[Editorial] Ignoring the AI Gap Between Companies Will Harm the Industrial Ecosystem

The gap in artificial intelligence (AI) adoption between large and small companies is widening. As NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang visits Korea, signs are emerging that AI applications in industry will spread further. But if small businesses fall short of expectations in AI adoption, the shift to AI transformation (AX) will inevitably slow.
According to a report released on the 11th by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry Economic Research Institute titled 'The Gap Between Large and Small Firms in Generative AI Use,' the AI divide is appearing across many areas. The adoption rate for generative AI was 66.5% among large companies, compared with 52.7% for small and medium-sized enterprises, a gap of 13.8 percentage points. Even more serious is the sharp divide in manufacturing. The gap in AI use between large and small firms in the service sector is only 9.2 percentage points, but in manufacturing it reaches 24.2 percentage points.
The regional divide is also clear, with small businesses in the Seoul metropolitan area posting a usage rate of 57.3%, far ahead of those outside the capital region at 47.8%. This clearly shows that manufacturing SMEs and local small businesses, which support the backbone of the Korean economy, are being left in an AI blind spot.
The idea that small businesses will automatically benefit through a trickle-down effect if large companies do well is an outdated notion. In particular, AI is now functioning as a key variable that determines productivity and competitiveness in a way that is fundamentally different from the emergence of past technologies.
First, there is a strong concern that cracks in the industrial ecosystem will deepen. Large and small companies are closely linked through supply chains. If large firms improve process efficiency and product quality with AI while partner SMEs remain stuck in traditional methods, it will become difficult to maintain stable quality and manage production schedules.
It will also have a negative impact on balanced regional development. Many of Korea's small and vulnerable SMEs are located in provincial areas. Yet if AI transformation is driven only by large companies in the Seoul metropolitan area, while manufacturing SMEs outside the capital region continue to show low AI adoption, the risk grows that AI will widen the economic gap between regions even further.
Ultimately, to build an industrial ecosystem with future competitiveness, generous AI support for SMEs is essential. However, material support alone does not automatically improve SMEs' AI competitiveness. According to the survey, large-company workers used the time saved by AI for 'new projects and work tasks.' By contrast, SME workers were found to use it for 'rest outside work and securing personal time.' In other words, if AI is not used to build future capabilities, it becomes useless.
AI has already become core infrastructure that determines a nation's industrial competitiveness. Like electricity or the internet, companies now face a time when they will fall behind in competition if they cannot use AI freely and effectively.
In that global landscape, large companies are not the only ones that matter. The AI competitiveness of SMEs, which serve as partner firms growing alongside large corporations, must also be strengthened. In this sense, AI support for SMEs should be recognized not as a simple handout, but as a strategic investment in the Korean economy as a whole.