Krafton (259960.KS) has established a new organization dedicated to its artificial intelligence (AI) business. The plan is to connect the AI technology and research and development (R&D) assets it has accumulated to actual profitability and operational efficiency, building a clear business model.
According to the information technology (IT) industry Thursday, Krafton officially launched its "AI Frontier Division" in April. The division focuses on developing new products and identifying new business opportunities based on Krafton's AI infrastructure. Unlike the existing "AI Division" (formerly the Deep Learning Division), which has concentrated on securing core technology and strengthening research competitiveness, the AI Frontier Division serves as an execution organization that turns technological capabilities into actual "revenue."
The organizational structure has also been made more agile to enable rapid business development. The division operates in mission-oriented "squad" units composed of product owners (POs) and AI native engineers. This is intended to quickly turn ideas into prototypes and validate them.
Notably, the division's "Production AI Team" is researching ways to maximize productivity in the game development process using AI technology. Through this, it plans to collaborate with Krafton's creative studios to reflect the technology in actual game production flows. In addition, it plans to secure dedicated tools that allow users to create in-game content themselves, using this as a foundation to build a user-generated content (UGC) ecosystem in the future.
Park Jae-min, who joined Krafton in May last year, was appointed as the inaugural head of the division. Park is a leading hands-on expert in the finance and fintech sectors, having served as a product owner (PO) for Coupang's marketplace business and as CEO of Toss Securities. In particular, he previously worked at Altos Ventures, the venture capital (VC) firm that led Krafton's early-stage investment, making him highly regarded as a fitting choice with both commercialization capabilities and investment insight.
Krafton's launch of a business-dedicated organization separate from its research-focused organization is interpreted as a determination to prove its accumulated AI capabilities through actual results in the market. In fact, Krafton is already rapidly implementing AI technology across its game services. Recently, it drew attention by introducing "Ally Duo," an AI companion mode, to its popular IP "PUBG: Battlegrounds."
Since declaring its transition into an "AI First" company in October last year, Krafton has been accelerating company-wide AI transformation. It invested approximately 100 billion won to build an Nvidia graphics processing unit (GPU) cluster and significantly increased related personnel from 80 to 160. Earlier this year, it established "Ludo Robotics," a subsidiary specializing in physical AI, expanding its reach into the humanoid robot market.
It is also accelerating wide-ranging collaboration with global big tech firms and major domestic companies. While meeting consecutively with the heads of global big tech firms such as OpenAI, Nvidia, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) to discuss technological cooperation, it is pursuing collaboration domestically with Naver Z and Socar.
"The AI Frontier Division is an organization that creates new products and business opportunities based on Krafton's proprietary AI technology and advanced R&D assets," a Krafton official said. "We expect it to broaden the scope of AI technology application within the industry and establish itself as Krafton's key future growth engine."
