South Korean IT giants bet cloud to add much-needed fuel to stagnated sale
이 글자크기로 변경됩니다.
(예시) 가장 빠른 뉴스가 있고 다양한 정보, 쌍방향 소통이 숨쉬는 다음뉴스를 만나보세요. 다음뉴스는 국내외 주요이슈와 실시간 속보, 문화생활 및 다양한 분야의 뉴스를 입체적으로 전달하고 있습니다.
Naver Corp. launched its cloud platform, Naver Cloud, in 2017 while Kakao Corp. established AI technology-based B2B company Kakao Enterprise in 2019.
NHN Corp. and KT Corp. spun off cloud division as standalone businesses NHN Cloud and KT Cloud on April 1.
Unlike contents, where platform operators must seek bigger overseas market, the cloud market at home has ample room to grow.
Naver’s revenue from cloud business rose 41 percent on year to 273.7 billion won ($214.4 million) in 2020 and another 40 percent to 380 billion won last year
Kakao Enterprise raised 95.5 billion won in annual revenue last year, up 40 percent from the previous year.
NHN’s cloud sale expanded 65 percent to 219.7 billion won last year.
KT’s Internet Data Center (IDC) sector, which was part of its B2B business, gained 16.6 percent last year from the previous year.
According to technology market research firm Gartner, Korea’s cloud market is expected to expand 22.9 percent from the previous year to 5.92 trillion won in the public sector alone.
Cloud business is less risky as unlike consumer businesses, companies deal with mostly big companies including foreign IT giants such as Amazon, Microsoft, and Google.
IT companies have set ambitious goals for their cloud businesses this year.
Naver Cloud is aiming to double its sales. Naver is the only domestic cloud service provider (CSP) that has its own cloud technology. It provides its own artificial intelligence (AI) technology that is easily configurable and offers a number of smart solutions for businesses. A total of 204 services in 18 categories are being provided to more than 60,000 clients. The company is also trying to further provide cloud services that are optimized for each industry.
NHN Cloud is also aiming to grow sales by 30 to 40 percent compared to last year in the public cloud sector business in the second to fourth quarters.
NHN Cloud’s flagship cloud infrastructure is based on OpenStack technology. OpenStack is an open-source cloud operating system that develops and manages cloud computing platforms.
KT Cloud announced that it aims to reach 2 trillion won in revenue by 2026. In 2011, it built Korea’s first cloud data center in Cheonan.
Kakao Enterprise tested its “Kakao i Cloud” service on its affiliates early last year. After being certified by the Cloud Security Assurance Program (CSAP) in June last year, it released Kakao i Cloud for public institutions one month later in July. In December it officially launched Kakao i Cloud.
The Korean government will be converting all the information systems of administrative and public institutions into the cloud system over the next five years at a budget of 860 billion won.
The largest portion of the budget will be used this year - 299.9 billion won earmarked for the conversion of 3,151 informational systems.
As of now, government and public institutions can only use cloud systems from domestic cloud companies for security reasons.
“The opening of the public cloud market last year has provided new business opportunities for domestic cloud companies,” said a domestic cloud industry insider. To achieve the ambitious goals set by many cloud companies, they will have to first successfully target the public cloud market, he added.
[ㄏ Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]
Copyright © 매일경제 & mk.co.kr. 무단 전재, 재배포 및 AI학습 이용 금지
- Korea’s biotech firm Voronoi scales back IPO scheme in its second attempt - Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea
- Korea’s top business group chiefs to join Yoon-Biden state dinner in Seoul - Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea
- Analysts slash price targets on Celltrion firms after Q1 miss - Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea
- Traditional industries make strides in market cap rank in conservative Korean market - Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea
- S. Korea’s top 500 companies achieve sale milestone of near $550 bn Q1 - Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea
- 강경준, 상간남 피소…사랑꾼 이미지 타격 [MK픽] - 스타투데이
- 인기 연예인 몰려드는 성북동…무슨 일이 [REAL ESTATE]
- 대만 치어리더 한국스포츠 첫 진출…K리그 수원FC - MK스포츠
- 이찬원, 이태원 참사에 "노래 못해요" 했다가 봉변 당했다 - 스타투데이
- 양희은·양희경 자매, 오늘(4일) 모친상 - 스타투데이