[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] Saltlux is showing strong performance. While global big tech companies are fervently developing 'super-large artificial intelligence (AI)' trained on vast amounts of data, Saltlux, which has developed technological expertise in the AI field for over 20 years, is gaining attention. The news that it will simultaneously launch its AI services 'Plunit Studio' and 'Metahuman Service' in 36 countries this March appears to be influencing its stock price.
As of 9:35 AM on the 18th, Saltlux is trading at 21,700 KRW, up 4.32% compared to the previous day.
Microsoft is adding OpenAI's AI chatbot 'ChatGPT' to its cloud platform 'Azure.' Applying ChatGPT to Azure enables automatic text generation in cloud-based Office programs, among other functions. Google also revealed its chatbot LaMDA in May last year and is working on commercializing super-large AI. In Korea, Naver and Kakao are also developing super-large AI technologies.
Saltlux supplies AI and big data core technologies and software solutions. It mainly builds AI contact centers, call bots, and chatbots using conversational AI and handles projects related to data collection and analysis. As demand for AI and data analysis increases, Saltlux's scale is also growing.
Lee Kyung-il, CEO of Saltlux, stated, "Saltlux holds the largest number of registered patents related to AI in Korea, totaling 82." He introduced, "Saltlux's AI data assets, including 14 billion knowledge base entries, 4 million language corpora, and 20,000 hours of voice data, are the largest in Asia."
This is the result of continuous dedication to AI technology development since its establishment in 2000. CEO Lee explained, "The R&D expenditure ratio compared to sales in 2021 was 53.6%," adding, "We invested about half of our sales revenue up to the third quarter of last year."
Saltlux has supplied AI contact center (AICC) platforms to financial institutions such as NH Nonghyup Bank, Woori Bank, and Korea Investment & Securities. It has also secured clients like Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor, LG, Korea Electric Power Corporation, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and Japan's DNP.
Having conducted various AI projects through steady technological development, Saltlux is preparing for overseas expansion. Through Plunit Studio, it produces AI Metahumans that act as personal assistants on the web. These Metahumans can create and edit videos for lectures, presentations, YouTube broadcasts, show hosts, and advertising models using AI. Since Metahumans can operate 24/7 in multiple languages including Korean, English, Japanese, Chinese, French, Spanish, and Vietnamese, demand is expected to grow rapidly.
Saltlux has set a goal to achieve a corporate value of 1 trillion KRW by 2025. CEO Lee said, "We gained a lot of confidence that our services will be accepted in overseas markets at CES 2023, the world's largest electronics and IT exhibition held recently," and explained, "We have secured more than 20 local business partner companies." He emphasized, "At the Saltlux booth, over 2,000 employees from 45 countries including Amazon, Tesla, and Google, as well as executives from major domestic companies such as SKT, Samsung Electronics, and LG Electronics, visited."
Saltlux has been developing the hyper-personalized AI service Goover through its U.S. subsidiary for the past two years. After AI learns according to the user's interests and purposes, it provides in-depth customized information as desired by the user. It is an augmented intelligence service that supports decision-making. It is expected to establish itself as a service that saves time and effort among professionals.
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