KRAFTON’s declaration to become an “AI-First” company marks a defining moment in Korea’s technology transformation. Beyond its gaming roots, the PUBG maker’s KRW 100 billion GPU cluster investment signals how Korean enterprises are now competing to build sovereign AI infrastructure. Today, KRAFTON is reshaping the nation’s innovation landscape and setting new benchmarks for global tech and startup ecosystems.
KRAFTON Declares ‘AI-First’ Shift with ₩100B GPU Cluster Investment
South Korea’s leading game developer and the creator behind gaming IP PUBG, KRAFTON has announced a major corporate transformation toward becoming an AI-First company, unveiling a KRW 100 billion (~$73 million) investment to establish a GPU cluster that will anchor its new artificial intelligence infrastructure. The move marks one of the country’s largest private AI infrastructure initiatives by a game company and positions KRAFTON as a central player in Korea’s fast-growing AI innovation ecosystem.
The announcement was made on October 23 during KRAFTON Live Talk, the company’s internal communication forum, under the theme “Transition to an AI-First Company: The Future of Work, the Company, and Individuals.”
AI-Driven Transformation and Workforce Empowerment
According to the company, the new GPU cluster will serve as the foundation for large-scale agentic AI automation — systems capable of advanced reasoning, task planning, and multi-step decision-making. By combining infrastructure investment with workforce education, KRAFTON aims to modernize internal workflows and accelerate AI-powered development in both enterprise operations and in-game services.
Beginning in 2026, KRAFTON will allocate approximately KRW 30 billion annually to support employees in adopting and applying AI tools across departments. The firm plans to integrate AI across management, decision-making, and development pipelines, expanding beyond automation toward full-scale organizational intelligence.
This investment is designed not only to streamline game production but also to encourage staff to focus on creative problem-solving, signaling a shift from repetitive operational work to innovation-driven roles.
From PUBG Studio to Building Infrastructure for Korea’s Next-Generation AI Competitiveness
The KRW 100 billion GPU cluster will underpin KRAFTON’s multi-stage AI architecture. The infrastructure will handle high-precision inference and iterative processes essential for agentic AI models, supporting both internal research and AI-based game development.
By the second half of 2026, the company expects to complete an integrated AI platform and data automation system, including:
- Enterprise-wide AI operation framework
- Data standardization architecture
- Agentic AI management platform
- Automated AI workflow integration
These initiatives align with Korea’s national agenda to strengthen its AI-content and digital innovation sectors, a key pillar of the country’s next-generation K-tech growth strategy.
KRAFTON: AI as Core of the Future Workforce
Kim Chang-han, CEO of KRAFTON emphasized that KRAFTON’s AI-First strategy extends beyond game development. It reflects a long-term vision to position the company at the intersection of AI research, entertainment, and enterprise productivity innovation,
“From today onward, KRAFTON will automate work around agentic AI, allowing employees to focus on creative and complex problem-solving. Through AI, we will foster individual growth, expand organizational challenges, and set operational standards that can serve as a global reference for the game industry.”
Korea’s AI and Digital Transformation Support from the PUBG Studio
KRAFTON’s shift to an AI-First enterprise reflects Korea’s larger AI Transformation (AX) and Digital Transformation (DX) movement, where both government and industry are building the infrastructure for an AI-powered economy. The company’s KRW 100 billion GPU cluster aligns with national efforts led by the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) and KOCCA, which emphasize AI-content convergence and next-generation computing infrastructure.
This private-sector initiative expands Korea’s AI competitiveness by establishing a robust data and computing foundation that startups, researchers, and creative tech firms can leverage. The GPU cluster may evolve into a testing and collaboration platform, supporting ventures in AI workflow automation, content generation, and agentic computing—all priority areas under Korea’s AX-DX roadmap.
For international investors and ecosystem builders, KRAFTON’s strategy demonstrates how Korea’s tech sector is moving beyond platform dependency toward sovereign AI capacity and digital self-reliance, a key milestone in the country’s path toward becoming an Asia-Pacific innovation leader.
Korea’s AI-Powered Leap Forward
KRAFTON’s KRW 100 billion AI-First initiative demonstrates that Korea’s next frontier in technology is no longer limited to hardware or content creation — it lies in AI-driven production systems that redefine how organizations innovate and operate.
As major conglomerates like KRAFTON embed AI into core management and development systems, the Korean startup ecosystem stands to gain new collaborative pathways — from GPU infrastructure sharing to joint AI model development. This shift could catalyze a new wave of cross-industry partnerships connecting gaming, software, and AI research, solidifying Korea’s role as an emerging Asia-Pacific AI innovation hub.
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