AI PRISM Custom Economic Briefing
*Editor's Note: 'AI PRISM' (Personalized Report & Insight Summarizing Media) is an AI-based customized news recommendation and summarization service developed with support from the Korea Press Foundation. It selects and provides six tailored news items for each reader type.*
KEY ISSUE BRIEFING
Game Business Diversification: NCSoft (036570) unveiled three core strategies to break away from its MMORPG-centric business structure centered on Lineage: mobile casual games, legacy IP expansion, and new IP development. After operating profit of 559 billion won in 2022 swung to an operating loss of 109.2 billion won in 2024, the company is accelerating portfolio restructuring, including its 301.6 billion won acquisition of German mobile game platform JustPlay.
AI Transformation Accelerates: LG CNS signed a strategic partnership with Palantir Technologies and is speeding up AI transformation across the group. The company plans to sequentially deploy Palantir's data integration platform "Foundry" and generative AI decision-making platform "AIP" to LG affiliates in manufacturing, energy, electronics, and logistics.
AI Talent War: China's big tech hiring expansion has driven AI-related job postings from 2.29% to 26.23% of total positions in just one year. The AI job supply-demand ratio stands at 0.97, far below the overall average of 1.79, with demand-to-supply reaching approximately 3.5 to 1.
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STARTUP FOUNDER NEWS
1. NCSoft Activates Three Growth Engines, Targeting 5 Trillion Won Revenue by 2030
NCSoft presented mid-to-long-term targets of 5 trillion won in revenue and ROE above 15% by 2030 at its "2026 NC Management Strategy Conference" held at the Pangyo R&D Center in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province on March 12.
Co-CEO Park Byung-mu identified the company's MMORPG-heavy structure and 70% revenue concentration in Korea and Taiwan as growth constraints. He outlined three strategic pillars: legacy IP expansion, new IP development, and mobile casual games.
NCSoft maintains a stable annual revenue base of 1.5 trillion won from core IPs including Lineage and Aion. The company has acquired Vietnam's Lihuhu and Korea's Springcomes, followed by Germany's JustPlay for 301.6 billion won, to build its mobile casual ecosystem.
2. LG Partners with Palantir to Accelerate AI Transformation Across All Affiliates
LG CNS signed a strategic partnership with U.S.-based Palantir Technologies on March 11 (local time) and formally launched AI transformation expansion across the group.
LG CNS CEO Hyun Shin-kyun personally visited the United States to sign the agreement with Alex Karp, Palantir's founder and CEO. The company has already completed a proof-of-concept by applying Foundry and AIP to quality control at one LG manufacturing affiliate and has proceeded to a full business contract.
LG Electronics has established an "AX Center" and LG Display has created an "AX Group," with AI-dedicated organizational restructuring underway across affiliates.
3. Four Chinese Companies Competing for Each AI Talent
China's AI-related job postings surged approximately 11-fold from 2.29% last year to 26.23% this year, intensifying the AI talent war.
The average monthly salary in AI fields is 60,738 yuan (approximately 13.05 million won), 26% higher than other sectors. However, the AI job supply-demand ratio is 0.97, far below the overall economic average of 1.79.
Ant Group, an Alibaba subsidiary, is recruiting over 70% of its spring hiring in AI fields. Tencent is focusing recruitment on large language model algorithms and AI security.
The Chinese government has designated AI industry development as a core task in its 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) and plans to provide AI technology training subsidies to more than 10 million people.
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STARTUP FOUNDER REFERENCE NEWS
4. China Goes All-In on 'Intelligent Economy,' Opening $1.4 Trillion AI Era
China finalized its 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) with the closing of the National People's Congress on March 12, officially designating the AI-based "intelligent economy" as a future growth engine.
Premier Li Qiang used the term "intelligent economy" for the first time in his work report, projecting China's AI industry will reach 10 trillion yuan (approximately 2,000 trillion won) by 2030.
Seven of the 20 core quantitative targets in this five-year plan cover livelihood areas including employment, income, education, and healthcare, reflecting a quality growth strategy through expanded consumer spending capacity. China also lowered its annual economic growth target from "around 5%" to 4.5-5%.
5. Samsung and Nvidia Collaborate on 'Dream' 1,000-Layer NAND to Address Chip Shortage and Power Crisis
Samsung Electronics (005930) and Nvidia are strengthening strategic cooperation by jointly developing new AI technology in ferroelectric NAND flash memory R&D.
Ferroelectric NAND can be stacked up to 1,000 layers and reduce power consumption by up to 96%, drawing attention as technology capable of simultaneously addressing memory chip shortages and AI data center power challenges.
According to market research firm Omdia, global NAND supply is expected to decrease to 15.408 million wafers this year, while NAND prices surged 90% quarter-over-quarter in Q1.
Samsung Electronics leads the next-generation technology race with 255 ferroelectric device patent applications (27.8% market share), ranking first globally.
6. Meta to Release Proprietary AI Chips Every Six Months, Strengthening HBM Partnership with Samsung and SK Hynix
Meta unveiled four versions of its internally developed AI chip "MTIA" (Meta Training and Inference Accelerator) and announced plans to release new products every six months.
MTIA is a custom chip (ASIC) developed internally by Meta to reduce dependence on expensive Nvidia GPUs, featuring a design optimized for inference.
Since memory access speed is critical in the inference process, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix (000660), which produce high bandwidth memory (HBM), are expected to strengthen their market positions.
CNBC reported that hyperscalers are actively pursuing long-term contracts of one year or more to secure years' worth of memory supply.
