LG CNS, Microsoft team up for digital transformation based on AI, cloud

Judson Althoff, executive vice president and chief commercial officer at Microsoft, and LG CNS Chief Executive Officer Hyun Shin-gyun, right, in Redmond, Washington on Apr. 6.(local) [Photo provided by LG CNS]

LG CNS Co., a digital transformation specialist under South Korea’s LG Group, said on Tuesday that it will strengthen strategic cooperation with U.S. Microsoft Corp. to accelerate digital transformation based on artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing and promote business ties.

LG CNS Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Hyun Shin-gyun held a top management meeting (TMM) with Judson Althoff, executive vice president and chief commercial officer at Microsoft, in Redmond, Washington, last week. It was the second TMM after the first held in January, the company said.

LG CNS had discussed a comprehensive cooperation plan with Microsoft in December to promote digital transformation businesses in various fields, including AI, enterprise resource planning, security, and smart factory services utilizing Microsoft‘s cloud service Azure, according to the company.

LG CNS also agreed to cooperate with Microsoft Korea on the Azure Open AI Service project, which involves developing new services based on AI technologies mounted on Azure, such as Open AI’s Chat GPT. New services are likely to provide various AI functions, from language understanding to image and emotion analysis using Open AI’s technologies.

In partnership with Microsoft, LG CNS will also expand its generative AI business based on data analysis and machine learning technologies. AI technologies that generate texts and pictures, or create human voices, are all considered to be generative AI.

As part of the plan, LG CNS plans to form a team dedicated to developing AI services by bringing together AI and cloud experts. LG CNS will be in charge of developing services like an AI contact center and chatbots specialized in specific areas of knowledge and information and Microsoft will provide advisory and technical support.

LG CNS and Microsoft also plan to explore new AI business opportunities among their customers in various areas, such as manufacturing, finance, distribution, e-commerce, and video games, and identify business targets and scenarios for AI application in consultation with their customers.

Since the announcement of its “cloud first” strategy in 2019, LG CNS has been in a strategic partnership with Microsoft in cloud computing and participating in an annual program to activate Azure since 2020. Earlier this year, the company was named as the best partner in the “Azure Infrastructure” category chosen by Microsoft Korea.

“With Microsoft’s innovative cloud infrastructure, data analytics, and Open AI technologies on Azure at our back, we aim to become a market leader with new AI services,” Hyun said.