LG AI Research has unveiled K-EXAONE 2.0, a large-scale artificial intelligence (AI) model with 750 billion parameters, more than tripling the size of its predecessor while adopting a commercially permissive open-source license.

The institute said on July 31 that it had released K-EXAONE 2.0 on Hugging Face as the second model developed under South Korea’s Independent AI Foundation Model Project, an initiative overseen by the Ministry of Science and ICT.

The model does not activate its entire network for every request. Instead, it employs a Mixture of Experts (MoE) architecture that selectively engages only the components needed to answer a query. The system contains 256 specialized processing modules and dynamically selects eight experts for each token when generating responses. While the model contains 750 billion parameters in total, only 37 billion parameters are activated during inference. The approach is designed to preserve the knowledge capacity of a large model while reducing computational requirements and operating costs.

K-EXAONE 2.0 supports a context window of up to 262,144 tokens and expands language coverage to 10 languages, including Korean, English, Japanese, and Chinese. LG AI Research also replaced its previous proprietary license with the Apache 2.0 license, allowing users to download, modify, and deploy the model commercially.

According to LG AI Research, the model achieved an average score of 70.1 across 24 benchmarks spanning nine evaluation categories, compared with 63.3 for the first-generation model. In the OpenAI-MRCR long-context retrieval benchmark, K-EXAONE 2.0 scored 94.4, exceeding the 93.0 achieved by Qwen 3.5 and the 92.9 recorded by DeepSeek V4 Pro Max.

Within South Korea, one of the most direct comparison points is SK Telecom’s A.X K2 model, unveiled on July 29. A.X K2 is also an MoE model, with 688 billion total parameters and 33 billion active parameters. Like K-EXAONE 2.0, it supports a maximum context length of 262,144 tokens and is released under the Apache 2.0 license.

The announcement did not include direct comparisons with leading commercial AI models such as OpenAI’s GPT series, Anthropic’s Claude, or Google’s Gemini. As a result, the published benchmark data alone does not provide a clear indication of how K-EXAONE 2.0 compares with the highest-performing proprietary global models.

Parameter count alone is also not a direct measure of real-world performance. User experience depends not only on reasoning capability but also on factors such as response speed, operating costs, integration with search and coding tools, multimodal capabilities, and service optimization.

The significance of the release lies in the fact that South Korean researchers have built a 750-billion-parameter-class model, including its training and inference infrastructure, and made it available under terms that allow enterprises to maintain control over deployment and customization.

The model’s competitive standing is expected to become clearer once results emerge from government-led evaluations conducted under standardized conditions, independent third-party benchmarks, and real-world deployment scenarios.

Krafton announced on July 29 that it has launched its first global brand campaign through digital signage at Tokyo's Shibuya Scramble Crossing, one of Japan's most prominent advertising locations.

According to the company, the campaign is designed to strengthen brand recognition and showcase Krafton's intellectual property (IP) portfolio in Japan, one of its key markets for global franchise expansion. The initiative forms part of the company's long-term strategy to build and scale "big franchise IPs" with extended product life cycles (PLCs).

The campaign features 16 major franchises, including Mimesis, which recently surpassed 2 million cumulative copies sold, and PUBG: Battlegrounds.

In June, Mimesis became the first Korean game to receive the Excellence Award in the Game Design category at the CEDEC Awards 2026, presented during CEDEC, Japan's largest conference for game developers organized by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA).

The offline campaign ran from June 20 to June 26 and also featured collaboration content between PUBG Mobile and the anime series Naruto Shippuden, a title well known among Japanese players. An accompanying online campaign across social media platforms, including YouTube and X, will continue through Aug. 2.

POSCO DX has announced its transformation into an AI-Native Company, built on two strategic pillars: physical artificial intelligence (AI) for industrial operations and agentic AI for enterprise workflows.

The company said it is focusing on expanding physical AI to build intelligent factories where people, AI and industrial equipment or robots work together seamlessly. The strategy centers on applying physical AI technologies to automate and optimize the operation of large-scale industrial equipment through robotization.

POSCO DX said the technology has already been deployed in selected operations. It has applied physical AI to steel mill equipment weighing tens of tons, including overhead cranes that transport steel products, reclaimers that move raw materials in storage yards and ship unloaders, improving worker safety and productivity.

The company is also converting the tacit knowledge of highly experienced operators into core datasets for physical AI, enabling AI to collaborate with human operators in control rooms while managing robots and industrial equipment.

At a press briefing on July 29, Cho Seok-joo, executive vice president and head of the AX Research Institute at POSCO DX, outlined the company's progress in developing physical AI technologies.

POSCO DX is also expanding the deployment of industrial robots in hazardous and labor-intensive environments. The company said it provides end-to-end robotic automation services covering consulting, design, implementation and operations. Together with POSCO, it has developed a platform for managing heterogeneous robot fleets to optimize robot operations.

The company is also designing optimized robotic systems through simulation technologies and developing Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models for humanoid and other mobile robots to improve locomotion and manipulation capabilities.

As examples of practical deployment, POSCO DX highlighted robots that remove impurities from molten zinc baths in galvanizing processes, robotic band cutters used in cold rolling operations and automated guided vehicles (AGVs) capable of transporting steel products weighing up to 65 metric tons. The company is also deploying robotic systems for raw material sampling and logistics automation at plants producing environmentally friendly materials and automotive components.

For office and management functions, POSCO DX is promoting agentic AI through its proprietary Agentee platform. According to the company, Agentee manages the entire lifecycle of AI agents—from recruitment and evaluation to development, promotion and retirement—in a manner similar to managing human employees. The platform enables domain-specific "AI employees" to automate office and business operations.

