LG CNS nears W3tr in first-half sales on AI, cloud growth

Operating profit rises 1.1% on-year to 222.1 billion won

Company wins over 1 trillion won in large DBO contracts, strengthens AX business

Smart engineering sales reach 502.4 billion won; physical AI expansion underway

LG CNS came close to 3 trillion won ($2.07 billion) in first-half sales this year, driven by broad-based growth across all business segments led by AI and cloud.

According to a regulatory filing Friday, LG CNS posted first-half sales of 2.84 trillion won and operating profit of 222.1 billion won for the first half of 2026, up 6.1 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively, from the same period last year.

AI and cloud sales were particularly strong, rising 5.1 percent year-on-year to 1.67 trillion won and accounting for roughly 59 percent of total first-half revenue.

Within the cloud segment, the company's external data center business stood out. LG CNS said it generated steady revenue from hyperscale AI data center projects at Samsong and Jukjeon as competition in the AI data center market increasingly centers on DBO (design, build, operation) capabilities.

In the first half, the company secured more than 1 trillion won in large-scale DBO contracts and unveiled a modular AI data center as a new DBO business model. It also recently launched XPUWorks, a platform that lets customers subscribe to AI infrastructure including GPUs and NPUs.

On the AI front, LG CNS deepened manufacturing and logistics AX engagements with external clients such as Doosan, the Korea Federation of SMEs, Kurly and LX Pantos, while expanding its portfolio into pharmaceuticals, biotech, airports, aviation, defense and shipbuilding.

In the financial and public sectors, the company is building customer business transformation cases based on its agentic AI platform AgenticWorks. It is also forging partnerships with global AI majors — including OpenAI, Palantir and Anthropic — to bring in new clients.

Smart engineering sales rose 6.2 percent year-on-year to 502.4 billion won in the first half. The smart factory business is converting externally won projects in defense, shipbuilding, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals into revenue, on top of sales from group affiliates.

LG CNS is also using its AI smart factory solution Factova to make domestic and overseas manufacturing facilities more intelligent. The company said its smart logistics business saw revenue grow as logistics automation center construction projects for external clients in beauty, food and fashion moved ahead smoothly.

Digital business services sales climbed 8.8 percent year-on-year to 662.1 billion won in the first half, with growth spread evenly across banking, non-life insurance and life insurance. Expanding collaboration with global financial clients also contributed to the revenue increase.

In physical AI, LG CNS plans to step up its robot learning and operations platform PhysicalWorks and strengthen the training and field-deployment verification of humanoid robots based on its industry-specific RFM (robot foundation model).

The company is also deepening "One LG" collaboration to support that push. It recently signed a physical AI infrastructure contract with LG Electronics worth approximately 190 billion won, under which it will supply support for LG Electronics' humanoid robot training proof-of-concept as well as the PhysicalWorks platform and essential GPU-based AI infrastructure.

LG CNS is additionally partnering with robotics firms — including Skilled AI, Konfig, Dexmate and Genesis AI — to expand its RX (robotics transformation) ecosystem. It is also in discussions with Nvidia, Google DeepMind and AWS on RX cooperation to strengthen its global ecosystem.

The company is expanding its global business as well. An overseas AI data center in Indonesia — the first such project won by a Korean company — is set to be completed in the second half of this year. LG CNS will also participate in IMTS 2026, the world's largest machine tool exhibition, in Chicago in the second half, and plans to grow its financial digital transformation business with a focus on the Asia-Pacific and Japan region.

ko@heraldcorp.com
woo@heraldcorp.com