans to expand the digital twin platform to additional cities across the country. 'We will continue to enhance the platform in collaboration with local partners, broaden its geographical coverage and discover new use cases,' said Han Sang-young, leader of global DX and innovation at Naver. Naver secured the project from Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing in October 2023, with full-scale development commencing in July last year. Last month, Naver Cloud and NHC Innovation -- the digital arm of Saudi Arabia's National Housing Company -- launched a joint venture called Naver Innovation. The new entity will lead projects including the development of a map-based super application and further expansion of digital twin-based services in the region.
Korea Herald
3 hours ago
- Korea Herald
AI teaching assistant shows real promise at S. Korea tech university KAIST
South Korea's top science and engineering university has rolled out a custom-built AI teaching assistant to help students in large graduate courses, and early results show it helped reduce repetitive student questions while encouraging more active, self-directed learning. At Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, a team of researchers led by AI graduate school professor Choi Yoon-jae and design professor Hong Hwa-jung developed a virtual teaching assistant, or VTA, that can answer student questions at any time, with responses tailored to specific lectures and coursework. The tool was piloted last fall in a programming class for AI, taken by 477 graduate students. It's the first time such a system has been tested at scale in a Korean university setting. What sets the KAIST VTA apart is that it isn't a generic chatbot. Instead, it runs on what's called a retrieval-augmented generation model, which pulls directly from course materials like slides, coding exercises and lecture videos. When students ask a question, the system finds the most relevant content and formulates a response based on that context. This means answers are grounded in what's actually taught, not just generated from a general AI model. Over 50 percent of students used the system regularly during the 14-week semester, generating nearly 3,870 questions and answers. Students without a strong background in AI or coding were among the most active users, suggesting the VTA helped close knowledge gaps for those new to the subject. These figures come from internal usage data collected by KAIST during the semester. The system didn't just benefit students. According to lead TA and doctoral researcher Kwon Soon-jun, it reduced the number of routine questions from students, such as basic concept definitions or explanations already given in class. That allowed human teaching assistants to focus more on deeper, more complex issues. Compared to the previous year's course, the volume of questions requiring direct responses from TAs dropped by around 40 percent, based on data compiled by Professor Choi. Students also appeared more comfortable asking questions through the VTA than to human TAs, especially when it came to theoretical topics. Surveys conducted by Choi's research team before, during and after the course showed that students became increasingly confident in the system's reliability, and those who had been hesitant to speak up in class reported higher satisfaction levels when using the AI assistant. The VTA's source code has been released publicly on GitHub to encourage adoption by other educators and researchers. The work was also accepted to the Industry Track at ACL 2025, one of the leading international conferences in natural language processing
