Kakao Mobility Weighs U.S. Listing as Uber-TPG Three-Way Deal Gains Momentum

*Editor's Note: 'AI PRISM' (Personalized Report & Insight Summarizing Media) is an AI-based personalized news recommendation and summary service developed with support from the Korea Press Foundation. It selects and provides six customized news articles by reader type.

1. AI Hacking Becomes More Sophisticated, but SMEs Take 106 Days to Respond

- Key Summary: SK Shieldus' breach incident response team Top-CERT analyzed domestic corporate breach data from 2021 through 2025 and found that small and mid-sized enterprises take an average of 106.1 days to recognize and respond to breaches. The longest case reached 700 days, and 32.6% of cases exceeded 90 days. By industry, manufacturing accounted for 47.4% of total damages, while 53.2% of initial intrusions occurred during nighttime and late-night hours (6 p.m. to 5 a.m.). According to the Ministry of Science and ICT's "2025 Information Security Survey," companies with 10 to 249 employees had an average of 1.3 information security personnel, revealing a clear security capability gap with companies of 250 or more employees, which averaged 4.4.

2. Rocket Lab Grows into a SpaceX Rival

- Key Summary: Private aerospace company Rocket Lab posted first-quarter fiscal 2026 revenue of $200.3 million, growing 63.5% year-on-year, while its order backlog surpassed $2.2 billion to set a new record high. As a result, its adjusted gross margin improved to 43%, up 9.6 percentage points from a year earlier, and the company secured liquidity of more than $2 billion including cash and cash equivalents. In the first quarter alone, it newly signed 36 contracts related to its small Electron rocket and next-generation medium-sized Neutron rocket, and won a $190 million MACH-TB 2.0 contract from the U.S. Department of Defense. It was also selected, alongside RTX subsidiary Raytheon, as a demonstration vendor for space-based interceptors in the U.S. Department of Defense's flagship "Golden Dome" project, accelerating its transition into a comprehensive platform company encompassing satellite manufacturing, communications, and space infrastructure beyond launch vehicles.

3. Kakao Mobility Governance Restructuring Speeds Up...Three-Way Mega Deal with Uber and TPG in the Works

- Key Summary: Kakao (035720.KS) has established a "Shareholder Value Enhancement Committee" to restructure Kakao Mobility's governance, including replacing its second-largest shareholder, and discussions on a three-way mega deal with global mobility company Uber and current second-largest shareholder Texas Pacific Group (TPG) are gaining rapid momentum. Uber has shown its intention to secure dominance in the Korean market by leveraging Kakao's domestic data and infrastructure, going as far as submitting a document equivalent to a binding acquisition commitment. Meanwhile, Kakao Mobility recently appointed Deloitte Anjin as its auditor to explore a potential U.S. listing, pivoting toward the United States as a domestic listing has effectively been blocked due to policies prohibiting duplicate listings of subsidiaries. Should Uber secure a controlling stake of more than 50%, including holdings of financial investors such as TPG, scenarios involving a U.S. listing of Kakao Mobility or a backdoor listing through a direct merger with Uber are also being discussed.

4. "Let's Grow KOSDAQ"...Exchange Goes All Out to Attract AI Companies

- Key Summary: The Korea Exchange is intensifying its KOSDAQ recruitment campaign by reaching out to leading domestic AI and semiconductor companies including DeepX, Rebellions, and FuriosaAI. Of the 14 new KOSDAQ listings this year, half were technology companies at seven, and 30 companies are currently undergoing listing review. Financial authorities also announced plans to expand the technology special listing system (a system allowing listings based on technology and growth potential without revenue or profit) by adding six sectors this year — including advanced robotics, K-content, and cybersecurity — on top of the existing bio, AI, space, and energy sectors. New AI company listings on KOSDAQ surged from just three in 2023 to eight last year, and DeepX's AI chips are evaluated as offering up to 1.5 times the computing performance at 20-50% lower prices than competitors such as Nvidia and Qualcomm.

5. SK AX Joins Hands with OpenAI to Accelerate Enterprise Workflow Innovation

- Key Summary: SK AX has signed a "Service Partner Agreement for Enterprise AI Business Cooperation" with OpenAI, agreeing to provide AI usage environments tailored to each enterprise's work environment and security requirements based on ChatGPT Enterprise. The partnership comes against the backdrop that while generative AI is rapidly spreading within enterprises, many companies are struggling to connect it to existing work processes and systems to generate tangible results. Accordingly, SK AX plans to provide integrated services covering all areas of corporate AI transformation (AX), from consulting to multi-agent (a structure in which multiple AIs cooperate to handle complex tasks) construction and operation, security and governance frameworks, and employee change management. Following Samsung SDS and LG CNS, SK AX has now formed a partnership with OpenAI, marking the start of full-scale enterprise AI market competition among major domestic IT services companies.

6. Robot with All Five Fingers Sorts Socks by Color

- Key Summary: Realworld, a domestic robotics foundation model (RFM, an AI-based model specialized for robots) developer, unveiled its proprietary model "RLDX-1" at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, demonstrating sock sorting by color using five fingers. RLDX-1 applies a "Multi-Stream Action Transformer (MSAT)" architecture that integrates and processes visual, language, action, tactile, and memory signals, aiming to overcome the dexterity limitations of existing robots. Realworld is collecting data needed to implement precise hand movements by piloting its products at Lotte Hotels and Japanese convenience store chain Lawson, with CEO Ryu Joong-hee stating, "What customers prioritize is 24-hour operation without breakdowns rather than accuracy." As competition intensifies over replicating human dexterity, the challenges of reducing manufacturing costs and minimizing operational errors remain for humanoids to be commercialized in industrial settings.