S.Korea’s SK Telecom to advance AI tech through partnerships

BARCELONA -- SK Telecom Co. plans to develop world-class artificial intelligence technology through partnerships with companies of Korean descent at home and abroad as the country’s top mobile carrier targets the global market in new growth sectors such as self-driving cars.

“SK Telecom aims not to just innovate AI in sectors such as the healthcare, security, advertising, smart factory and business solution but to compete with Big Tech on the global stage through alliances with AI companies having the best technology,” the carrier’s CEO Ryu Young-sang told reporters on Sunday in Barcelona.

“Our ultimate goal is to have more than half of the top Korean AI companies in the K-AI Alliance,” Ryu said a day before the opening of MWC Barcelona, the world’s largest mobile technology event. “We think those companies can cooperate in many ways and we intend to join hands with them.”

SK Telecom has already tied up with self-driving vehicle AI solution startup Phantom AI Inc., AI chip maker Sapeon Inc., cloud management service company Bespin Global, machine learning firm Moloco Inc.,  AI company Konan Technology Inc., AI-based cooperation tool developer Swit Technologies Inc. and AI technology startup Tuat Corp. for the AI alliance.

SYNERGY WITH PARTNERS

SK Telecom has recently decided to buy a stake in Phantom AI although they have yet to provide details such as the size of the investment.

Phantom AI founder and CEO Cho Hyunggi expected cooperation with SK Telecom’s AI technology and Sapeon’s AI semiconductor know-how to help the startup become a key player in the global autonomous driving AI solution sector. Sapeon was spun off from the carrier.

Sapeon plans to launch a next-generation AI chip, the X330, in the second half, its CEO Ryu Soojung said.

“It showed high efficiency and performance in processing large models such as ChatGPT as its performance is more than four times compared with the previous model X220,” she added, referring to a chatbot developed by Microsoft Corp.-backed OpenAI and based on generative AI technology.

SK Telecom CEO Ryu said a new solution would be developed by combining the X340 that Sapeon plans to unveil next year and Phantom AI’s new software.

SK Telecom said the investments in those AI startups have tripled their profits as of this year.

Sapeon’s corporate value has increased to some 500 billion won since SK Telecom spent 80 billion on the startup, according to the carrier. Its investment in Konan also resulted in a profit of eight times spending.

Write to Han-Gyeol Seon at always@hankyung.com
 
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.