When ChatGPT’s user base exploded from 980,000 to over 10 million in South Korea within a year—an eleven-fold increase that outpaced growth in any other market—OpenAI’s executives knew they had discovered something extraordinary.
This wasn’t just viral adoption; it was a powerful market signal that drove the company to fast-track its South Korean expansion and establish Seoul as its third Asian headquarters.
But the real story behind OpenAI’s Korean strategy reveals a calculated bet on a country that offers something no other market can: a complete AI ecosystem ready for transformation.
What the numbers reveal
This explosive growth tells a deeper story than simple user acquisition. ChatGPT’s monthly active users reached 10.72 million as of April, more than doubling from March’s 5.09 million in just one month, according to mobile data tracker Mobile Index.
While OpenAI itself has not officially disclosed detailed user metrics for South Korea, third-party data reveals the scope of adoption.
Total usage time among Korean users jumped from 8.08 million hours in March to 23.7 million hours in April, while new app installations rose nearly fourfold over the same period, from 1.44 million to 4.67 million, Mobile Index reported.
But the metrics that matter most to OpenAI aren’t just about volume—they’re about value. Perhaps more telling is Korea’s global ranking in paid subscriptions. South Korea has the largest number of paying ChatGPT subscribers after the United States, according to OpenAI.
This isn’t just about free users exper