POSCO DX said its AX consulting services first analyze customer workflows to determine how responsibilities should be divided between employees and AI agents. Based on those workflows, Agentee either creates customized AI agents or reuses existing ones. The company said the platform standardizes every stage from design to deployment, enabling rapid development of enterprise AI agents.

POSCO DX demonstrated several internal use cases, including finance, human resources, labor management and project management. In one example, an AI agent automates monthly pre-closing financial risk inspections by scanning all accounting accounts, identifying abnormal entries and missing journal records, and generating risk reports. The process, which previously required about three hours, now takes approximately one minute. The company estimates that expanding AI agents across all financial closing activities could improve productivity by at least 30%.

POSCO DX currently operates approximately 200 AI agents across its own organization and other POSCO Group companies. It plans to establish standardized AI agent models for the group before commercializing the validated platform for external customers.

The company said it is the only domestic provider with full-stack capabilities spanning operational technology (OT) on factory floors and enterprise information technology (IT) systems.

"Leveraging our expertise across both industrial operations and office environments, we aim to become the company best positioned to deliver physical AI and agentic AI services by integrating advanced AX technologies," POSCO DX said.

At the same briefing, Kim Byung-seok, head of the AI Workforce Task Force at POSCO DX, presented the company's agentic AI strategy.

Separately, POSCO Group has adopted a Mission-oriented AI Transformation (AX) strategy centered on three pillars—process, work and value—to accelerate AI adoption across the group.

At the POSCO CEO Investor Day held on July 2, the group unveiled its Triple-Core growth strategy spanning industrial resources (steel), strategic resources (including lithium, cathode and anode materials, and rare earth elements) and energy resources (LNG and renewable energy). The group also announced plans to expand into physical AI for process industries by leveraging decades of experience in factory automation, intelligent manufacturing and large-scale industrial data.

The POSCO CEO Investor Day is the group's annual investor relations event, where the chairman and senior executives present long-term growth strategies, future business plans and financial targets to shareholders, institutional investors and securities analysts.

Autonomous trucking startup Mars Auto has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Korea Post Logistics Support Foundation and logistics company Logisquare to accelerate the adoption of autonomous driving technologies for commercial freight transportation. The partnership will expand paid autonomous freight services within Korea Post's logistics network while using real-world driving data to enhance the company's end-to-end (E2E) autonomous driving AI model.

The three-way agreement is part of the South Korean government's national AI initiative, "Software-Defined Vehicle (SDV) Transformation and AI-Based End-to-End Autonomous Driving Model Advancement." In November last year, Mars Auto was selected by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources and the Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology (KEIT) to lead a project developing E2E AI-based autonomous freight transportation technology for heavy-duty trucks. The project has a total budget of 18.2 billion won and is being carried out by a consortium of 13 organizations, including the Korea Post Logistics Support Foundation and Logisquare.

Under the partnership, Mars Auto will install its Copilot autonomous driving system on postal freight vehicles operated by the Korea Post Logistics Support Foundation, while Logisquare will oversee operations for autonomous commercial freight routes. By collecting diverse real-world driving data from heavy-duty truck drivers, the partners aim to improve E2E AI performance while increasing operational efficiency and safety through fuel savings of more than 10% and reduced driver fatigue during long-distance and nighttime operations.

Postal freight vehicles equipped with Mars Auto's Copilot system will operate on major highways and local roads connecting 22 regional mail processing centers and approximately 3,700 post offices across South Korea. Because the system is not limited to a specific vehicle manufacturer or truck model, it can collect driving data from a broad range of commercial vehicles. The data will be transmitted in real time over SK Telecom's wireless network to the National AI Project training infrastructure located in Yeongdeungpo, Seoul. Copilot has already been installed on 20 postal freight vehicles, with additional deployments planned.

Mars Auto's autonomous driving technology relies on AI and camera-based sensors rather than LiDAR or high-definition (HD) maps. The company believes the quantity and quality of real-world driving data are critical to improving AI performance and said the partnership will support its goal of commercializing Level 4 fully autonomous driving.

Separately, on July 20, Mars Auto became the first company in South Korea to receive government approval to launch an autonomous trailer business under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's mobility regulatory sandbox program.

AI infrastructure software company Xiilab announced on July 29 that it has joined the AI Data Center (AIDC) Alliance, a public-private consultative body led by South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT.

The AIDC Alliance was established by the government together with industry, academia and research organizations to foster AI data centers as a national strategic industry and a new export growth engine. The alliance discusses policies and institutional improvements related to AIDC development, including power infrastructure, site development and financing.

The South Korean government plans to build a total of 18.4GW of AI data center capacity by 2035 while expanding cumulative investment to more than 1 quadrillion won. It also aims to develop a domestic full-stack AI ecosystem integrating locally developed neural processing units (NPUs), cloud platforms, power and cooling systems, and operational software.

Xiilab said it plans to deploy its AstraGo platform during the operational phase of AI data centers to improve GPU utilization through Kubernetes-based GPU scheduling, automatic GPU partitioning and multi-node distributed training.

The company said it has established expertise in AI infrastructure services, including AI cluster design, reference architecture (RA)-compliant deployment, performance validation and operational software. Xiilab added that it recently achieved Nvidia Elite Partner status in the software category.

Kolon Benit is expanding its enterprise software business with a portfolio of in-house solutions covering business planning, consolidated accounting, financial disclosure and manufacturing digital transformation (DX). The company aims to broaden its customer base by targeting growing demand for regulatory compliance and workflow automation in finance and manufacturing.

Kolon Benit's proprietary software portfolio includes r-PLANNA for business planning and profit forecasting, BENIT SIGMA for consolidated accounting, DSDFlow for electronic financial disclosures and r-CoCoAna, a manufacturing DX platform. The company plans to progressively integrate artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities into these products to further automate business planning, profit forecasting, financial consolidation, regulatory reporting and manufacturing operations.

