HYBE winds down AI voice company Supertone after investing nearly $35M

HYBE, the South Korean company behind BTS, is winding down Supertone, the AI voice-synthesis company it took control of in 2023.

Supertone‘s shareholders resolved to dissolve the company and place it into liquidation, according to a regulatory disclosure filed on July 23.

The decision was taken at an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting on July 15, the filing said, with a liquidator appointed to run the wind-down.

HYBE described the decision as “a matter decided as part of a realignment of its AI business strategy,” according to a report in The Korea Economic Daily, adding that it had “reviewed the possibility of maintaining the corporate entity from various angles, but concluded that continued operation would be difficult.”

Supertone has posted a dissolution notice on its website, and now lists Hoon Heo as its CEO in place of co-founder Lee Kyo-gu.

HYBE is in talks to transfer Supertone‘s voice-conversion and noise-removal tools, Shift, Clear and Air, to an outside buyer, Seoul Economic Daily reported on July 26, citing investment banking sources.

The report said Supertone posted revenue of KRW 2.3 billion (USD $1.6 million) last year, against an operating loss of KRW 15.4 billion ($10.5 million).

Internal-transaction revenue between Supertone and HYBE fell from KRW 200 million in 2023 to KRW 61 million last year, according to the report.

HYBE first invested in Supertone in 2021, paying KRW 4 billion ($3.6 million at the time) for an 18.2% stake.

It later took majority control in a deal worth KRW 45 billion (around $32 million at the time) that MBW reported in 2022 and completed the following year.

In all, HYBE put nearly KRW 49 billion (around $35 million) into Supertone across the two investments.

Supertone‘s tools featured in several of HYBE‘s AI releases, including MIDNATT, whose 2023 single Masquerade was issued in six languages, and the virtual group SYNDI8.

Neither MIDNATT nor SYNDI8 developed into an established commercial act, and SYNDI8‘s 2024 debut drew criticism from some K-pop fans.

In July 2025, the deaf K-pop group Big Ocean used Supertone’s voice-conversion system on a single premiered at the UN‘s AI for Good summit in Geneva.

Supertone describes its technology as able to produce “hyper-realistic and expressive” voices, and lists partnerships with Disney, Netflix, ZTX and ZEPETO on its website.

The wind-down applies to Supertone as a business, and HYBE has continued to pursue AI across the wider group.

HYBE Chairman Bang Si-hyuk has continued to place AI at the center of the company’s strategy, positioning HYBE as an entertainment lifestyle platform company, and discussed AI and the future of music with UMG Chairman and CEO Sir Lucian Grainge at a June town hall.

HYBE also presented Supertone as a continuing growth business in its 2025 sustainability report, filed to South Korea’s DART disclosure system on June 30 – just over two weeks before Supertone’s shareholders resolved to dissolve the company.

The report lists Supertone alongside DRIMAGE and HYBE NEXT ENTERTAINMENT BUSINESS as one of three “technology-driven future growth businesses” in the group.

It says Supertone “actively researches AI audio technology to enable creators to produce more immersive content,” and that its technology “is being expanded beyond music for application across various content areas, including movies, animation, and the metaverse.”

The report also carries a section on Supertone’s AI risk management, describing AI ethics guidelines published on the company’s website, and confidentiality agreements required since 2023 of any employee who collects, processes, or uses sensitive data for AI training.

It covers calendar 2025, with some qualitative material drawn from the first half of 2026.

The wind-down follows a year in which HYBE’s profitability fell sharply – though its most recent quarter pointed the other way.

Operating profit fell 72.9% YoY in 2025 even as revenues reached a record KRW 2.65 trillion ($1.86 billion), as MBW reported.

In Q1 2026, MBW reported, the company posted record first-quarter revenues of KRW 698.3 billion ($477 million), up 39.5% YoY, with adjusted operating profit up 170.3% YoY to KRW 58.5 billion ($40 million) and an adjusted operating margin of 8.4%.

On an unadjusted basis, HYBE booked a Q1 operating loss of KRW 196.6 billion, reflecting a one-off KRW 255 billion charge tied to shares gifted by the company’s controlling shareholder for employee compensation.

HYBE demonstrated Supertone’s tools on its full-year 2023 earnings call in February 2024, when an AI voice replicating then-CEO Jiwon Park delivered part of the presentation.

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