SPECIAL REPORTS

Winners and Losers in the AI Transition: How Prepared Are South Korean Enterprises?

According to a Microsoft report (January 2026), South Korea has risen to 18th globally with an AI population adoption rate of 30.7%, entering the clear 'winner' group at the national level. However, a Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) survey revealed that actual corporate AI utilization hovers in the 30% range, exposing a wide gap of about 48 percentage points compared to the 78.4% who acknowledge its necessity. While the utilization gap between large corporations and SMEs stood at 13.8 percentage points, controlling for environmental variables such as education, guidelines, and acceptance attitudes narrowed the pure scale gap to 4 percentage points, confirming that 'environment' rather than 'scale' is the real variable. The AI workforce has grown to approximately 57,000—still falling far short of the U.S. (780,000)—and the wage premium remains at just 6%, leaving a vulnerable link of talent outflow. Ultimately, the success or failure of the AI transition depends not on whether technology was adopted, but on whether the organization has established the environment to convert that adopted technology into organizational growth, presenting an opportunity to narrow the gap.