The r-PLANNA solution helps companies analyze projected costs and profitability during the business planning process. Built on SAP S/4HANA, it performs repeated scenario-based forecasting and analysis by incorporating variables such as exchange rates, selling prices, raw material costs and production volumes. Kolon Benit said the solution uses a proprietary calculation engine based on the same mechanism as SAP systems, enabling highly reliable forecasts. In customer validation projects, forecast production costs matched actual costs with approximately 99% accuracy.

BENIT SIGMA and DSDFlow support financial reporting workflows from group consolidation through regulatory disclosure. BENIT SIGMA collects and consolidates financial data from multiple subsidiaries to produce consolidated financial statements while automating complex accounting processes, including intercompany transactions and ownership relationships. The solution supports both SAP and non-SAP enterprise resource planning (ERP) environments and has accumulated more than 100 customers since its launch in 2009.

To prepare customers for the implementation of IFRS 18 in 2027, Kolon Benit recently introduced the next-generation BENIT SIGMA Pro. The new solution provides dual reporting capabilities that allow users to compare financial statements prepared under existing accounting standards with those based on IFRS 18. It also includes annotation functions for generating Management-defined Performance Measures (MPMs) specified by corporate management. The company plans to further automate repetitive consolidation, financial reporting and data validation tasks by incorporating AI technologies.

DSDFlow converts financial data generated during the consolidation process into formats required for submission to South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service's Data Analysis, Retrieval and Transfer (DART) system while supporting preparation and validation of disclosure documents.

In manufacturing, Kolon Benit is strengthening its business with the r-CoCoAna platform. The system collects and integrates real-time data from production equipment and manufacturing processes, providing a unified platform for managing production, quality, inventory, equipment and energy operations using data-driven analytics.

The platform combines a Connected Data Platform (CDP), which links data from both legacy and modern manufacturing equipment, with a Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM) system that integrates production planning, process execution, quality management and equipment management. It also utilizes technologies such as vision AI to automatically detect product defects and analyze equipment and process data.

Kolon Benit said it has built manufacturing DX expertise through r-CoCoAna since establishing a dedicated manufacturing business organization in 2014. Over the past three years, the company has carried out projects for manufacturing affiliates within the Kolon Group, including Kolon Industries, Kolon Life Science and Kolon Pharmaceutical, covering data collection and analysis, equipment monitoring, process optimization and quality stabilization.

The company said those projects enabled it to build end-to-end execution capabilities spanning factory assessments, process improvement planning, system implementation and operational stabilization. Going forward, Kolon Benit plans to expand its integrated manufacturing DX package—which combines consulting, data collection and analytics, system implementation and AI-based operations—to external customers to help reduce costs, improve productivity and enhance product quality.

Kingnet announced on July 29 the official launch of its new 3D massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), Yulgang: Next, in South Korea.

Yulgang: Next is based on the intellectual property (IP) of the popular martial arts comic Yulgang (The Ruler of the Land). The game blends the original work's youthful martial arts atmosphere with modern gameplay systems. Featuring cel-shaded graphics, it supports cross-platform play across mobile devices and PCs.

Players can create a variety of combat styles by combining primary skills, ultimate abilities and support skills. The game offers five playable classes—Blade Warrior, Sword Warrior, Spear Warrior, Bow Warrior and Healer—each with distinct roles and combat characteristics.

The game also includes faction battles centered on the Orthodox and Unorthodox sects, along with player-versus-player (PvP) content, guilds, party systems and companion features designed to encourage cooperative and community-based gameplay.

To celebrate the launch, Kingnet will release the game's second original soundtrack, "Together," performed by South Korean singer Song Ga-in, at 6 p.m. on July 29. The ballad, inspired by the original comic's emotional themes and martial arts world, will be available through major music streaming platforms.

Kingnet is also hosting a series of in-game launch events. A seven-day login campaign will reward players with progression items and a high-grade pet. Additional events will offer rare in-game items and special prize drawings. Players who verify pre-downloads or PC gameplay through the game's official community will also be eligible to win prizes including an iPhone 17, a Nintendo Switch 2, gaming laptops and graphics cards.

AUTOCRYPT said on July 29 that it is expanding its global business through a partnership with German automotive software company Elektrobit, combining software platforms with cybersecurity technologies.

Under the strategic partnership, AUTOCRYPT has secured exclusive distribution rights in South Korea for Elektrobit's key software solutions. The two companies will also pursue co-selling opportunities with automakers and automotive suppliers in Korea and overseas to expand new business opportunities.

Elektrobit provides technologies for automotive operating systems, digital cockpits, high-performance computing (HPC), and AUTOSAR, the international software standard for the automotive industry. AUTOCRYPT offers technologies supporting compliance with UNECE UN R155, UN R156, and ISO/SAE 21434, as well as public key infrastructure (PKI), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) security, and vehicle security testing platforms.

The two companies plan to combine Elektrobit's software platform with AUTOCRYPT's cybersecurity technologies to target Asian markets, including South Korea, India, and China.

According to AUTOCRYPT, the partnership represents business opportunities worth about 122 billion won, including an estimated 8 billion won in revenue from exclusive distribution rights for Elektrobit's key solutions in South Korea and approximately 22 billion won in new business opportunities through joint sales initiatives.

Building on the collaboration, AUTOCRYPT plans to expand beyond automotive cybersecurity into Physical AI security spanning mobility, robotics, defense, and smart infrastructure.

AhnLab reported double-digit revenue growth from its global business, led by Rakeen, its joint venture in Saudi Arabia.

