LG Uplus to ramp up AI investment by up to 40% in 2024

SILICON VALLEY – LG Uplus Corp., the third-largest mobile carrier in South Korea seeking to transform into a platform company, will expand its investments in artificial intelligence, including acquisition of an AI company and talent, this year, said its chief.

“The company will ramp up investment in AI this year by 30 to 40% from last year and double its AI talent,” LG Uplus Chief Executive Officer Hwang Hyeon-sik told reporters at a press conference in Silicon Valley, home to global tech giants, on Tuesday.

“We will strive to discover our new growth driver by reinforcing AI capabilities.”

As part of its AI investment plan, LG Uplus is “always open to investment in a good company or technology,” added Hwang, hinting at a possible merger and acquisition deal.

Hwang was in Silicon Valley for a business trip to recruit AI talent, learn about the current AI technology trends and seek AI partnerships with US tech giants.

LG Uplus CEO on the same day visited the headquarters of Meta Platforms Inc. to discuss joint development of generative AI models, using the Facebook parent’s latest Llama 3 open-source large language model (LLM).

“We are also in touch with Google and Microsoft for (similar) partnerships,” said Hwang.

LG Uplus is currently developing a telecom service-tailored smaller LLM model (sLLM), ixi-GEN, based on Exaone, the hyperscale AI model developed by LG AI Research, the AI research institute of LG Group’s holding company LG Corp.

LG Uplus is a telecommunications unit of Korea’s fourth-largest conglomerate LG Group.

The telecom company plans to roll out the ixi-GEN, which will be used in all of the company’s AI services, in June this year, the chief confirmed.

AX AT THE CENTER OF COMPANY TRANSITION

“During this trip, I have reaffirmed that our company must pursue an AI transformation, which puts AI at the forefront of a digital transformation,” said Hwang.

In late 2022, the CEO announced a plan to transform Korea’s No. 3 mobile carrier into a platform company as part of its efforts to survive through the country’s matured telecom industry, joining its bigger local rivals SK Telecom Co. and KT Corp.

Late last year the CEO also vowed to foster generative AI as the company's new growth driver. 

Since then, the company has actively invested in startups with a wide array of promising technologies, and AI-powered digital transformation is at the center of its transition.

As a telecom company, LG Uplus has the upper hand in digital and AI transformations because it can leverage massive data collected from its telecom services, said Hwang.

LG Uplus plans to offer new services, using its AI-backed automated chatbot customer service due to be out soon.

“As we can utilize massive customer data to develop customized services, it (the AI chatbot service) also has a huge potential in Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT),” said Hwang.

He emphasized the importance of speed, as well as usability and practicality in the AI race.

“AI’s foundation models are similar across developers,” said Hwang. “The key lies in which company can get customer value right, deliver the technology at speed and make it available to real customers.”

Write to Jin-seok Choi at iskra@hankyung.com

Sookyung Seo edited this article.