SK Telecom Pivots to AI, Eyeing Leadership in Global Tech Beyond Telco

SK Telecom announced a strategic shift, moving from traditional telecommunications to dominate the AI, cloud computing, and data center markets, after witnessing non-telecom sectors' surging growth in Q2.

SK Telecom said on Tuesday, Aug. 8, that it is expanding its business portfolio by branching out to other segments, and at this point, it is aiming for AI, cloud computing, and data centers. It is leaning on these sectors after seeing remarkable growth in Q2.

As per The Korea Times, the South Korean telecom giant is also boosting its authority in emerging industries like urban air mobility (UAM) and the Metaverse by working to increase the number of its service users and investing in Joby Aviation, a leading aircraft manufacturer.

One of its major diversification plans is to turn the company into an AI enterprise. SK Telecom's chief financial officer, Kim Jin Won, said they will do their best to become an AI company which they expect will help SK Telecom maximize its corporate value.

It was noted that the telecom already implemented its AI assistant service called the "A." (A dot) in June this year. It also launched Chat T, which uses Microsoft Azure's ChatGPT model to provide a service that supplies users with information in a conversational way. Experts with specialized knowledge of the queries are the ones who provide the data.

"Based on our solid performance, SK Telecom will continue to build on our cooperation and self-development to secure leadership in the global AI business and become an AI company," Kim said in a statement.

Meanwhile, The Korea Economic Daily reported that SK Telecom recently revealed that it has improved with its A Dot to provide better services. It enhanced the AI assistant by adding multiturn dialogue technology. Finally, the company said it will go all-out as it expands its businesses and increase its presence in non-telecom segments.

Photo by: SK Telecom Website