China Beats Neuralink to First Commercial BCI Approval

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

1. KT Challenges with 'AX Version of Soomgo'…Gathering Startups and Experts

- Key Summary: KT is launching an "AX Alliance" involving domestic startups and industry experts to target the corporate artificial intelligence transformation (AX) market. The structure combines startups specializing in detailed technologies such as data refinement, security, and ontology with the knowledge of law firms, accounting firms, and veteran experts across industries on KT's platform to provide industry-specialized AX services. Park Sang-won, head of KT's AX Business Division, cited data as the biggest obstacle to corporate AX, stressing that reorganizing and integrating corporate data that is scattered across departments or managed in different formats is the most difficult area. KT plans to build industry-specialized platforms targeting six to seven industries first, including finance, public sector, manufacturing, distribution, logistics, defense, defense industry, and medical and healthcare.

2. Capturing China Reverse Direct Purchase…Musinsa Enters 'Tmall Global'

- Key Summary: Musinsa has opened an official online store on Tmall Global, China's largest overseas direct purchase platform, strengthening support for Korean fashion brands' entry into the Chinese market. Following its Tmall store targeting China's domestic market last year, Musinsa has this time expanded its business to Tmall Global, a cross-border e-commerce platform mainly used by Chinese consumers seeking to purchase overseas products. As a result, partner brands can use a one-stop overseas expansion solution that links sales on Tmall Global simply by registering products on Musinsa's domestic store. As reverse direct purchase volume surpassed 1.0599 trillion won in the first quarter of this year for the first time in about four and a half years, China accounted for the largest share at 376.3 billion won, and clothing and fashion items increased 13.6% year-on-year.

3. AI Verifies Design and Robots Manufacture…Busan Footwear Industry Runs Again

- Key Summary: Busan, the center of Korea's footwear industry, is combining research and development (R&D) with digital transformation (DX) to shift from a subcontracting structure centered on original equipment manufacturing (OEM) and original development manufacturing (ODM) to a brand- and data-based industry. Busan Techno Park and the Korea Institute of Materials Convergence Technology plan to build a digital support system this year that combines 3D modeling design, robot-automated production lines, and AI-based virtual prototype manufacturing technology. Once this system is completed, the footwear development period is expected to be shortened from the existing six months to 1.5 months, and based on 200 surveyed demand companies, approximately 34 billion won in development and production cost savings are anticipated. Meanwhile, the number of footwear brands in the Busan region was 110 as of last year, up 14.6% from the previous year, and the revenue of the top 20 major footwear companies in Busan also steadily increased from 7.7084 trillion won in 2023 to 8.7943 trillion won last year.

4. "Capture Customers Outside Stores"…Retail Industry Heads to Marathons and Golf Tournaments

- Key Summary: The retail industry is jumping directly into music festivals and sporting events, combining mobile stores, participation ticket sales, and experience booths to simultaneously target on-site sales and new customer inflow. CU set up a mobile convenience store at "LIV Golf Korea Busan" last month, generating tens of millions of won in revenue over four days, and its festival deployment share rose from 32.4% for the full year last year to 48.1% in January through May this year. CJ (001040) ONSTYLE exclusively sold marathon participation tickets through a mobile live broadcast and sold out in 10 minutes, with more than 80% of all purchasing customers counted as new app customers. According to the Korea Performing Arts Box Office Information System (KOPIS), ticket sales in the performance market in the first quarter of this year reached approximately 394 billion won, up 21.1% year-on-year.

5. "I Received Bank Consulting and Sales Rose 155%"

- Key Summary: Choi Eun-young, who operates the hanok lodging business Seoul Ari for foreigners in Jongno, Seoul, saw sales rise approximately 150 to 155% compared to before the consulting after introducing a key performance indicator (KPI)-based operating system through the Korea Federation of Banks' "joint banking sector small business consulting." As a result of setting review management as a KPI through the consulting, platform exposure frequency increased, the business has risen to the top 5% of lodgings on the accommodation platform, and the vacancy rate has been lowered to below 10%. In addition, by establishing a manual for serving foreign customers, customer service time was shortened from about an hour to around 10 minutes. Choi stressed, "What small business owners need is not simply funding support but operational know-how and data-based consulting that can be applied to the actual field."

6. China Approves World's First Commercial Brain Implant Device…One Step Ahead of Musk

- Key Summary: China's National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) has granted the world's first commercial approval for NEO, a brain-computer interface (BCI) device jointly developed by startup NeuracleTech and researchers at Tsinghua University, as a product for paralyzed patients with spinal cord injuries. NEO places eight sensors above the dura mater in a manner that does not directly touch brain tissue, giving it a lower risk of bleeding and tissue damage compared to Neuralink (Neuralink's N1 chip), which inserts electrodes into the cerebral cortex—a factor that worked favorably for regulatory approval. Immediately after approving NEO, China included it in its national health insurance system and designated BCI, along with quantum technology and humanoid robots, as a national strategic industry in its 15th Five-Year Plan. According to market research firm Future Market Insights, the global BCI market, currently at around $490 million, is expected to grow to $1.7 billion by 2035.