From Marketing to Contract Review, Korean Conglomerates Usher in 'AI Coworker' Era

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

[[LINK_0]]1. Hyundai in Marketing, Samsung in Security…'AI Employees' Deployed One After Another in Front-Line Departments[[/LINK_0]]

- Key Summary: Major Korean companies have entered a phase of deploying job-specific AI agents in front-line areas such as marketing, security, and sales training. Hyundai Motor's "Amy" cut the time for analyzing competitors' products from more than 10 hours to tens of minutes, while Samsung Electronics operates a security agent that monitors 250,000 access records per day, setting a goal of reducing the rate of human intervention to less than 20%. LG Electronics shifted its training system to one in which AI analyzes and evaluates videos of store employees' customer interactions, while Amorepacific (090430) entrusts the initial review of SNS influencer contracts to an AI agent, saving time for working-level staff. However, how to design AI's authority to perform tasks and where responsibility lies afterward has emerged as a key challenge for expanding adoption, and experts advise distinguishing between simple AI adoption and an AX (AI transformation) strategy that combines it with business process reengineering (BPR).

- Key Summary: After Samsung Electronics' Device Solutions division reached a tentative agreement using 10.5% of operating profit as the source for performance pay, the trend of unions at Kia, HD Hyundai (267250) Heavy Industries, Doosan Enerbility, Hyundai Motor, and Hanwha Aerospace formalizing demands for distribution of at least 30% of operating profit accelerated. The scale of the Kia union's demand is 2.72 trillion won, exceeding this year's first-quarter operating profit of 2.2051 trillion won. The Korea Enterprises Federation stressed that, because the Samsung Electronics agreement was a product of the special circumstance of the AI semiconductor super-cycle, it should not spread across industries. There are also concerns that if performance pay demands spread to subcontractor unions following the implementation of the Yellow Envelope Act, social conflicts such as income gaps between contractors and subcontractors and reduced work motivation could intensify.

- Key Summary: HD Hyundai Heavy Industries was selected as the preferred negotiating partner to supply main equipment for the sodium reactor of TerraPower, founded by Bill Gates, expanding the scope of cooperation in the commercialization stage of SMRs (small modular reactors). TerraPower obtained approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to build the world's first commercial SMR, and is pursuing the U.S. Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP) with the goal of completing the sodium reactor by 2030. HD Hyundai signed a three-way business agreement with Hyundai E&C (000720) to diversify its system for performing engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) and supplying equipment, establishing a structure to respond to next-generation nuclear power projects in the U.S. and global markets. With the global nuclear market projected to grow from $40.4 billion in 2025 to $52.6 billion in 2034, SK Inc. (034730) and SK Innovation (096770) have also invested $250 million in TerraPower to join as the second-largest shareholder, prompting assessments that the Korea-U.S. nuclear cooperation ecosystem is rapidly expanding.

[[LINK_3]]4. Samsung Pays Performance Bonuses in Treasury Stock…Retaining Talent While Boosting Share Price[[/LINK_3]]

- Key Summary: Samsung Electronics' Device Solutions division reached a tentative agreement to pay special performance bonuses in treasury stock over the next 10 years, with one-third of the shares paid immediately sellable and the remainder subject to one-year and two-year mandatory holding conditions, respectively. Unlike SK hynix, which makes deferred cash payments of 10% of operating profit, Samsung is interpreted to have chosen a "lock-in strategy" to retain core talent by emphasizing capital gains from rising share prices and tax deferral benefits. According to the agreement, applying this year's operating profit forecast (353 trillion won) would require treasury stock purchases of around 37 trillion won, with purchase demand of around 47 trillion won and 46 trillion won estimated in 2027 and 2028, respectively. Samsung Securities (016360) said that while the immediate share-price boosting effect relative to market capitalization may be limited, a broad enhancement of shareholder value is expected given that steady stock purchase demand will arise over 10 years.

- Key Summary: With April producer prices surging at the steepest pace since the 1998 foreign exchange crisis, petroleum and coal products soared 31.9% from the previous month, driving up overall prices. Air cargo fares jumped 22.7% from the previous month and international air passenger fares rose 12.2%, while major airlines' fuel surcharges rose sharply from level 6 in March to level 18 in April. Because producer prices are typically reflected in consumer prices with a lag of one to three months, with April consumer prices (2.6%) recording the largest increase in one year and nine months, forecasts suggest the rate of increase could grow even more after June. Consumer expected inflation has already surged to 2.9%, and the market expectation that the Bank of Korea could raise the base rate as early as July is also spreading, prompting diagnoses that burdens could intensify on both companies' procurement costs and consumer demand.

- Key Summary: According to the April FOMC minutes, a majority of Fed members judged that a rate hike would be appropriate if inflation persistently exceeds 2%, and many members preferred deleting statement language implying an "easing bias." The April U.S. consumer price index (CPI) rose 3.8% year-on-year, the highest since May 2023, while producer prices (PPI) jumped 6.0% year-on-year and import prices surged 1.9% from the previous month, marking the highest level since March 2022. Kevin Warsh, designated as the next Fed chair, said he would switch the inflation measurement standard from core PCE to a "trimmed mean" method, prompting analysis that a gap could arise with current members' inflation perceptions. The first FOMC meeting chaired by Warsh is scheduled for June 16-17, and observers suggest that internal Fed conflict over the direction of monetary policy will emerge as a major variable in global financial markets.