LG CNS surpassed affiliate revenue with external customer sales for the first time in the first half of this year, reducing its dependence on the LG Group to the lowest level in a decade. The result reflects balanced growth across artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud businesses in the financial and public sectors.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service’s electronic disclosure system on the 24th, LG CNS posted consolidated revenue of ₩2.84 trillion (approximately $2.0 billion) in the first half of 2026. Of this total, revenue generated from transactions with related parties amounted to ₩1.39 trillion (approximately $1.0 billion), accounting for 48.9% of the total. Related parties include not only LG Group affiliates but also associated companies and joint ventures.

External revenue came to ₩1.45 trillion (approximately $1.0 billion), or 51.1% of the total, exceeding related-party revenue by ₩62.7 billion (approximately $45.3 million). Customers outside the group have now become the larger revenue source. LG CNS provides system integration and operations, AI and cloud services, and smart factory and logistics solutions to companies and institutions across various industries including finance, public sector, and telecommunications.

By major affiliate, revenue share was LG Electronics at 17.6%, LG Chem at 16%, and LG Uplus at 5.3%. An LG CNS official said, “The results of the company’s sustained expansion of external business have been steadily emerging,” adding, “In particular, external business grew evenly across our core areas including AI and cloud in the first half of this year.”

A review of semi-annual reports over the past decade shows that related-party transaction share fell below 50% only in 2023 (49.4%) and this year. The ratio stood at 51.5% in 2017, rose to 57.9% in 2018, and remained in the 51.6–56.5% range from 2019 to 2022. It jumped back to 59.2% in 2024, then fell to 50.9% last year, and this year came in 0.5 percentage points lower than 2023.

Related-party revenue itself did not decline. It increased by ₩26.5 billion (approximately $19.2 million) from ₩1.36 trillion (approximately $982.9 million) in the first half of last year to ₩1.39 trillion (approximately $1.0 billion) this year. However, external revenue grew at a much faster pace over the same period, rising by ₩137.8 billion (approximately $99.6 million) from ₩1.31 trillion (approximately $947.8 million) to ₩1.45 trillion (approximately $1.0 billion).

The growth trajectory of external business becomes even clearer when compared with two years ago. LG CNS’s first-half revenue increased by ₩315.8 billion (approximately $228.2 million) from ₩2.52 trillion (approximately $1.8 billion) in 2024 to ₩2.84 trillion (approximately $2.0 billion) this year. Over the same period, related-party revenue declined by ₩105.6 billion (approximately $76.3 million) from ₩1.49 trillion (approximately $1.1 billion) to ₩1.39 trillion (approximately $1.0 billion), while external revenue grew by ₩421.4 billion (approximately $304.5 million) from ₩1.03 trillion (approximately $742.8 million) to ₩1.45 trillion (approximately $1.0 billion). In effect, external customers more than offset the revenue lost from affiliates while also lifting overall revenue.

External revenue share also rose by 10.3 percentage points from 40.8% in 2024 to 51.1% this year. Just two years ago, related-party revenue exceeded external revenue by ₩464.3 billion (approximately $335.5 million), but this year external revenue is ₩62.7 billion (approximately $45.3 million) higher.

Contracts with external customers that will translate into future revenue are also increasing. LG CNS’s backlog of system integration and operations orders from non-affiliates grew 34% from ₩3.99 trillion (approximately $2.9 billion) at the end of June last year to ₩5.35 trillion (approximately $3.9 billion) at the end of June this year. New orders in the first half of this year totaled ₩2.71 trillion (approximately $2.0 billion), up 73.6% from ₩1.56 trillion in the first half of last year.

An LG CNS official said, “The increase in external orders was primarily driven by the data center business,” adding, “At the Samsong Data Center, we secured more than ₩1 trillion (approximately $722.7 million) in orders through the Naver Cloud colocation contract, managed operations, and the phase-two construction project.”

Meanwhile, within the LG Group, LG Uplus is also aggressively expanding its data center business. LG Uplus is building a 200MW-class AI data center (AIDC) in Paju, Gyeonggi Province—the largest in the Seoul metropolitan area. The first server building is scheduled to open in June next year, and Building 1 has already been fully sold out prior to its opening.

LG Uplus posted consolidated revenue of ₩7.5 trillion (approximately $5.4 billion) and operating profit of ₩616.7 billion (approximately $445.7 million) in the first half of this year. Revenue declined 1.2% year-on-year, but operating profit increased 10.1%. Second-quarter AIDC revenue rose 28.9% year-on-year to ₩124.1 billion (approximately $89.7 million), driven by expanding colocation sales.

The Paju AIDC will incorporate a “One LG” ecosystem combining LG Electronics’ liquid cooling solutions, LG Energy Solution’s high-performance uninterruptible power supply (UPS) batteries, and LG Uplus’s data center operations capabilities. Jung Young-hoon, head of LG Uplus’s Enterprise AI Business Division, said, “We expect the Paju AIDC and other new data centers to deliver improved profitability compared with existing centers,” adding, “Demand currently exceeds supply, and rack unit pricing continues to trend upward.”

KB Securities estimates that the Paju AIDC will begin recognizing revenue in the second half of 2027, generating operating profit of approximately ₩100 billion (approximately $72.3 million) in 2028 and approximately ₩250 billion (approximately $180.7 million) in 2029. The brokerage projects that AIDC could account for 11–25% of LG Uplus’s total operating profit by 2029.