Last year, the generative artificial intelligence (AI) field showed remarkable growth, setting an all-time investment record. According to TechCrunch, in 2024, generative AI companies around the world raised a total of $56 billion (about 79 trillion won) through 885 deals. This is nearly double the figure from 2023, showing that investment fever is continuing.
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▲[Korea Today] Photo unrelated to the article. Source=FREEPIK © Reporter Byun A-rong |
In particular, large-scale investments were concentrated in the fourth quarter of last year. Databricks led the investment market by attracting $10 billion (about 15 trillion won), OpenAI $6.6 billion (about 10 trillion won), xAI $6 billion (about 9 trillion won), and Antropic $4 billion (about 6 trillion won). However, the size of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) remained relatively low at $951 million (about 1.4 trillion won).
In the US-led generative AI investment, China and Europe have made some notable achievements. China’s Moonshot AI attracted $1 billion, and France’s Mistral attracted $640 million. Germany’s DeepL and Japan’s Sakana AI also secured $300 million and $214 million, respectively. However, non-US companies have made a clear difference, with total investment of only $6.2 billion.
As investment in generative AI expands, concerns about oversaturation have also been raised. Last year, AI coding startups Augment, Magic, and Kodium, as well as generative media startups Black Forest Labs and Eleven Labs, raised large amounts of funding, but if they fail to prove profitability, their chances of survival may be reduced, according to analysis.
Accordingly, experts predicted that AI infrastructure would emerge as a strong investment target in 2025. Crusoe and Lambda, which are related to data centers, attracted $600 million (about 880 billion won) and $320 million (about 470 billion won), respectively, leading the growth of investment in the data center sector. Investment firm KKR predicted that annual spending would reach $250 billion (about 370 trillion won) due to the increasing demand for AI-enabled data centers.
The growth of generative AI will continue, but investors need to find new strategies centered on infrastructure and profitability. It remains to be seen how the AI market will balance out.
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