South Korea's medical artificial intelligence industry is shifting its workforce from research and development toward sales and commercialization. Companies are reallocating staff while simultaneously restructuring to improve profitability and expanding their sales organizations. With product development and regulatory approvals largely complete, securing actual revenue and raising market share have become the priority.
Neurophet (380550.KQ) cut its research and development staff 5.7% to 82 as of June this year from 87 a year earlier, according to filings with the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system on the 21st. Its sales staff, by contrast, jumped 117.4% to 50 from 23 over the same period, more than doubling the size of the sales organization in a single year.
"We expanded our sales workforce as the business broadened from a development focus toward sales and market expansion," a Neurophet official said. "Sales results are becoming visible, including the supply of customized transcranial direct current stimulation, or tDCS, solutions to 10 domestic medical institutions, including tertiary general hospitals, through last month." Neurophet, which listed in July last year, specializes in AI-based brain imaging analysis solutions and is preparing to enter the U.S. market by adding sales staff at its American subsidiary.
A similar pattern is emerging at medical AI companies that have restructured to improve profitability. Lunit (328130.KQ) cut its research and development staff by 50, or 26.7%, to 137 as of June this year from 187 a year earlier, the result of aggressive restructuring that began in October last year. Its sales staff also fell to 19 from 36 over the same period, though the company has since added seven sales employees to oversee overseas units through three rounds of hiring.
"Most employees at Lunit International, formerly Volpara, which is not included in the filings, work in sales," a Lunit official said. "We are going all out to strengthen our sales capabilities in order to turn a profit." Lunit, which uses AI to diagnose cancer and support personalized treatment, is targeting a profit on an earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization basis by the end of this year.
Vuno (338220.KQ) has also reorganized by trimming research and development staff, which fell by five to 84 as of June this year from 89 a year earlier. Its sales staff held steady at 12 over the same period. Vuno's revenue rose 35% last year to 34.8 billion won ($24 million), and its operating loss narrowed to 4.9 billion won from 12.5 billion won in 2024.
Pressure to sustain that growth has mounted this year, however, as revenue declined at VUNO Med-DeepCARS, its flagship AI solution for predicting cardiac arrest. "We carried out additional restructuring in July and August to improve cost efficiency and our financial structure, cutting staff from about 160 to roughly 120 now," a Vuno official said. "The reorganization centered on development roles."
Analysts attribute the shift to intensifying competition in the medical AI industry, which has raised the stakes for capturing the market early and growing revenue. Neurophet's Scale PET competes in the same space as Heuron's HeuronpT, while Vuno's VUNO Med-DeepCARS goes up against AITRICS' VitalCare. Seers Technology's patient monitoring solution Thync is also facing a strong challenge from rival products such as Mezoo's HiCardi and Huinno's MEMO Q.
"As the technical standards of medical AI products have converged at a relatively high level, what matters now is no longer simply having the technology but who can raise market share," an industry official said. "Advances in coding tools, which have increased how much work a single developer can handle, also appear to be a factor."
Meanwhile, South Korea's AI healthcare market is projected to grow at an average annual rate of 50.8% from $377 million in 2023 to $6.672 billion in 2030, according to Samjong KPMG.