KT·Coway Form 'Smart Home Alliance'... Collaborate for Global Expansion

Seo Jang-won, CEO of Coway, and Yoon Kyung-rim, Head of KT Group Transformation Division, are taking a commemorative photo. Photo by KT

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Su-yeon] KT announced on the 30th that it has signed a partnership with Coway to cooperate in the future smart home market.

The signing ceremony held at KT Gwanghwamun East Building was attended by key executives from both companies, including Yoon Kyung-rim, Head of KT Group Transformation Division (President), and Seo Jang-won, CEO of Coway.

KT is a home artificial intelligence (AI) service company providing GiGA Genie to 3.5 million subscribers along with wired and wireless services, while Coway is a rental care service specialist company with a diverse product lineup including environmental home appliances, mattresses, and massage chairs. The two companies plan to strengthen their competitiveness in smart home services and improve customers' quality of life while expanding the market through this cooperation.

So far, KT has built a digico (digital platform company) ecosystem by collaborating with leading companies in various digital transformation (DX) convergence fields such as finance (Shinhan Financial Group), content (CJ ENM), and mobility (Hyundai Motor Group). With the alliance with Coway, it is expected to discover AI-based digital innovation services and invigorate the smart home market.

The main areas of cooperation between the two companies include ▲advancing home DX and launching new services ▲expanding synergy through combined products ▲developing specialized businesses such as pet households and single-person households ▲global business cooperation.

First, KT plans to expand Coway’s lineup of environmental home appliances linked to KT’s AI platform GiGA Genie and explore providing various service models through GiGA Genie’s voice recognition technology. They are also considering equipping Coway’s newly launched products with ‘GiGA Genie Inside’ (an AI platform that allows products without GiGA Genie to use GiGA Genie AI).

Additionally, based on big data of customer usage, they plan to optimize the home environment and provide customized customer services. Furthermore, they will cooperate to utilize Matter, the smart home interoperability standard, to expand the ecosystem so that various devices can be used interchangeably.

Earlier in September, KT and Coway introduced ‘Coway Choice,’ which offers rental fee discounts on Coway products with the ‘5G Choice’ plan. Going forward, they plan to launch products combining KT’s wired and wireless services with Coway’s home care services. Specialized businesses reflecting various lifestyles such as single-person households and pet households will also be steadily pursued.

Recently, KT has been expanding global opportunities centered on its digico business. Coway has also entered multiple countries including the United States, Europe, Japan, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, providing environmental home appliance rental and care services. Both companies aspire to secure technological superiority in the smart home market in the long term and expand into the global market based on this.

Yoon Kyung-rim, Head of KT Group Transformation Division (President), said, “Based on multifaceted cooperation with Coway, the top domestic and international environmental home appliance specialist, we will apply digico KT’s capabilities to the environmental home appliance rental and care service market and present the future AI life.” He added, “In particular, we will expand our stage in the global environmental home appliance market led by Coway based on KT’s digico capabilities.”