Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
LG CNS posts record Q1 sales fueled by strong AI biz demand
LG Science Park in western Seoul, where LG CNS is headquartered. Courtesy of LG CNS.
By Nam Hyun-woo
LG CNS posted its largest first-quarter earnings this year, driven by brisk sales in its artificial intelligence (AI) transformation business.
The IT services firm announced Monday that it recorded sales of 1.21 trillion won ($841.1 million) and an operating profit of 78.9 billion won in the January to March period, marking year-on-year increases of 13.2 percent and 144.3 percent, respectively.
This also marks the eighth consecutive year of sales growth in the first quarter for the company.
LG CNS attributed the record-breaking performance to the continued expansion of its AI transformation services — particularly in the cloud computing and AI sectors.
Revenue from its cloud and AI transformation businesses reached 717.4 billion won in the first quarter, up 30.1 percent from the same period last year. These sectors accounted for 59 percent of total sales, cementing their role as the company’s primary growth engine.
LG CNS said its AI service business showed significant growth in the finance and manufacturing sectors.
Currently, the company is carrying out AI transformation projects with the country’s top financial institutions, including NH NongHyup Bank, Mirae Asset Life Insurance, Mirae Asset Securities, Shinhan Bank, Shinhan Card and KB Financial Group. As the adoption of generative AI in next-generation financial systems continues to expand, the company said it expects steady growth in this area.
The company is also carrying out AI transformation business with major clients, including refiner S-Oil, supporting its efforts to transform its plants into AI-powered smart factories.
In the cloud sector, LG CNS saw sales growth driven by increasing demand for cloud services across various industries, including gaming, logistics and finance.
In the emerging field of AI data centers, LG CNS said it accelerated efforts to establish data centers in Southeast Asia, using advanced technologies such as immersion cooling and digital twins.
The revenue from LG CNS’s smart engineering business, which includes smart logistics, smart factories and smart cities, reached 206.3 billion won in the first quarter.