Korea AI Management Inc. doubles, and LG Group is the leader

The number of artificial intelligence (AI) specialists at management level in South Korea’s 30 largest conglomerates has more than doubled, with LG Group recording the highest growth rate.

According to a survey by Leaders Index, a Seoul-based corporate research firm, the number of artificial intelligence experts in management positions at the country’s 30 largest enterprises by assets was 187 at the end of the first quarter, up from 89 a year earlier.

The study was conducted on the first quarter reports of 295 subsidiaries from 30 conglomerates that made changes in their management staff, including outside directors.

The latest number of AI executives represents 1.6% of the total leadership workforce across 30 groups, according to the Leaders Index report released Tuesday.

The number of business groups with at least one chief artificial intelligence officer rose to 17 in the first quarter from 15 a year earlier.

LG IN THE LEADER

Growth in AI leadership was observed across the board, with LG, Korea’s fourth-largest conglomerate, showing the sharpest growth.

The number of AI directors at LG Group increased to 55 at the end of the first quarter from 25 a year ago.

The expansion includes 15 executives at LG AI Research, founded in 2020, 19 at LG Electronics Inc. and 20 in other affiliated companies of the LG Group.

Earlier this year, LG CNS Co., an IT services subsidiary of LG Group, hired Jin Yohan, head of E-Mart Inc.’s digital division, as head of LG CNS AI Center.

After LG, SK Group lagged behind, hiring 53 AI executives, a significant increase from 14 the previous year.

SK Hynix Inc., the world’s second-largest memory chipmaker, played a key role by creating a new AI infrastructure division and appointing 24 artificial intelligence executives led by AI Infrastructure president Kim Joo-sun.

At the end of the first quarter, SK Telecom Co. employed 22 AI directors.

Other notable gains were seen at KT Corp., where the number of AI executives doubled to 28 from 14.

Korea’s largest business conglomerate, Samsung Group, had 19, followed by Hyundai Motor Co. with six and Naver Corp. with four.

Mirae Asset, POSCO Holdings Inc., Lotte and CJ each reported three AI directors, while HD Hyundai Co. and Kakao Corp. they had two each.

Samsung Electronics Co., a leading Korean company and the world’s largest memory chip maker, has hired 11 artificial intelligence executives, including Hansung University artificial intelligence professor Cho Hye-kyung, an outside director of Samsung; Kim Dae-hyun, head of Samsung Research Global AI Center; and Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) vice president Ryu Kyung-dong, formerly head of Google Android Automotive.

Analysts said the rapid increase in AI leadership appointments underscores the strategic importance of AI in enhancing competitiveness and innovation across industries in Korea.

write to Jeong-Soo Hwang at [email protected]
In-Soo Nam edited this article.