사진 확대
With Korea’s leading information technology (IT) companies jumping into the artificial intelligence data center (AIDC) business one after another, Kakao clarified its vision to compete with artificial intelligence (AI) agent-based services instead of infrastructure.
It aims to expand KakaoTalk, which has a strong user base, into an AI agent platform that can call, order, and pay external services. It is also planning to increase external services connected to KakaoTalk, and Coupang Eats will join as its first partner.
Kakao CEO Jung Shin-ah reaffirmed this direction at the second quarter earnings conference call held on the 6th.
◆ Focus on models and services instead of AIDC
On this day, Kakao announced that it recorded the largest quarterly sales of KRW 2.985 trillion and operating profit of KRW 277 billion in the second quarter of this year. Kakao Talk-based advertising, commerce, and pay have all grown.
It is Agnostic AI that Kakao has predicted as a future food that will continue its solid performance based on the platform. The goal is to build and design an entire system that helps plan and execute on its own, not just an agent.
CEO Chung said, “We have thoroughly reviewed the business feasibility including AI data center and GPU cloud market. We judged that the area where Kakao can create the highest competitiveness in the AI era is not infrastructure.” “Instead, we will focus on models and services to create AI services that the whole nation uses in everyday life,” he stressed.
Instead of infrastructure competition, where huge investment is essential, it will create synergy effects through a strong consumer service ecosystem already established by Kakao. Just as Kakao now provides the ChatGPT function in Kakao Talk, it is a direction to allow users to use and execute more external services through conversations with AI in the KakaoTalk chat window.
On the same day, CEO Chung said, “The first field to be linked with Kakao’s agent AI is food delivery,” and added, “We will sign a partnership with Coupang Eats.”
The goal is to implement the entire process from delivery order to payment by connecting AI and Coupang Eats in Kakao Talk through an agent-to-agent linkage (A2A). The AI model in KakaoTalk identifies the intention to order delivery food in conversations with users and suggests menus according to user preferences. Kakao aims to create success stories through Coupang Eats and expand its partners in the future.
In addition, CEO Chung said, “We will introduce new AI experiences in KakaoTalk in the second half of the year,” adding, “We expect the number of users who use AI services familiarly in KakaoTalk to exceed 10 million by the end of the year.”
◆ Second Quarter’s Highest Sales and Operating Profit
In this performance, Kakao proved its solid competitiveness based on platforms such as Kakao Talk advertising.
In particular, it is the platform sector that has driven growth. Kakao’s platform sales rose 17% year-on-year to 1.23 trillion won in the second quarter, with TalkBiz sales, including KakaoTalk ads, rising 12% to 643.2 billion won.
As demand for financial advertisements continued, sales of business message products increased by 20%, and display advertisements of KakaoTalk also grew by 28%. Since the reorganization of KakaoTalk, the expansion of advertising products has led to sales. TalkBiz commerce sales also rose 10% to 243.2 billion won as “gift-giving” transactions increased 9% year-on-year. The platform and other sectors, including mobility and pay, also posted 587 billion won in sales, up 22% from the same period last year.
CEO Chung predicted, “The proportion of AI-related sales in TalkBiz will reach double digits in 2028 through revenue sources such as AI service subscription sales, AI commerce transaction fees, and new types of AI advertisements.”
[Reporter Jeong Hojun]