The company said on July 29 that it posted preliminary consolidated revenue of 71.3 billion won and operating profit of 5.4 billion won for the second quarter of 2026. Compared with the same period a year earlier, when it recorded revenue of 62.3 billion won and operating profit of 3.5 billion won, revenue increased 14.5% and operating profit rose 55.6%.

According to AhnLab, revenue growth was driven by increased demand for products related to the National Network Security Framework (N2SF) and zero-trust security, including endpoint detection and response (EDR) and XTG solutions.

On a standalone basis, the company reported revenue of 64.3 billion won and operating profit of 7.6 billion won, up 17.1% and 14.1%, respectively, from a year earlier. Revenue increased by 9.4 billion won, while operating profit rose by 940 million won.

For the first half of 2026, consolidated revenue reached 130.4 billion won and operating profit totaled 7.3 billion won, representing year-on-year increases of 9.1% and 62.3%, respectively.

On a standalone basis, first-half revenue came to 116.7 billion won and operating profit reached 12.5 billion won. Compared with the same period last year, revenue increased by 10.9 billion won, or 10.3%, while operating profit rose by 3.0 billion won, or 31.1%.

Krafton said on July 29 that it has released its speech artificial intelligence (AI) foundation model, A.X K2 Raon-Speech, on the global AI platform Hugging Face.

A.X K2 Raon-Speech is a speech language model unveiled as part of the second-phase results of the Korean government's Sovereign AI Foundation Model project, led by the Ministry of Science and ICT. Krafton is participating in the project as a member of SK Telecom's development team.

The model combines SK Telecom's A.X K2 small language model with Krafton's proprietary speech encoder and codec technologies. Unlike conventional AI voice dialogue systems that often lose emotional nuance and intonation in users' speech, A.X K2 Raon-Speech is designed to generate natural spoken responses that preserve both emotional expression and vocal inflection.

According to the company, A.X K2 Raon-Speech is built on a 21-billion-parameter architecture and ranks first in overall Korean-language performance and third in overall English-language performance among open speech language models with fewer than 30 billion parameters.

Microsoft shares rose more than 8% in after-hours trading following the release of its fiscal 2026 fourth-quarter (April–June) results. The gains were driven by stronger-than-expected growth in the company’s Azure cloud business, lower-than-anticipated capital expenditure (Capex) plans, and continued confidence in its cash-generation outlook. Microsoft also issued fiscal 2027 first-quarter guidance that exceeded market expectations for both revenue and cloud growth.

Quarterly revenue reached $90.01 billion, surpassing the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. Revenue from Azure and other cloud services increased 43%, exceeding analyst expectations. StreetAccount had projected growth of 40.2%, while Visible Alpha forecast 39.98%.

Azure is reported within Microsoft’s Intelligent Cloud segment, which includes Azure and other cloud services, server products and related cloud services, and enterprise services. Microsoft does not disclose standalone Azure revenue. In its earnings report, the company said Azure and other cloud services revenue grew 43% during the quarter.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Satya Nadella disclosed that Azure’s annual revenue exceeded $100 billion for the first time. CEO Nadella also emphasized that paid licenses for Microsoft 365 Copilot had surpassed 30 million.

He further stated that Microsoft expects to continue generating strong cash flow throughout fiscal 2027 (July 2026–June 2027).

Beginning in fiscal 2027, Microsoft will extend the estimated useful life of its data centers and office buildings from 15 years to 25 years. The longer depreciation period will result in some future data center lease agreements being classified as operating leases rather than finance leases, reducing the amount recorded as Capex under accounting rules. Microsoft emphasized that excluding this accounting change, its actual data center investment plans remain unchanged.

The move has helped ease investor concerns that surging data center spending and AI services could undermine the profitability of Microsoft’s core productivity software business.

Azure’s 43% growth also countered speculation that Google Cloud had been taking market share from Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Azure after Alphabet reported an 82% surge in Google Cloud revenue last week. The latest results indicate Microsoft remains firmly among the leaders in the cloud infrastructure market.

Microsoft’s commercial remaining performance obligations (RPO) reached $678 billion at quarter-end. RPO represents contracted revenue that has not yet been recognized. The figure increased by approximately $51 billion from $627 billion in the previous quarter. The company said all of the quarter-over-quarter increase came from customers other than frontier AI model developers such as OpenAI, suggesting demand for Microsoft’s cloud and enterprise software offerings is broadening across a diverse customer base.

The number of paid Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses rose from 20 million in the previous quarter. Analysts had expected an average of 26.9 million licenses, meaning Microsoft exceeded expectations by more than 3 million customers.

Microsoft forecast fiscal 2027 first-quarter (July–September) revenue of between $89.85 billion and $90.95 billion. The midpoint of $90.4 billion is above the consensus estimate of $89.66 billion compiled by LSEG. The company also projected Azure growth of 45% on a constant-currency basis, well above Visible Alpha’s forecast of 40.92%.

Microsoft expects first-quarter fiscal 2027 Capex of $50 billion and calendar-year 2026 Capex of $175 billion. Both figures are below previous expectations of $56.02 billion and $190 billion, respectively.

Large-scale data center investments continue to weigh on free cash flow (FCF). Microsoft reported quarterly FCF of $19.6 billion, calculated by subtracting $35.8 billion in cash capital expenditures from operating cash flow of $55.4 billion. Although FCF declined 23% from a year earlier, it significantly exceeded the Visible Alpha consensus estimate of $13.44 billion.

Total Capex for the quarter reached $41 billion, up more than 70% year over year but below market expectations of $42.37 billion. The figure included $5.6 billion in finance leases related to data center sites and other facilities. Cash spending on property and equipment totaled $35.8 billion. Total Capex in the previous quarter was $31.9 billion.

