[비즈한국] Coupled with President Lee Jae-myung’s vision for fostering the AI industry, the stock prices of Naver and Kakao035720 are on a sharp upward trend. This is thanks to positive messages sent regarding AI-related industries by the newly established Presidential Office for AI Future Planning and the appointment of Ha Jung-woo, an AI expert from Naver Cloud, as a senior secretary.
However, there is no shortage of concerns within the industry. The fear is that AI policy support might be concentrated on large corporations, especially when considering the competition with global AI developers in countries like the US and China. If large platform companies like Naver and Kakao secure and utilize massive amounts of data through consumer searches, there is concern that the competitiveness of platform companies specialized in fields such as electronics, travel, used cars, and shopping could become dependent on Naver and Kakao's "AI models."
Stock Prices Rise Nearly Twofold
The Ministry of Science and ICT reported to the Presidential Transition Committee that it would invest a budget of 12.3 trillion won over five years to realize President Lee’s pledge to make Korea one of the world's top three AI powerhouses, and also announced a plan to invest 100 trillion won from the public and private sectors to establish the status of an AI powerhouse by 2030.
Stock prices are rising daily in response to the Lee Jae-myung administration's plan to "enter the top three global AI powerhouses." Since the Lee Jae-myung administration took office, Naver has risen by as much as 58.17%. It climbed to 295,000 won on the 23rd, eyeing a breakthrough of the 300,000 won mark. Kakao, which was trading at 36,300 won on May 20, also rose as high as 71,600 won during trading on the 24th, nearly doubling in value. As of the 30th, it is trading in the 60,000 won range.
Consequently, companies are emphasizing their "AI services" daily. On the 30th, Naver unveiled "HyperCLOVA X THINK," a generative artificial intelligence (AI) with enhanced reasoning capabilities. The newly unveiled reasoning model is characterized by its strengthened power of thought. When a user inputs a query, the model formulates a response plan by "thinking" at length, as if talking to itself.
In particular, the language comprehension has been further improved based on its reasoning ability. Naver explained, "As a result of measuring the language capabilities of major Large Language Models (LLMs) using the KoBALT-700 benchmark, this model recorded higher scores than major domestic reasoning models built on a similar scale and the best global open-source models."
Kakaobank323410 also promised the "launch of an AI service" during its earnings conference call, as stated by CFO Kwon Tae-hoon. They are concretizing an "AI First" strategy, such as recently introducing the first "AI Financial Calculator" in the financial sector. The AI financial calculator launched by Kakaobank uses generative AI technology to automatically fill in necessary conditions and derive calculation results when a customer asks a question. It is convenient in that users do not need to manually enter every condition such as loan amount, interest rate, term, and repayment method like traditional financial calculators.
"Sense of Crisis" Among Platforms with Less Capital
However, some companies are expressing concerns about the attention being focused solely on Naver and Kakao. These are platform companies specialized in specific industries. Due to the nature of AI development, which requires massive capital, concerns are emerging that it could lead to a structure where a few companies selected under government leadership monopolize the market in the future.
The fear is that if models that learn and utilize consumer personal information or interests through search gain a foothold in the market centered on large platforms like Naver or Kakao, online platforms in various fields—such as used cars (Encar), travel (Nol Universe, Yeogi Eottae), and shopping (Karrot, Gmarket, etc.)—could face a crisis.
An official from a platform company expressed concern, saying, "Because AI knows a lot about consumer information, it can offer the content consumers want more accurately. If the government's support policy is focused only on large-scale companies for the sake of performance, smaller platforms will inevitably lose their market share. Given that Naver and Kakao have continuously attempted to enter various markets, it seems there are detailed aspects the government needs to address, such as making open-source mandatory in AI investment plans."