Korean firms are grappling with the steep costs of AI token usage as they race to integrate foreign models into their operations. Korean conglomerates including Samsung and SK are opening up access to U.S. models — Claude, Gemini and ChatGPT — through enterprise contracts. Companies including Samsung are now wrestling with how to ration token usage among employees. To manage costs, Samsung has imposed strict limits on AI token usage as it opened up company access to the three U.S. models internally. Employees are divided into tiers, with the base level restricted to simple tasks. For an employee to move up, it requires demonstrating that AI is actively improving their work output. “The level-up is not automatic,” said a Samsung employee who requested anonymity. “If you want your limit raised, you need to show results. You have to prove you’re putting it to good use.” This has raised a small pool of complaints internally. Some employees are saying the token limits are too excessive to be able to put them to good use. Korea ranks 14th out of 121 countries for Claude usage, according to the Anthropic Economic Index, with usage per person running more than 3.5 times higher than the global average.