2027 Domestic AI Market Seen Surpassing KRW 10 Trillion, Enterprise ICT Era of KRW 44 Trillion Ahead

In its report, "2027 Outlook for Domestic and Global AI and Digital Markets and Key Issues," KRG forecast that both the domestic AI market and the enterprise ICT market will grow in 2027. KRG said the domestic AI market is expected to surpass KRW 10 trillion for the first time in 2027, reaching KRW 10.282 trillion, up 40.0% from the previous year. It also projected that the enterprise ICT market will top KRW 44 trillion in 2027, reaching KRW 44.11 trillion, up 4.5% over the same period.

Accordingly, the center of investment is expected to shift toward expanded investment in AI agent-centered initiatives, expanded investment centered on AI transformation by industry, and expanded investment centered on physical AI. KRG said 2027 will be a turning point for the domestic AI industry. It described that turning point as a shift from the technology adoption and proof of concept, or PoC, stage to the stage of full-scale application in core corporate operations.

KRG analyzed that corporate investment criteria will also change in the process. It said the existing criteria were securing technology and building systems themselves, but after the shift, the criteria will move toward greater emphasis on productivity gains, cost reductions, workflow automation, and actual results.

The domestic AI market is forecast to grow from KRW 5.136 trillion in 2025 to KRW 7.344 trillion in 2026 and KRW 10.282 trillion in 2027, before reaching KRW 24.726 trillion in 2030. The domestic AI market's compound annual growth rate from 2025 to 2030 is expected to be 36.9%.

In 2027, AI software is expected to account for more than half of the total market at KRW 5.6037 trillion. In the same year, AI hardware is projected at KRW 2.262 trillion and AI services at KRW 2.4163 trillion. The compound annual growth rate of AI hardware from 2025 to 2030 was also estimated at 49.6%.

KRG said investment in GPU, AI semiconductors, and AI data centers is increasing. It added that demand for related infrastructure will expand rapidly. Major investment targets through 2026 were identified as securing technology-based assets and infrastructure such as generative AI, GPU, and AI data centers.

From 2027, AI agents, enterprise AI applications, and industry-specific AI are expected to become new growth engines. Accordingly, the focus of investment is projected to shift from infrastructure security through 2026 to applications and industry-specific areas from 2027.

The enterprise ICT market is expected to expand from KRW 44.11 trillion in 2027 to KRW 50.911 trillion in 2030. By segment, the IT services market is forecast to grow 5.8% year over year to KRW 18.092 trillion, the SW and solutions market to rise 8.5% to KRW 7.79 trillion, and the enterprise hardware market to increase 3.0% to KRW 6.098 trillion.

In particular, IT services were seen as potentially undergoing a restructuring of their business model as demand for AI-related work expands. A shift from the existing SI and DX-centered model to an AX-centered one was projected, and KRG analyzed demand creation for AI agent development, demand creation for linkage with existing business systems, demand creation for AI data integration, and demand creation for AI cloud and infrastructure operations.

The cloud market is also expected to grow on the back of expanded AI usage. The domestic cloud market is projected to reach KRW 15.85 trillion in 2027, up 19.0% from the previous year, and KRW 24.73 trillion in 2030.

Looking at the cloud market by segment, IaaS is the largest at KRW 6.97 trillion, followed by SaaS at KRW 5.15 trillion, MSP at KRW 2.62 trillion, and PaaS at KRW 1.11 trillion, the smallest. However, in terms of growth-rate outlook, PaaS is expected to post the fastest increase among the segments, with a compound annual growth rate of 22.8% from 2025 to 2030.

KRG identified enterprise AI agents, AI infrastructure and data centers, and physical AI as the main growth engines in the 2027 AI and digital market. It said enterprise AI will directly carry out work by using internal data and systems, AI infrastructure and data centers will support enterprise AI, and automation on industrial sites will expand in parallel.

By industry, ICT investment is expected to increase mainly in public and SOC, manufacturing, finance, and internet and media. Public and SOC is forecast to grow 5.2% from the previous year to KRW 12.361 trillion, manufacturing to rise 4.8% to KRW 8.531 trillion, and finance to increase 4.2% to KRW 8.414 trillion.

KRG's survey showed that companies' AI budgets will grow every year. The average AI budget per company was projected at KRW 1.125 billion in 2025, KRW 1.468 billion in 2026, and KRW 1.818 billion in 2027. The increase rate in AI budgets for 2027 was 23.8% from the previous year.

As AI investment expands, performance verification is also expected to become stricter. KRG analyzed that evaluation criteria are shifting to place greater emphasis on productivity improvements, reduced working hours, lower operating costs, and better service quality than on whether AI was adopted or how many PoCs were conducted. KRG said that from 2027, the focus of AI investment will move from whether it is adopted to actual usage results.

KRG said the core of business competitiveness after 2027 will also change. It said the key to business competitiveness lies less in model performance and infrastructure security and more in industry-specific expertise, AI agent development and integration, data and cloud operations, and the ability to respond to security and governance requirements.

Source: TECHWORLD · Kim Seung-gi
Original: https://www.epnc.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=408281

References

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