Lee Gyu-lee is a business writer at The Korea Times, focusing primarily on IT & telecommunications, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA. Prior to this, she has covered a wide range of cultural news, from film, television and K-pop to lifestyle and fashion.
Korea's tech giants expand ties with US big tech in AI race
Naver's headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province / Yonhap
By Lee Gyu-lee
Korea’s leading tech companies — Naver and Kakao — are ramping up partnerships with U.S. big tech players in a strategic move to stay competitive in the increasingly intense global artificial intelligence (AI) race.
Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon is scheduled to meet with Netflix executives in Silicon Valley later this week during a trip that includes a networking event with U.S. venture capital firms and startups.
“As per Netflix’s invitation, Choi and (Naver subsidiary) Webtoon Entertainment CEO Kim Jun-koo will hold a meeting with them,” a Naver official said, adding no specific agenda for the meeting has been disclosed.
Naver denied speculation that Netflix will integrate Naver Webtoon’s content on its platform, but Kim’s presence alongside Choi is prompting expectations that the two sides may explore potential new partnership opportunities, building on the success of their previous collaboration on Naver Plus membership.
Naver partnered with Netflix to introduce the membership last November, which includes Netflix’s standard ad-supported plan at no extra cost.
The collaboration saw Netflix’s monthly active users sharply bouncing back to reach 14.09 million in March, according to the industry tracker IGAWorks.
“What stood out was that new subscribers through Naver enjoyed a variety of content regardless of release date or genre. Both new titles and older hits like ‘The Glory’ regained the spotlight,” Choi Yoon-jung, director of Netflix's business development, said in a recent press event.
“We saw notable growth in (a new consumer base of) male users with the age group 35–49 … some users signed up for the first time, while others who had left the platform came back.”
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, right, shakes hands with Kakao CEO Chung Shin-a during Kakao's media day event at The Plaza Seoul hotel, Feb. 4. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
Naver founder Lee Hae-jin, who returned as board chairman in March, is set to join Choi at the networking event, highlighting Naver’s strong ambition for AI development. This will be his first official overseas trip since his return.
During the trip, Naver also plans to launch a new U.S.-based investment entity, Naver Ventures, to actively invest in AI startups abroad. The venture will also help Korean AI startups to expand overseas.
Meanwhile, Kakao is stepping up its partnership with OpenAI to strengthen its position in the global AI ecosystem by utilizing the world’s most influential large language model provider rather than solely focusing on building its own model.
Kakao’s gift shop service is now also available on OpenAI’s AI agent, Operator, showcasing real-world applications of the partnership.
The two companies are set to launch a jointly developed AI product later this year that will combine OpenAI’s technology with Kakao’s service experience. It’s expected to be a smart assistant that users can utilize in their daily lives with the goal of making AI more mainstream and accessible.
“We’re developing an AI product that goes beyond answering simple questions to automatically connecting users with various Kakao services through a function call,” Kakao CEO Chung Shin-a said during the first quarter earnings call last month.