Additional investment could still lie ahead. In filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Microsoft disclosed $329.1 billion in future data center lease commitments that have not yet commenced. Those agreements are scheduled to begin between fiscal 2027 and fiscal 2033, with lease terms ranging from one to 20 years.

Microsoft is also working to reduce its reliance on OpenAI technology by adding Anthropic models to its services and developing proprietary AI models. At the same time, the company is leveraging long-standing enterprise customer relationships to expand sales of its $30-per-month Copilot offering. A major agreement signed with Accenture earlier this year is one example.

Reuters noted that Microsoft has been among the weakest-performing members of the “Magnificent Seven”—Microsoft, Apple, Nvidia, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Tesla—so far this year, but the latest earnings report suggests the company may be positioned for a rebound. Microsoft shares had declined approximately 18% year to date before the earnings release.

Because the quarter marked Microsoft’s fiscal 2026 fourth quarter, the company also reported full-year results for fiscal 2026, which covered the period from July 2025 through June 2026.

For fiscal 2026, Microsoft reported revenue of $331.8 billion, up 18% year over year, or 16% on a constant-currency basis. Operating income rose 21% to $155.2 billion, or 19% on a constant-currency basis. Net income reached $133.7 billion, increasing 31% under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), or 22% on a non-GAAP basis excluding gains and losses related to its OpenAI investment. On a constant-currency basis, non-GAAP net income increased 20%. Diluted earnings per share (EPS) were $17.95, up 32% year over year under GAAP.

Both fiscal 2026 annual revenue and fourth-quarter revenue increased 18% from the previous year. However, the fact that annual and quarterly growth rates were identical does not necessarily indicate that growth was evenly distributed throughout the year. Microsoft also separately disclosed non-GAAP results excluding the impact of its OpenAI investment. During fiscal 2026, accounting gains related to that investment increased GAAP net income by $4.963 billion and diluted EPS by $0.67. The company noted that this accounting benefit does not represent cash earnings received from OpenAI.

Kakao said on July 30 that it has launched an external advisory panel under its AI & Technology Ethics Subcommittee to strengthen the company's artificial intelligence (AI) ethics governance framework.

The initiative is aimed at proactively addressing social risks emerging from the spread of agentic AI and establishing an AI policy framework aligned with a rapidly evolving regulatory environment.

The advisory panel consists of seven experts: Kim Myung-ju, Executive Director of the Korea AI Safety Institute (AISI); Lee Min-seok, professor at the College of Software Convergence at Kookmin University; Lee Sang-wook, professor in the Department of Philosophy at Hanyang University; Lee Won-tae, distinguished professor at Kookmin University; Byun Soon-yong, professor in the Department of Ethics Education at Seoul National University of Education; Yoo Jae-yeon, adjunct professor in the Division of Social Innovation Convergence at Hanyang University; and Jung Byung-soo, head of the Learning & Development Center at UNICEF.

The advisory panel held its kickoff meeting last month and officially began operations through its first regular meeting on July 29. The group plans to convene regularly throughout the year and provide guidance on establishing Kakao's AI ethics standards and governance direction.

Samsung SDS expanded its top line in the second quarter on the back of growth in both its cloud and logistics businesses. However, operating profit remained largely flat compared with revenue growth. The company said it plans to expand its artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure capacity to more than 800 megawatts (MW) by 2031 and broaden AI transformation projects, particularly in the financial sector, to secure new growth drivers.

Samsung SDS reported preliminary consolidated second-quarter revenue of 3.7178 trillion won and operating profit of 231.8 billion won. Revenue increased 5.9% from a year earlier, while operating profit rose 0.7%.

Although revenue grew by nearly 6%, operating profit increased by less than 1%. As a result, the operating margin is estimated to have declined by about 0.3 percentage points to approximately 6.2% from about 6.6% a year earlier. While expansion in logistics operations and investment in AI infrastructure supported revenue growth, they have yet to translate into meaningful profitability improvements.

Revenue from the information technology (IT) services business rose 5% year over year to 1.7625 trillion won. Within that segment, cloud revenue increased 17% to 779.4 billion won. Cloud services accounted for approximately 44% of total IT services revenue.

In particular, cloud revenue from external customers outside Samsung affiliates surged 75% from a year earlier, leading overall growth. The performance suggests the company's business mix, which has historically relied heavily on internal group demand, is expanding into external markets including the public sector, financial services and manufacturing.

The cloud service provider (CSP) business grew 24%, driven by rising demand for the Samsung Cloud Platform and expanded Graphics Processing Unit as a Service (GPUaaS) offerings across public and private sectors. The managed service provider (MSP) business also increased 17%, supported by AI transformation projects in the financial industry and growth in enterprise resource planning projects within the shipbuilding sector. With Samsung SDS's IT services growth increasingly concentrated in cloud operations, the profitability of its cloud business and the pace of external customer acquisition are expected to play a critical role in future earnings performance.

Revenue from the logistics business rose 6.6% year over year to 1.9553 trillion won. Growth was driven by air freight forwarding and contract logistics operations centered on inland transportation and warehousing. External business generated through the company's digital logistics platform Cello Square also expanded. Logistics accounted for more than half of Samsung SDS's total revenue, supporting overall top-line growth.

Samsung SDS also said it plans to increase its AI infrastructure (data center) capacity, currently 110 MW, to 230 MW by 2029. By 2031, the company aims to expand capacity to more than 800 MW, including projects under its DBO (Design, Build and Operate) business model for data centers.

Meta Platforms reported its second-quarter (April–June) results on July 29. Revenue exceeded market consensus, but net income and earnings per share (EPS) were pressured by increased artificial intelligence (AI) investment and large one-time charges. Free cash flow (FCF) also declined sharply. Despite that, Meta again raised its AI infrastructure spending plans for the year, maintaining an aggressive investment stance.

