After AI, Quantum Computing: Big Tech's Battle Begins

*Editor's Note: 'AI PRISM' (Personalized Report & Insight Summarizing Media) is an "artificial intelligence (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.

1. Global CAIOs: "Give AI Oversight Roles Instead of Cutting New Hires"

- Key Summary: With the arrival of the AI agent era, the Chief AI Officer (CAIO), who spreads AI throughout the company and drives tangible results, is drawing attention. Toby Walsh, chief scientist at the AI Institute of the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia, described the CAIO as "a role that connects and translates between technical experts and business departments." Competition among global companies to secure CAIOs is intensifying, with Meta acquiring a 49% stake in AI data infrastructure firm Scale AI and recruiting founder Alexandr Wang as its first CAIO. However, as the share of CEOs planning to reduce new hires within one to two years surged from 17% last year to 43% this year in a survey by consulting firm Oliver Wyman, Conor Grennan, CEO of AI Mindset, stressed, "We must redesign roles for new employees centered on AI oversight and coordination work."

2. LG Electronics Expands Modular Housing... Growing AI, Appliances and HVAC Simultaneously

- Key Summary: LG Electronics has set out to capture the modular housing market—in which more than 70% of a house is manufactured in a factory and assembled on site—by forming strategic partnerships in succession last month with Sweden's SIBS and Australia's Greater Homes. LG Electronics plans to supply integrated residential solutions such as AI appliances, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) and home energy management systems (HEMS) to large-scale modular housing the two companies are building based in Australia. Samsung Electronics also countered on the 18th by joining hands with modular housing specialist Gonggan Jejakso to launch the "Samsung AI Modular Home," supplying more than 20 types of appliances and IoT devices in an integrated manner. LG Electronics appears to be using modular housing as a growth breakthrough, as this year's operating profit of its Home Solution (HS) business division, which handles the appliance business, is expected to be similar to or slightly lower than last year's (1.2793 trillion won) due to the impact of Middle East wars and chipflation (a surge in semiconductor prices).

3. Amazon: "Fully Commercial Quantum Computer to Launch Within 5 Years"

- Key Summary: Peter DeSantis, Amazon's Chief AI Officer (senior vice president), said that small commercial quantum computers will emerge within the next five to seven years. This is the first time Amazon has officially presented a timeline for launching a commercial quantum computer. Google has set a goal of practical use within five years, while Microsoft aims to secure a feasible quantum computer by 2029. Quantum computers are a next-generation technology that uses qubits (the basic unit of quantum information), which can represent intermediate states between 0 and 1, to rapidly perform parallel calculations on problems that conventional computers cannot solve. China is competing with the United States for technological supremacy by securing the superconducting quantum computer "Zuchongzhi" series and the satellite-based quantum communication "Mozi" through concentrated national-level investment.

4. Breaking Down Borders in the Job Market... Companies Move to Attract Foreign Talent

- Key Summary: As labor mismatches deepen and competition to secure specialized personnel intensifies, companies' hiring of foreigners is spreading beyond simple production jobs to specialized fields such as developers and AI. A survey by Saramin of 114 companies employing foreign workers found that 58% of responding companies plan to expand foreign hiring in the future, with difficulty securing domestic personnel (40.4%) cited as the most common reason. Laplace, the Japanese partner of Wanted Lab, brokered global talent matching connecting Korea, China and Japan, while Channel Corporation increased its Japan branch staff from an initial two to three to about 50 now, with plans to expand to 70 this year. Kim Sung-hee, a professor at Korea University's Graduate School of Labor Studies, predicted, "Going forward, the use of foreign talent will further expand even in high-skilled fields such as R&D, software and AI."

5. Boosting Insurance Profit and Expanding PI... 'Korean Berkshire' Gets Started

- Key Summary: Mirae Asset Life Insurance (085620) recorded net profit of 53.4 billion won in the first quarter, a 115.3% surge from the same period last year, accelerating its transition to a "Korean-style Berkshire Hathaway" model. Kim Jae-sik, vice chairman of Mirae Asset Life Insurance, declared in February that the company would adopt the Berkshire Hathaway approach of operating funds raised through the insurance business as investment capital, introducing a system that divides the general account into an ALM (asset-liability management) book and a proprietary investment (PI) book. The contractual service margin (CSM) on new contracts in the first quarter was 150.7 billion won, up 6.8% from the same period last year, while the share within CSM of the highly profitable health and injury segment expanded to 84.8%. Following its investment in AI chip firm Rebellions, Mirae Asset Life Insurance appears to be broadening the scope of its PI investments to global tech companies including in the United States.

6. Korea Zinc (010130) Reviews Smelter Construction in Australia After U.S.... Capital Increase Possibility Resurfaces

- Key Summary: Korea Zinc has begun a feasibility review of building a large-scale local mineral processing facility at the request of an Australian regional government and some companies. Korea Zinc is currently building a smelter in Tennessee, U.S., with a total investment of 11 trillion won, and its financial burden has grown, with its debt ratio surging to 87.59% at the end of the first quarter this year from just 25% through 2023. If the Australian project takes shape, the possibility of an additional rights offering has been raised. Korea Zinc previously carried out a 3 trillion won rights offering late last year on the grounds of the U.S. project, sharply lowering the stakes held by Young Poong and MBK Partners. An industry source said, "If a large-scale capital raise is pursued again, scrutiny by the market and regulators over the necessity of the investment, as well as price fairness and measures to protect existing shareholders, will intensify."