News

• Large-scale projects in the second half expected to lift results

PIOLINK (CEO Cho Young-chul) announced on August 14 that it recorded consolidated revenue of KRW 28.6 billion in the first half of 2026, up 7% from KRW 26.7 billion in the same period last year. Sharp growth in exports to Japan and in the HCI (hyper-converged infrastructure) business drove the overall gain.

Exports to Japan are extending last year's strong growth. Japanese companies are sustaining their investment in digital transformation (DX), and as demand has widened to strengthen network stability and security at the same time, sales of PIOLINK's security switches have increased.

The spread of Zero Trust security in Japan is also raising the importance of security switches, which identify endpoints and control access at the network edge. PIOLINK expects demand for security switches to keep growing, and said it plans to add staff to deepen work with existing partners, recruit new ones, and expand marketing in order to take an early position in the growing market.

HCI revenue likewise rose sharply year on year. Changes in licensing and business policies in the global virtualization market have increased cost pressure and operational uncertainty, prompting more companies and public institutions to reconsider foreign virtualization infrastructure.

PIOLINK said demand for Korean-made alternatives to foreign products is rising quickly as a result. Efficient deployment and operation, flexible scalability, and disaster recovery (DR) features that restore service in the event of a failure are working in the company's favor, and adoption is widening across both the public and enterprise markets.

Despite the revenue growth, the operating loss for the first half was KRW 1.6 billion, in line with the KRW 1.5 billion operating loss a year earlier. Selling and administrative expenses rose on one-off items, including costs related to treasury shares granted to employees as an incentive to meet management targets, and on higher payroll from hiring to support business expansion.

The company expects revenue to expand and profitability to improve gradually from the second half. Budget execution and project awards in parts of the public sector were delayed in the first half by the local elections, but related work is expected to normalize from the third quarter. Large-scale projects in the public and private sectors are also moving into full swing, which should add to revenue.

"Growth in Japan and in HCI has become clear, and it is broadening our business portfolio," a PIOLINK spokesperson said. "Revenue in this business typically builds toward the second half, and with delayed public-sector work and major projects now getting underway, we expect both stronger revenue and a significant improvement in profitability in the second half.