OpenAI sets up entity in Korea with most paid ChatGPT users outside US

OpenAI Inc., the creator of generative AI ChatGPT, has established a legal entity in South Korea, which has the largest number of paying ChatGPT subscribers outside the US.

Jason Kwon, chief strategy officer (CSO) of the San Francisco-based AI company, held a media briefing in Seoul on Monday to announce the establishment of Open AI’s Korean subsidiary.

The ChatGPT maker plans to open an office in Seoul in the coming months and is hiring staff to support partnerships with companies and policymakers, the company said.

Korea would be the third country in Asia to have OpenAI’s offices, following Japan and Singapore.

The launch of the Korean subsidiary signals a significant deepening of OpenAI’s engagement with one of the world’s most technologically advanced nations.

“Korea’s full-stake AI ecosystem makes it one of the most promising markets in the world for meaningful AI impact, from silicon to software, and from students to seniors,” Kwon said.

The CSO said OpenAI is excited to build deeper ties with its partners in Korea and support the country’s ambition to lead in AI. “This includes working with developers, researchers, enterprises and policymakers to ensure AI’s benefits are widely and responsibly shared,” he said.

This week Kwon is travelling across Asia to meet with government officials and potential industry partners to discuss AI infrastructure and OpenAI software use.

The company sparked a global wave of interest in AI with the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022.

The US company is also seeking to propel further adoption of its AI technologies amid growing competition with rivals such as China’s DeepSeek.

‘OPENAI FOR COUNTRIES’ INITIATIVE

Globally, OpenAI operates offices in 11 major cities, including London, Dublin, Brussels and Paris.

The expansion into Korea forms part of the company’s OpenAI for Countries initiative, a global program aimed at strengthening AI infrastructure and accessibility.

The initiative is part of OpenAI’s Stargate Project – a venture with SoftBank and Oracle to spend $500 billion in building new AI data centers for OpenAI in the US. The move was seen as aimed at curbing China's AI rise.

OpenAI recently announced the construction of a 5 GW data center cluster in Abu Dhabi under its Stargate infrastructure project, a model it is now exploring in other countries.

Kwon pointed to the UAE model, in which OpenAI provides models while local partners support infrastructure, as a potential blueprint for similar collaborations in Korea.

He said OpenAI has no concrete plans yet to establish a local data center in Korea, though he acknowledged growing interest in infrastructure investment. “We are exploring partnerships with infrastructure providers like Oracle and Microsoft to ensure data residency where needed,” he said.

KOREAN PARTNERS: KAKAO, SK TELECOM, KDB

Asked about potential participation in Korea’s national AI computing center initiative, Kwon said OpenAI is open to engagement but would not commit to a single approach. “We’re here to collaborate, not dictate terms,” he said.

Last November, OpenAI signed an initial agreement with state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB) to support the development of Korea's AI ecosystem.

OpenAI has been laying groundwork in Korea by forming partnerships with local tech firms, including mobile platform giant Kakao Corp., game maker Krafton Inc. and top mobile carrier SK Telecom Co.

Earlier this year, OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman visited Seoul to meet with business leaders including Samsung Electronics Co. Chairman Jay Y. Lee, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and SK Hynix Inc. CEO Kwak No-jung.

During his stay, Altman also signed strategic partnerships with a number of Korean firms, including Kakao.

Kakao said it will integrate OpenAI’s most advanced application programming interface tailored for third-party developers into its major services like KakaoTalk messenger and Kanana, alongside its own large language model.

Kanana is Kakao’s first conversational AI agent-integrated messenger app that understands both one-on-one and group conversations, providing context-based responses.

HIGHEST NUMBER OF PAYING CHATGPT USERS OUTSIDE THE US

OpenAI highlighted the rapid uptake of its products in the Korean market.

Korea has the second-highest number of paid ChatGPT subscribers globally, after the US, according to the company.

The number of weekly active users in Korea has grown more than 4.5 times over the past year, placing the country among the global top 10 markets by user base.

Korea also ranks among the global top 10 in the number of developers using OpenAI’s API platform, and in the top five for paid enterprise users.

Kwon praised Korea’s AI ecosystem, citing its semiconductor capabilities, software talent and culture of innovation. “From students to seniors, Koreans are actively using AI in daily life. Korea is clearly one of the world’s leading AI adopters,” he said.

In Seoul, he is also meeting with AI policy officials from Korea’s major political parties to explore how OpenAI can contribute to national AI infrastructure and governance.

After Korea, the OpenAI CSO is expected to travel to Japan, Australia, India and Singapore as part of a regional tour to discuss AI infrastructure development and software deployment strategies.

Write to Eun-Yi Ko at koko@hankyung.com

In-Soo Nam edited this article.