[Digital Today reporter Seulgi Son] AI startup Anthropic has thrown the global software industry into panic after unveiling a work automation tool. In the U.S. stock market, $300 billion (about 435 trillion won) in software sector market value evaporated in a week. South Korean IT companies are also falling as concerns that AI agents could replace existing software become reality.

According to foreign media including the Wall Street Journal, Anthropic recently released 11 plugins on GitHub for its workplace AI platform, Claude Cowork, automating legal briefings, contract reviews, financial analysis, sales management and data analysis. They can automate tasks using natural language without programming knowledge, in what is seen as a direct threat to existing software companies' business models.

That has translated into a market shock. On Feb. 5, the top 10 U.S. software companies by market value closed trading at prices down about 30 percent from the start of the year.

Microsoft fell 18.61 percent, Oracle 31.95 percent, Palantir Technologies 28.32 percent, Salesforce 29.07 percent, AppLovin 44.89 percent, Intuit 34.30 percent, Adobe 23.79 percent, ServiceNow 33.75 percent and Palo Alto Networks 15.98 percent.

IBM, whose consulting and infrastructure businesses account for 55 percent, limited its decline to 2.56 percent.

On Wall Street, fear is spreading as people call the episode a "SaaSpocalypse."

According to Bloomberg, Jeffries Securities equity trading executive Jeffrey Favuzza said, "The trading mood is completely an unconditional sell," adding, "We call this a mass extinction of SaaS." Thomas Shipp, head of research at LPL Financial, said, "Fear of AI comes from intensifying competition, pressure to cut prices and the perception that competitive moats have narrowed," adding, "That means existing companies can be replaced more easily by AI."

South Korean software companies also appear to be starting to move in tandem with U.S. tech stocks.

As of the close on Feb. 6 in South Korea, major domestic software companies Douzone Bizon, Hancom and AhnLab were down 13.96 percent, 11.00 percent and 7.66 percent, respectively, from the previous week on Jan. 30. Samsung SDS and Hyundai AutoEver, large systems integration stocks, fell 4.39 percent and 15.49 percent, respectively. Platform-focused Naver and Kakao dropped 9.45 percent and 8.47 percent.

A South Korean software industry official said, "Share prices are tracking the United States, but similar services with comparable concepts already existed, and the impact felt in the field is not large."