OpenAI expands to South Korea, here’s how it became an AI giant

OpenAI, the firm behind ChatGPT and one of the most influential Artificial Intelligence companies in the world is setting up shop in South Korea, marking another chapter in its dramatic global expansion.

But this rapid growth also comes with mounting financial pressures, internal controversies, and potential scrutiny from the Trump administration.

The strategic expansion: Why Seoul matters?

According to Bloomberg, OpenAI has established a legal entity in South Korea and will soon open an office in Seoul, according to a company statement published on 26 May.

The move is aimed at strengthening partnerships with South Korean tech giants and policymakers while deepening OpenAI’s reach in one of Asia’s most digitised economies.

“South Korea is one of the most innovative and digitally connected countries in the world,” said Jason Kwon, OpenAI’s Chief Strategy Officer, in the official press release stated by Bloomberg. “We’re excited to collaborate more deeply with Korean companies and talent.”

The expansion will also reportedly build on OpenAI’s partnership with Kakao, the South Korean tech company, to create AI-native experiences customised for the local market.

In February 2025, OpenAI also launched its virtual assistant “Operator” in several new regions, including India, Japan, Brazil, the UK, and South Korea. This mark as a major step toward globalising its AI ecosystem.

Announced via OpenAi’s official X account, the rollout marks a significant step in the company’s efforts to enhance AI-powered automation for users worldwide.

OpenAI noted that while Operator is not yet available in European nations, including Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein, and Iceland, the firm is actively working towards its release in these regions.

“Operator is now rolling out to Pro users in Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, the UK, and most places ChatGPT is available. Still working on making Operator available in the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein & Iceland—we’ll keep you updated!” said OpenAI in its post on X.

Operator is powered byOpen AI’s Computer-Using Agent (CUA), a specialised AI model designed to handle complex online tasks autonomously. This model integrates advanced reasoning from an undisclosed OpenAI framework, possibly the o3 model, and leverages computer vision capabilities from GPT-4o.

The AI agent has been further refined through reinforcement learning to improve its efficiency and adaptability.

One of Operator’s key features is its ability to interact seamlessly with graphical user interfaces (GUIs), including buttons, menus, and text fields. It operates within a dedicated browser, allowing it to execute tasks independently while the user focuses on other activities.

Additionally, it accepts both text and image inputs, enabling more versatile task management.

Unlike traditional AI assistants,Operator analyses raw pixel data from the screen and interacts using a virtual keyboard and mouse within a controlled sandbox environment.

This functionality enables it to perform multi-step processes, resolve errors, and adapt to unexpected challenges, enhancing productivity for users in professional and personal settings.

The meteoric rise of OpenAI

Founded in 2015 by tech heavyweights including Sam Altman and Elon Musk, OpenAI began as a non-profit research lab with the ambitious mission of ensuring artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity. But according to Bloomberg, Musk parted ways in 2018 over disagreements about the company’s direction and potential conflicts with Tesla’s AI development.

In 2019, OpenAI shifted gears, forming a capped-profit arm to attract commercial investment, a controversial but pivotal move. Microsoft reportedly swooped in with major funding, and by late 2022, the launch of ChatGPT catapulted the company into global fame. It chatbot gained 100 million users in just two months, becoming the fastest-growing consumer app in history at the time.

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated digital transformation globally, with AI tools like ChatGPT becoming essential in fields ranging from education to healthcare and creative industries. Businesses turned to generative AI for automation, productivity, and customer support amid widespread remote working conditions.

OpenAI’s financial growth has been astonishing. According to internal forecasts cited by Bloomberg, the company expects to generate $3.7 billion in revenue in 2024, growing to $12.7 billion in 2025, a rise of more than 240 per cent.

Then came the boardroom meltdown.

As per The Associated Press, in November 2023, OpenAI’s board fired CEO Sam Altman, citing concerns over transparency. The shock move triggered an internal rebellion: more than 700 of OpenAI’s 770 employees signed a letter threatening to quit unless Altman was reinstated.

According to Reuters, Microsoft even offered to hire the entire team. Within five days, Altman was back and the board, reshaped. However, OpenAI remains deeply unprofitable. In 2024 alone, the company reportedly posted $5 billion in losses and doesn’t anticipate becoming cash-flow positive until 2029, when revenues are projected to exceed $125 billion as per Bloomberg.

The massive infrastructure required to run large language models like GPT-4 and its successors from computing costs to data centre maintenance , continues to weigh heavily on the company’s balance sheet.

Trump’s tariff politics: Will OpenAI be next?

Donald Trump’s return to the presidency has brought with it a renewed focus on “America First” industrial policy. Earlier this month, Trump threatened to slap a 25 per cent tariff on Apple’s iPhones made outside the US, pressuring Apple CEO Tim Cook to reconsider the firm’s overseas supply chains.

If Trump applies the same scrutiny to other US tech giants, Sam Altman could face a similar dilemma. With OpenAI now operating in multiple foreign jurisdictions, including South Korea, India, and the UK, the company’s global footprint could come under political fire.

Altman’s expansion model hinges on collaboration with foreign governments and firms, the kind of global interdependence that Trump’s administration seeks to unwind. Given OpenAI’s reliance on US-based supercomputers and infrastructure, the company may find itself forced to justify every overseas investment decision.

As OpenAI pushes deeper into global markets, it stands at a delicate intersection of innovation and geopolitics. It is building the most powerful AI tools the world has ever seen, yet it is still governed by a hybrid for-profit and non-profit structure that could be tested under regulatory and political scrutiny.