KakaoTalk agents to drive commerce, reservations, payments; monetization targeted for 2027 Kakao's office building in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province (Newsis) Kakao has ruled out entering the capital-intensive AI infrastructure business, betting instead on consumer services built into KakaoTalk, its dominant mobile messenger.During its second-quarter earnings call Thursday, the Korean platform operator said it had considered AI data centers and GPU cloud services but concluded they offered little competitive advantage.“We determined that the infrastructure layer is not where Kakao can become most competitive in the AI era,” CEO Chung Shin-a said. “Kakao has built its success on creating business-to-consumer services that become deeply embedded in users’ daily lives.”Heavy investment requirements and uncertain profitability also influenced the decision.“AI infrastructure requires significant upfront investment as well as continued capital expenditure,” Chung said.Instead, Kakao will develop AI features that understand users’ intentions and help them shop, make reservations and complete payments without leaving KakaoTalk.“We believe concentrating our capabilities on the B2C (business-to-consumer) segment offers the greatest potential to deliver the rapid growth our shareholders expect,” Chung said.Kakao aims to establish the foundation for broad adoption of the services by year-end and begin monetizing them in earnest in 2027.A key revenue model will be agentic commerce. KakaoTalk’s AI will recommend products and services based on users’ conversations and preferences, then connect them directly to purchases or bookings. Kakao plans to collect commissions from those transactions and is also considering subscriptions for personalized AI features.The strategy builds on KakaoTalk’s existing role in advertising, commerce and payments — industries that helped Kakao deliver record quarterly earnings.Second-quarter operating profit rose 36 percent from a year earlier to 277 billion won ($196 million), while revenue increased 9 percent to 2.1 trillion won. Both were quarterly records. Platform revenue climbed 17 percent to 1.23 trillion won.Revenue from Talk Biz, Kakao’s core messenger-based business, rose 12 percent to 643.2 billion won. Advertising and subscription revenue increased 14 percent to 399.9 billion won, helped by a 20 percent rise in business messaging and a 28 percent jump in KakaoTalk display advertising.Commerce revenue, including Kakao’s gifting service, gained 10 percent to 243.2 billion won. Purchases made by users for themselves through the service surged 39 percent.Other platform businesses, including mobility and payments, posted a 22 percent revenue increase to 587 billion won. Kakao said its payments unit recorded strong growth in financial services, while payment and platform services maintained double-digit gains.Kakao will also partner with food delivery platform Coupang Eats, allowing users to order and pay for meals directly within KakaoTalk rather than switching to another app.The company plans to use the partnership as a model for expanding KakaoTalk’s AI ecosystem into other everyday services, including commerce, reservations, travel and payments.