The monthly number of users of Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) model “Gemini” in Korea has exceeded 100,000 for the first time. While ChatGPT still maintains an overwhelming lead in the domestic and global generative AI markets, latecomer Gemini is rapidly increasing its share.

According to Mobile Index, a service of data tech company IGAWorks, on the 10th, Gemini’s domestic monthly active users (MAU) in January this year stood at 123,647. MAU refers to the number of unique users who access and use an application (app) at least once during a month. Even if a person logs in multiple times, that person is counted only once. Gemini’s January MAU is the highest since the service was launched in Korea and is about 17 times higher than the same month a year earlier (7,240).

During the same period, OpenAI’s AI model ChatGPT recorded 14,299,545 MAU in Korea, far exceeding other AI models. It was followed by A.Dot (1,386,537), Perplexity (731,318), Grok (721,293), Wrtn (608,220), and Claude (158,136) in terms of MAU.

Compared with these apps, Gemini’s MAU was not high, but it showed overwhelming growth momentum. While the MAU of other apps either increased only slightly or even declined compared with December last year, Gemini’s MAU surged by around 30.5%. Industry experts believe that in addition to using the Gemini app directly, many users also obtain Gemini responses through Google Search, meaning that Gemini’s actual MAU could be higher.

According to Reuters on the same day, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, recently sent a message to employees stating that “ChatGPT’s monthly growth rate is again exceeding 10%” and that the company is “preparing to launch an updated AI chatbot soon.” This is seen as an attempt to emphasize that ChatGPT’s position remains solid despite intensifying competition from Google, Anthropic and others.

Google is continuing aggressive investment to seize global market share that ChatGPT has preempted. According to foreign media including Bloomberg and the Financial Times (FT) on the 9th (local time), Google’s parent company Alphabet raised USD 20 billion (about KRW 29 trillion) through a corporate bond issuance. Orders totaling more than USD 100 billion reportedly poured into Alphabet’s bond deal. Bloomberg reported, “This is far larger than the initial expectation of USD 15 billion,” adding that “(Alphabet) is also planning its first bond issues in Switzerland and the United Kingdom.” Alphabet is said to be unusually considering bonds with maturities as long as 100 years, known as “century bonds.”

Morgan Stanley projected that big tech companies will borrow USD 400 billion (about KRW 584 trillion) this year. In the capital markets, concerns are emerging that the debt of AI-focused big tech firms could weigh on the credit markets. Investment by the four major U.S. big tech companies—Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta—is forecast to reach USD 650 billion this year.

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