Meta posted second-quarter revenue of $60.801 billion, up 28% from a year earlier. Operating income totaled $18.775 billion, representing a decline of 8% year over year. Operating margin fell to 31% from 43% a year earlier. Net income came to $15.85 billion, down 14% from the same period last year.

Unlike other major technology companies, Meta does not operate a large external cloud services business, with advertising accounting for nearly all of its revenue. Strong advertising performance helped revenue slightly exceed market expectations, but operating income and net income declined due to AI infrastructure costs, legal expenses, and restructuring charges.

The company recorded $2.4 billion in legal expenses, reportedly related to reserves for lawsuits involving child protection issues associated with Facebook and Instagram. An additional $1.18 billion in restructuring costs, including severance payments, was also recognized. Both were one-time expenses.

AI infrastructure investment and overall costs and expenses increased 55% from a year earlier. Even so, Meta raised its full-year capital expenditure (Capex) forecast to between $130 billion and $145 billion. Its previous guidance had been $125 billion to $145 billion. While the upper end remained unchanged, the minimum spending level increased by $5 billion, which investors interpreted as a signal of a gradual expansion in Meta’s Capex plans.

As credit rating agencies including Moody’s and S&P Global Ratings have warned, rising AI infrastructure spending is weighing on Meta’s FCF. The company’s FCF fell to $784 million in the quarter, down about 91% from a year earlier.

FCF is calculated by subtracting Capex from operating cash flow (OCF), representing the cash a company generates from its core business operations. It reflects the amount of cash available for shareholder returns, debt repayment, acquisitions, and other discretionary uses. While net income can be affected by non-cash items such as depreciation and valuation gains or losses, FCF provides a clearer view of actual cash available to the company and is therefore a key measure of financial health and investment capacity.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mark Zuckerberg again emphasized AI as Meta’s primary growth engine. He said AI continues to improve advertising efficiency while creating new consumer services and enterprise business opportunities, remarks widely interpreted as an effort to justify the company’s higher Capex spending.

During the earnings conference call, CEO Zuckerberg provided more details on how Meta intends to use its computing resources. He said a significant portion is being devoted to training frontier AI models, with the remainder allocated to improving core businesses such as advertising, developing new consumer products, supporting business agents and developer tools, and exploring opportunities to sell computing capacity directly.

Zuckerberg also said Meta has received numerous proposals from outside parties willing to pay substantial premiums above the company’s acquisition cost for computing capacity. However, he indicated that selling AI "intelligence" built on top of that infrastructure would likely generate higher margins than selling computing resources directly. Several media outlets recently reported that Meta had been engaged in preliminary discussions to lease approximately $2 billion worth of AI computing capacity to Anthropic over two years.

Aside from Capex, Meta’s second-quarter earnings were largely affected by one-time expenses, while advertising revenue growth remained highly robust.

User metrics also continued to expand, with Family Daily Active People (Family DAP) reaching 3.6 billion, Instagram daily active users reaching 2 billion, and Threads monthly active users reaching 500 million. Family DAP measures the number of unique users who engage with at least one of Meta’s major services—Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, or WhatsApp—on a given day. After removing duplicate users, the figure indicates that roughly 3.6 billion unique people used at least one of those services daily.

While CEO Zuckerberg stressed that the competitiveness of Meta’s core services is increasingly driven by AI, investors remain concerned that the scale of AI investment is growing far faster than expected. With FCF declining sharply and Capex guidance moving higher, the timeline for investment payback could be extended. Investors were also disappointed by Meta’s third-quarter revenue outlook of $61 billion to $64 billion, which the market viewed as somewhat underwhelming.

As a result, Meta shares fell nearly 10% in after-hours trading. Investors cited weaker-than-expected net income and EPS, as well as confirmation that AI infrastructure spending is placing significant pressure on the company’s cash-generation capabilities.

Meta is increasingly relying on joint ventures with infrastructure investment funds to finance its artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure buildout, reducing the burden of rising capital expenditures (CAPEX). Following its financing structure for the planned 5-gigawatt Hyperion data center, the company is using a similar model for a new AI data center campus under development in El Paso, Texas.

On July 28, Meta announced that it had formed a $14 billion joint venture with BlackRock to develop and own a 1-gigawatt AI data center campus in El Paso, Texas. The facility is scheduled to begin coming online in 2028. Under the agreement, funds managed by BlackRock will hold an 80% stake, while Meta will retain the remaining 20%.

Meta will contribute approximately $2.3 billion in land and construction-in-progress assets, while BlackRock will provide about $4.9 billion in cash. To align ownership with the 80:20 equity split, Meta will receive a one-time $1 billion ownership-alignment distribution. The remaining $12.5 billion will be financed through project debt, with much of the funding raised through bond issuance.

Meta previously adopted a similar financing structure for its planned 5GW Hyperion AI data center in Richland Parish, Louisiana. The facility, which will more than double its existing capacity and come online in phases through 2030, is being developed with support from Blue Owl Capital. Meta established a joint venture with Blue Owl for the project, which subsequently raised approximately $27 billion in project financing through a separate special-purpose vehicle (SPV) via bond issuance. The bonds were purchased by institutional investors including PIMCO, BlackRock, and others.

Both the El Paso and Hyperion campuses will be owned by their respective joint ventures, with Meta leasing the facilities under long-term agreements rather than holding them directly on its balance sheet. Although Meta owns a 20% stake in each venture, the structure allows the company to accelerate AI infrastructure deployment while limiting direct capital investment and keeping substantial assets off its balance sheet.

