Hancom headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province / Courtesy of Hancom

Hancom has secured its first overseas artificial intelligence (AI) contract, marking the company’s entry into the global AI market through a deal with Japanese cloud service provider Cyberlinks.

The company said Thursday that it has signed an agreement to supply its AI-powered facial recognition solution, Hancom Auth, to Cyberlinks.

Cyberlinks is a Japanese tech company specializing in cloud services for the public and retail sectors. It is known for operating Japan’s official public personal authentication platform using government-issued ID cards, and holds a dominant position in the country’s identity verification and digital trust market.

By integrating Hancom’s technology to enhance its electronic know-your-customer (eKYC) services for digital identity verification, Cyberlinks aims to expand its footprint in Japan’s fast-growing eKYC market by offering upgraded authentication solutions to both existing and new clients.

The Hancom Auth solution is built on technology from Spanish AI biometrics firm Facephi, in which Hancom has made a strategic investment, and has been localized and rebranded in collaboration with its affiliate, Hancom With. It incorporates advanced facial recognition technologies, including liveness detection features, to distinguish real faces from deepfakes or manipulated images in real time.

“The partnership with Cyberlinks, a core player in Japan’s public authentication ecosystem, is clear proof that Hancom’s AI technology has earned recognition in the global security market, particularly in Japan, where trust is paramount,” Hancom CEO Kim Yeon-su said.

“By combining Facephi’s globally proven technology with Hancom’s business expertise, we aim to expand aggressively into the global AI security and digital transformation markets, starting with Japan.”

Japan has been accelerating digital transformation to tackle severe labor shortages and move away from paper-heavy government processes, driving a surge in demand for digital authentication and security solutions across finance, government and retail.

Hancom plans to leverage the new partnership deal with a highly selective Japanese public authentication operator to accelerate its expansion in the local market.

Source: Korea Times News