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.
Google eyes expansion in Korean enterprise AI market
Google Korea Country Managing Director Yoon Koo, left, and Google Cloud Korea Country Head Ruth Sun attend a press conference on the sidelines of the Google AI for Business 2026 event in Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap
By Nam Hyun-woo
Google unveiled its vision to expand the presence of its Gemini artificial intelligence (AI) in Korea's enterprise AI market on Tuesday, highlighting its strengths as a full-stack AI company spanning infrastructure, models and platforms.
During a press conference on the sidelines of the Google AI for Business 2026 event in Seoul, Google Korea Country Managing Director Yoon Koo and Google Cloud Korea Country Head Ruth Sun stressed that Korea is one of the world's most competitive AI markets and a key strategic partner for Google.
“When the world was transitioning to the mobile era, Korea was often described as a global test bed,” Yoon said.
“But Korea is no longer just a place where technologies are tested. It has become a fiercely competitive arena where all the key players driving global AI innovation come together and compete head-on. The competition here is so intense that nearly every AI use case developed in Korea goes on to become a global reference case for innovation.”
Yoon and Sun emphasized that forging partnerships with Korean companies at the center of that competition is essential, citing Samsung Electronics' Device eXperience Division's adoption of Gemini Enterprise, announced Monday, as a key example.
“Gemini Enterprise has become a launchpad for future capabilities for Samsung,” Sun said. “By building on Gemini Enterprise, Samsung is preparing the data and infrastructure to deploy coming-soon custom multistaff AI agents that will soon manage complex corporate workflows autonomously.”
Visitors tour booths at the Google AI for Business 2026 event in Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap
Sun stressed that Google's unified AI stack allows enterprises to securely build, deploy and scale AI agents by integrating infrastructure, AI models, orchestration platforms and security into a single platform.
“We are the only technology provider in the market that offers an entire unified AI stack, from custom chips like our Tensor Processing Units to world-class models like Gemini,” she said. “Our focus is to apply these technologies in a way that helps customers innovate with speed and at scale.”
Yoon said the adoption of AI is driving companies to rethink their marketing strategies, as consumers now have faster and easier access to product information and go through more touchpoints and verification loops throughout the purchasing journey.
“It has become increasingly important for brands to remain consistently visible with credible and verified information," Yoon said.
"One pillar is using Google Cloud to refine proprietary data and strengthen organizational AI capabilities. Built on that foundation, companies can drive business growth, while Google Ads helps them engage customers at every touchpoint, accelerating market expansion and global business growth."
The Google AI for Business 2026 event runs for three days beginning Tuesday, showcasing real-world applications of Google's AI technologies and business use cases. Samsung Electronics, CJ Olive Young and KakaoBank are among the companies sharing their experiences adopting AI.
"Google will continue to work with our partners in Korea to lead a fundamental transformation in the way people work," Yoon said.