Hybe Corporation Announces Further Investment in AI Company Supertone
Hybe Corporation has announced their decision to invest 45,000 million won (33.7 million euros) to become the majority shareholder of the AI company Supertone, focusing on speech synthesizers.
Hybe first acquired shares of Supertone in 2021, when they bought 18.2% of the company (operating as Big Hit Entertainment at the time). After this additional investment, they have now taken over 56.1% of Supertone.
Founded in 2020, Supertone’s AI technology specializes in naturalistic voice synthesizers and singing. They have so far released an AI recreation of many well-known South Korean singers such as Kim Kwang-seok, Kim Hyun-sik, Yu Jae-ha and Yim Yun-taek.
Hybe CEO Park Ji-won has expressed his hope that this investment will create synergies between the two companies, leading to improved content.
“We have high expectations for creating new content that combines Supertone’s AI voice technology, which enables realistic acting and singing, and Hybe’s production know-how,” said Ji-won.