The financing model could help ease investor concerns over rapidly rising AI-related capital spending. Shares of major technology companies have frequently come under pressure following announcements of increased CAPEX, reflecting uncertainty over when AI investments will generate sufficient financial returns. Similar concerns recently weighed on Alphabet's share price despite stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings.

Meta currently expects to spend $125 billion to $145 billion on AI infrastructure this year, an increase from its previous guidance of $115 billion to $135 billion announced after first-quarter results.

Unlike cloud service providers, Meta does not currently operate a large-scale commercial data center leasing business, limiting its ability to directly monetize its AI infrastructure investments. While media reports have indicated the company has discussed leasing compute capacity to firms such as Anthropic, Meta has yet to launch a broad cloud infrastructure business.

As Meta continues expanding AI infrastructure, funding projects entirely from its own balance sheet would increase debt and pressure free cash flow. By using SPVs and joint ventures, the company can mitigate those risks while offering institutional investors stable, long-term returns backed by Meta's lease commitments.

BlackRock Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink described Meta as a long-term strategic partner, saying the transaction demonstrates the combined capabilities of BlackRock, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and HPS Investment Partners in delivering investment opportunities across AI infrastructure and energy.

His comments suggest BlackRock views not only AI data centers but also the power infrastructure supporting them as an attractive investment class. The firm's emphasis on creating "investment opportunities for clients" also reflects a strategy of positioning AI infrastructure as a new asset class for institutional investors through its infrastructure funds.

The Wall Street Journal said the race to build AI data centers is increasingly becoming a challenge of raising massive amounts of capital rather than simply constructing facilities. Industry publication Data Centre Magazine similarly noted that hyperscale AI infrastructure projects are evolving from engineering initiatives into financial undertakings that require sophisticated capital structures.

Meta is scheduled to report its second-quarter earnings and hold an earnings conference call on July 30. While Wall Street generally expects the company to maintain its current AI CAPEX guidance of $125 billion to $145 billion, some analysts have suggested the forecast could eventually rise as high as $215 billion.

Snowflake, the AI Data Cloud company, has introduced Cortex AI Gateway along with a suite of AI security capabilities designed to strengthen enterprise AI security. Scheduled to enter public preview, Cortex AI Gateway is designed to secure AI agents while providing centralized visibility and control over AI consumption costs.

Snowflake said the rapid growth of enterprise AI has created the need for a new security and cost management model that enables trusted interoperability across AI systems. Cortex AI Gateway was developed to provide a unified governance layer for AI interactions across enterprise environments.

According to the company, Cortex AI Gateway can securely orchestrate and manage not only Snowflake's own AI agents, including Snowflake CoWork and Snowflake CoCo, but also third-party AI agents built on external platforms such as Claude Code and Cursor.

Cortex AI Gateway is built on technology acquired through Snowflake's purchase of Natoma in May. Snowflake said it has integrated Natoma's enterprise Model Context Protocol (MCP) platform directly into its own platform to enable secure, enterprise-grade agent interoperability.

The company said Cortex AI Gateway centrally governs how AI agents access models, tools, MCP servers and enterprise systems while intelligently routing agent requests. It also provides organizations with visibility into AI access, agent activity and token consumption, helping enterprises manage and optimize AI spending.

Snowflake also announced new security-focused integrations for third-party AI agents with Aembit, 1Password, Linx Security, Okta, SailPoint and Saviynt. The integrations, which will be available through a private preview, are intended to strengthen governance and auditing of AI agents operating across multiple platforms.

The company said AI agents must be able to operate securely across diverse enterprise platforms to deliver meaningful business value. However, many vendors continue to rely on closed ecosystems, limiting the ability of third-party agents to work seamlessly across organizational boundaries.

According to Snowflake, the new third-party agent integration capabilities provide detailed visibility into which agents accessed which data, through which platform and under whose credentials. Rather than granting AI agents unrestricted user privileges, enterprises can limit permissions to only those required for specific tasks, improving security while enabling broader enterprise AI adoption.

Krafton posted record first-half revenue and operating profit, driven by continued growth of the PUBG franchise and the successful early access launch of Subnautica 2 in May.

The company said during an earnings conference call on July 29 that consolidated first-half revenue reached 2.6616 trillion won, while operating profit totaled 972.5 billion won, up 73.3% and 38.3%, respectively, from a year earlier. First-half operating profit represented 92% of the company's total operating profit for all of 2025.

Second-quarter revenue rose to 1.2902 trillion won, with operating profit increasing to 410.9 billion won, up 94.9% and 67.0%, respectively, from the same period last year. Both figures marked record highs for a second quarter.

Revenue from the PUBG franchise increased 25% year over year during the first half, while Subnautica 2 surpassed 5 million copies sold within 22 days of its early access release.

Revenue by business segment totaled 924.2 billion won from PC games, 1.1537 trillion won from mobile games, 37.7 billion won from console games and 546.0 billion won from other businesses.

On PC, new game modes such as Genopoint and Payday, together with collaboration content featuring Stellar Blade, boosted engagement for PUBG: Battlegrounds. Combined with the success of Subnautica 2, PC revenue reached 560.4 billion won in the second quarter.

On mobile, PUBG Mobile recorded its highest-ever daily revenue following the launch of the Phoenixtra X-Suit, contributing to a 5.5% year-over-year revenue increase to 45.1 billion won.

Krafton plans to expand its portfolio of well-made game modes in the second half. The company said Genopoint generated strong engagement metrics and sustained player demand for permanent availability, prompting follow-up development. Two additional well-made modes are scheduled for release in the second half of this year, with development also underway for various new modes targeted for launch between 2027 and 2028.

The company will continue expanding World of Wonder (WOW), the user-generated content (UGC) platform for PUBG Mobile. During the second quarter, UGC modes accounted for a mid-teen percentage of total playtime among users of PUBG Mobile Korea, Japan and Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), compared with approximately 20% for the traditional battle royale mode.

Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Bae Dong-geun said user-generated content has already gained meaningful traction among players.

"Going forward, we plan to introduce popular intellectual properties, new maps and monetization systems into the UGC ecosystem to increase player engagement and attract new users," CFO Bae said.

The newly introduced WOW Token will be used to purchase items within creator-developed maps, leading to a virtuous cycle of content consumption, replayability, and conversion to paid users. The token operates separately from existing battle royale currency. CFO Bae emphasized that because monetization is in its early stages, Krafton is prioritizing creator ecosystem expansion and user engagement over near-term revenue.

Krafton plans to continue content updates for Subnautica 2 for approximately two years before its full commercial launch, although an exact release date has not been finalized.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kim Chang-han noted that about half of the current player base consists of new users who did not play the original Subnautica, giving Krafton an opportunity to expand its global fanbase, develop the game into a broader franchise, and explore IP expansion beyond gaming.

The company will unveil five new titles at Gamescom 2026 next month in Germany, all targeted for release by 2027. The lineup includes a new project based on the PUBG franchise, as well as NO LAW, Project ZETA, Age Twisters, and TARAE: Unbound.

Krafton is also enhancing PUBG Ally, its on-device AI feature powered by a compact AI model running entirely on players' devices. Having validated the technology and its service potential, the company is developing an upgraded version based on user feedback while evaluating new gameplay and monetization opportunities.

"Going forward, we aim to build multimodal large language models (LLMs) and world models," CEO Kim said. "Based on those technologies, we plan to expand into applications for both games and physical AI."

Krafton is recruiting AI researchers through its US subsidiary Ludo Robotics and plans to support future physical AI development through a combination of internal investment and external funding.

LG Uplus said on July 29 that its board of directors approved the repurchase of 90 billion won worth of treasury shares. The company said the repurchased shares will be used to enhance shareholder value through measures such as share cancellation. Separately, LG Uplus will invest an additional 1.3 trillion won in the second phase of its AI data center (AIDC) project in Paju.

The company previously canceled treasury shares with a book value of approximately 100 billion won in August last year. In May this year, it also canceled all treasury shares worth about 80 billion won that had been acquired since last year.

LG Uplus also declared an interim dividend of 270 won per share for 2026, an increase of about 8% from the previous year's interim dividend. The record date is Aug. 13, and the dividend will be paid on Aug. 28.

In a separate regulatory filing, the company announced an additional investment of approximately 1.3 trillion won for the second phase of its Paju AI data center project.

LG Uplus is currently constructing a 200-megawatt (MW) AI data center in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, which it describes as the largest AI data center in the Seoul metropolitan area. The facility serves as the flagship site of the group's One LG AI infrastructure initiative, integrating LG Electronics' liquid-cooling technology, LG Energy Solution's high-performance uninterruptible power supply (UPS) batteries and LG Uplus' 27 years of data center operating expertise.

According to the company, the first data hall, scheduled for completion in June 2027, has already been fully leased. The additional investment will fund construction of the second and third data halls, related infrastructure investments and the design of a fourth data hall.

Krafton reported first-half revenue of 2.6616 trillion won and operating profit of 972.5 billion won, setting new records for both metrics on a half-year basis. Revenue and operating profit increased 73.3% and 38.3%, respectively, from a year earlier. First-half operating profit amounted to 92% of the company's total operating profit for all of 2025.

Second-quarter revenue reached 1.2902 trillion won, while operating profit totaled 410.9 billion won, up 94.9% and 67.0%, respectively, from the same period last year. Both figures marked record highs for a second quarter.

Revenue generated by the PUBG franchise increased 25% year over year during the first half. Subnautica 2, which entered early access in May, surpassed 5 million copies sold within 22 days of launch. The company said these performances drove its record first-half results. Revenue by business segment totaled 924.2 billion won from PC games, 1.1537 trillion won from mobile games, 37.7 billion won from console games and 546.0 billion won from other businesses.

Krafton also unveiled five titles targeted for release by 2027. The lineup includes the company's first new project based on the PUBG intellectual property, along with NO LAW, Project ZETA, Age Twisters, and TARAE: The Unbound.

The company also said it completed 300 billion won in treasury share repurchases and a 99.6 billion won capital reduction dividend during the first half. It canceled 336.2 billion won worth of treasury shares, including both newly acquired and previously held shares, and approved the cancellation of treasury shares repurchased during the second quarter. Krafton plans to repurchase an additional 100 billion won of treasury shares in the third quarter and cancel the entire amount.

AI data company VAIV Company announced that its AI-based knowledge management system, VAIV KMS, has received Grade 1 Good Software (GS) Certification from the Korea Testing Laboratory (KTL), enabling the company to meet key requirements for participation in South Korea's public procurement market.

GS Certification is a government-recognized software quality certification program established under Article 20 of the Software Promotion Act. Software products awarded GS Grade 1 certification are eligible for registration on the Public Procurement Service's KONEPS online procurement marketplace and can qualify for preferential purchasing by public institutions.

VAIV Company describes VAIV KMS as an AI-powered knowledge management system that consolidates operational knowledge scattered across customer service centers and business departments, allowing employees to access relevant information when needed.

According to the company, the system enables customer service representatives to retrieve information instantly without manually searching through large volumes of documents, including product guides, terms and conditions, and operational manuals. This can help reduce response times and improve consistency in customer service delivery.

VAIV Company plans to use the GS Grade 1 certification as a springboard for expanding beyond the financial sector into public-sector knowledge management systems and citizen complaint-handling services. The company said its capabilities have already been validated in the financial industry, where K Bank is among its knowledge management system customers.