SK Telecom (SKT) has announced an ambitious plan to become a global leader in artificial intelligence by 2028. The company aims to triple the share of its investments directed toward AI and related fields and has set a revenue target of KRW 25 trillion (approximately £15.1bn).
Historically, SKT allocated about 12% of its investments to AI and related disciplines based on figures from 2019 to 2023. The company plans to increase that share to 33% during the 2024–2028 period.
SK Telecom describes its AI strategy as a three-layered pyramid. The foundation is AI infrastructure, which includes AI-optimized data centers, specialized semiconductors, and multiple large language models (LLMs). Investments in this layer will cover practical data center enhancements such as immersion cooling systems and hydrogen fuel cells, designed to support large-scale AI workloads efficiently and sustainably.
A key contributor to this infrastructure effort is Sapeon, an AI semiconductor company founded by SKT. Sapeon focuses on chips tailored for cloud AI inference. Its upcoming X330 chip is positioned to deliver roughly twice the inference performance of existing chips on the market while improving power efficiency by about 1.3 times, aligning with SKT’s sustainability objectives.
On the LLM and platform side, SKT is building a broad ecosystem through partnerships and internal investment. The operator has partnered with major AI developers, and recently invested $100 million in Anthropic. This two-track strategy aims to assemble a diverse lineup of LLMs alongside an overarching intelligence platform that integrates these models. SKT intends to combine telco-specific LLMs with a customizable intelligence platform tailored to varied telecommunications use cases. The company has branded its AI technology “A.X” and its large language model “A.X LLM.”
The middle layer of SKT’s pyramid—AI transformation (AIX)—focuses on embedding AI across existing core businesses, including mobile, broadband, and enterprise services. By automating and optimizing operations, SKT expects measurable efficiencies; for example, the company estimates that AI-powered contact centers could reduce costs by up to 30% over the medium to long term.
At the top of the pyramid is AI-based services. SKT has introduced “A.” (pronounced “A dot”), an initiative that will evolve into a personal AI assistant. The company suggests that telco-specific AI services can enable unique communication experiences—such as suggesting who to call based on call history—and plans to explore features related to music, sleep management, and other personalized services.
“Generative AI is driving disruptive innovation and creating new value across industry, society, and daily life,” said Ryu Young-sang, CEO of SK Telecom. “With our AI pyramid strategy, we will accelerate efforts to strengthen internal capabilities, collaborate with diverse partners, and scale AI-related investments.”
Ryu added, “Through these efforts, we aim to become a global AI company that delivers customer benefits, improves industry productivity, and addresses social challenges with innovative technologies and services.”
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