Domestic NPU (Neural Processing Unit, NPU) companies are partnering with South Korean cloud firms to target the AI inference market. Attention is focused on whether they can clear the entry barriers built by Nvidia and secure a meaningful foothold.

Samsung SDS launched NPUaaS (NPU as a Service) on SCP (Samsung Cloud Platform) based on FuriosaAI’s second-generation NPU, the "Renegade (RNGD)." According to the company, FuriosaAI’s second-generation Renegade is a domestic NPU specialised for AI inference. It is used at the stage of applying already trained AI models to real services to handle tasks such as generating answers, analysing documents and classifying images, and it features better power efficiency and cost-effectiveness than GPUs.

• Samsung SDS partners with FuriosaAI to launch NPUaaS based on a domestic NPU

NPU company Rebellions is also stepping up its market push by partnering with domestic cloud providers including KT Cloud and Gabia.

• KT Cloud to provide Rebellions NPU servers to public institutions • Launch of cloud service "NPUaaS" based on a domestic NPU • Rebellions to build global GPU-class AI infrastructure with a domestic NPU

Beyond major global AI companies, startups are also accelerating their entry into the South Korean market.

AI workspace platform company Genspark.ai also officially declared its entry into the South Korean market. It also unveiled a plan to invest $100 million in South Korea over 3 years. Genspark first set up a B2C marketing organisation and is expected to expand to B2B. It also unveiled "AI Workspace 6.0," which accumulates users’ work context scattered across email, documents, meetings and work applications, and has AI agents use it in actual work. As the race intensifies among major global companies seeking an edge in video AI models, Chinese AI company Kling AI is also accelerating its push into South Korea.

• Genspark unveils persistent-memory-based "AI Workspace 6.0"; first hardware launch • "Leading global video AI with quality and detail... also expanding Korea’s content ecosystem"

AI cooperation between Nvidia and major South Korean companies is also accelerating. At an AI summit held in San Francisco, news poured out that South Korean semiconductor and tech companies and Nvidia would strengthen cooperation across various fields.

• SK $500 billion, Samsung $200 billion... global AI deal flares • SK to expand AI semiconductor and data centre cooperation with 5 big tech firms • South Korea to pursue $950 billion AI alliance with global big tech... pushing 5 GW AIDC buildout • Naver to raise 14 trillion won investment from Nvidia and Brookfield... expanding AI factory globally • Sam Altman: "Sympathise with South Korean government's 'AI for all' vision... infrastructure role is important"

Support for open-source or open-weight AI models is also spreading among U.S. tech companies. More than 20 U.S. tech companies including Nvidia, Microsoft, Meta and Palantir urged policymakers to refrain from hasty regulation of open-weight artificial intelligence models.

• Nvidia, Microsoft, Meta urge restraint on hasty regulation of open-weight models

Other domestic and overseas corporate moves around AI were compiled.

Samsung SDS formed a strategic partnership with global AI company Anthropic focused on expanding the enterprise AI market. Through the cooperation, Samsung SDS will combine the technologies and industry know-how held by both companies to strengthen its push into the domestic AI market and support AI innovation for corporate clients. Douzone Bizon fully adopted Anthropic AI model Claude across its development organisation. AI and cloud company MegazoneCloud signed a strategic memorandum of understanding with global reinsurer Korean Re for accelerating AI transformation in the reinsurance business.

• Samsung SDS also allies with Anthropic... steps up Claude-based enterprise AI business • Douzone Bizon adopts Anthropic’s Claude across entire development organisation • MegazoneCloud and Korean Re cooperate to expand AI transformation in reinsurance business

URACLE launched a CLI (Command Line Interface) version of its AI coding assistant tool, "Athena Code Assistant." Multimodal data platform and AI specialist Miso Information Technology signed a service partnership and strategic memorandum of understanding with LangGenius, the developer of global open-source generative AI application development platform Dify. Nums AI, which develops a tabular data foundation model (TFM, Tabular Foundation Model), secured its first investment worth 4 billion won.

• URACLE also launches CLI version of AI code assistant • Miso Information Technology partners with Dify developer LangGenius... accelerates AI agent business • Nums AI raises 4 billion won investment... develops tabular data foundation model

News reports say Samsung Electronics is discussing a plan to invest hundreds of millions of euros in French AI startup Mistral. Mistral AI signed a multibillion-dollar deal with Microsoft and is expanding computing infrastructure in Europe.

• Samsung Electronics reviews investing hundreds of millions of euros in French AI startup Mistral • Mistral AI cooperates with Microsoft... expands Azure infrastructure in Europe

OpenAI added a voice feature to the ChatGPT desktop app.

• OpenAI adds new voice mode to ChatGPT desktop app

Anthropic unveiled a new artificial intelligence model, "Claude Opus 5." Opus 5 delivers higher performance in coding and knowledge-work evaluations than the existing model "Claude Fable 5," while its price is about half. Anthropic added options to select Opus, Sonnet and Haiku in Claude voice mode. Anthropic signed a multibillion-dollar deal with AMD to secure up to 2 gigawatts of GPU capacity.

• Anthropic launches Claude Opus 5... higher performance, about half the price of Fable 5 • Anthropic revamps Claude voice mode... supports selecting Opus, Sonnet and Haiku • Anthropic buys up to 2 gigawatts of GPU capacity from AMD • Anthropic raises Claude subscription fee in South Korea by 10 percent... reflecting exchange rates

Meta began offering its large language model "Muse Spark 1.1" to general users by applying it to the Meta AI chatbot. There is also talk that Meta is developing a competing service to OpenRouter at its internal AI product and tool incubator organisation, "AAI Labs."

• Meta AI applies "Muse Spark 1.1"... Facebook introduces video verification and a seller app • Meta develops its own AI router "Switchboard" targeting OpenRouter

AI coding startup Cognition acquired the text-based AI assistant Poke, operated by The Interaction Company of California. Cognition’s strategy through the acquisition is to make its AI coding tool Devin a coding agent closer to a colleague than simple software. News reports say payments company Stripe is discussing a plan to acquire AI model access startup OpenRouter for an amount close to $10 billion. Runway launched "Runway Media Router," which automatically selects generative media models. Runway’s move is part of an effort to shift its business focus from an AI video startup to a generative media infrastructure company.

• Cognition acquires AI assistant Poke... adds a "friend-like conversation" experience to Devin • Stripe pushes to acquire OpenRouter for about $10 billion • Runway launches AI model router as generative media competition intensifies

Voice AI company ElevenLabs updated its AI music generation service "ElevenMusic." AI coding startup Poolside unveiled "Laguna S 2.1," an open-weight foundation model for coding agents. Adobe added AI-based photo evaluation and editing suggestion features to its iOS experimental camera app "Project Indigo."

• ElevenLabs upgrades AI music generation service... releases vocals and references • Poolside unveils open-weight model "Laguna S 2.1" for coding agents • Adobe camera app adds AI features to evaluate photos and suggest edits

As AI increasingly evolves into a commodity that can be widely used across many companies, OpenAI and Anthropic, which have led the global AI landscape, appear to be less firmly positioned than before. As knowledge for developing advanced AI spreads and many companies offer sufficiently usable AI at relatively lower prices than OpenAI and Anthropic, there are indications that the competitive advantages and entry barriers, or so-called moats, enjoyed by OpenAI and Anthropic could weaken.

• Cheap and good AI pours out... OpenAI and Anthropic competitive edge put to the test