Google’s Gemini is rapidly gaining traction in Korea, which has become the second-largest paid subscription market for the generative artificial intelligence (AI) service.

Korea generated 11.4 percent of Gemini’s global cumulative revenue on Apple’s App Store — about $21 million — ranking second only to the United States at 23.7 percent, according to digital analytics firm Sensor Tower, Sunday.

While Korea ranked only 17th in downloads, its revenue per download was the highest among major markets, underscoring the strong profitability.

This growth trend has accelerated with the launch of Gemini 3 in November last year. The latest version enhanced reasoning ability, multimodal understanding and overall usability, allowing users to leverage the tool for research, writing and problem-solving without needing complex prompts.

The user base has expanded sharply since the release of Gemini 3. Compared with levels before the version’s launch in November, daily active users (DAUs) in Korea have surged by 103.7 percent in recent days, the highest growth rate among major markets.

In Korea’s generative AI app market, OpenAI’s ChatGPT continues to lead in daily active users, with Gemini ranking second. From Jan. 1, 2025, to Jan. 15 this year, ChatGPT’s average DAU was roughly seven times higher than Gemini’s. Since the launch of Gemini 3, however, that gap has narrowed significantly, shrinking to about four times as high.

Sensor Tower’s audience insights show that only 23.2 percent of ChatGPT users also used Gemini before the launch of Gemini 3, but that figure jumped to 40.8 percent afterward. The share of Gemini users who also use ChatGPT rose modestly, from 57.5 percent to 63 percent.

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/amp/business/tech-science/20260126/korea-emerges-as-google-geminis-second-largest-revenue-market