SK Telecom to build 1-GW hyperscale AI data centers

SK Telecom, a South Korean telecom operator, unveiled an “AI Native” strategy at MWC Barcelona (MWC26), led by CEO Jung Jai-hun, to reorganize AI infrastructure and invest heavily to apply AI across its business and boost customer value.

The company said it will overhaul integrated IT systems – sales, line management, and billing – to be AI-optimized and adopt a Zero Trust security framework.

SKT said it will push autonomous network operations and use AI-RAN technology to improve wireless quality, traffic control, and equipment operations.

For customers, it plans an integrated AI agent linking portals (T world, T Direct Shop) and stores, an enhanced AI contact center, AI Personas for behavior analysis, and an “A. phone” that organizes call notes, schedules, and links to services.

SKT will build 1GW-class hyperscale AI data centers nationwide, including a planned AIDC in southwestern Korea with OpenAI, and expand hyperscale capacity while offering Petasus AI Cloud in global markets.

The company said it will upgrade its 519B-parameter sovereign model to over 1T with multimodal capabilities starting in the second half of this year and co-develop manufacturing AI with SK hynix.

SKT will transform work culture with an AX dashboard, an AI Board, an AI playground supporting over 2,000 no-code AI agents, and company-wide AI upskilling.

🔗 Source: SK Telecom

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

A cyberattack sits behind SK Telecom’s AI shift

SK Telecom is rolling out a broad AI push while climbing out of a profit slump. Fiscal year 2025 net income fell 73% year on year to KRW 375.1 billion 1.
The drop followed a cybersecurity breach that exposed sensitive SIM-related data for about 26.9 million to 27 million customers. South Korea’s government later issued a $97 million fine 2.
Management is now leaning on AI businesses, including AI data centers plus customer-facing AI services, to lift earnings again 2.
Executives say AI data center (AIDC) revenue grew at a double-digit rate. They link that to higher usage at the Gasan and Yangju sites plus the Pangyo data center purchase 1.

The telco to AI leap pushes SK Telecom’s model

The approach pressures telecom operators worldwide that want to avoid becoming basic infrastructure, or “dumb pipes,” for AI services 3.
SK Telecom is building its own hyperscale AI model with more than 500 billion parameters plus 1GW-class hyperscale AI data centers across the country. The target is AI producing about a third of revenue, around $7 billion, by 2030 4.
SK Telecom has not shared the cost of running its large models on its own infrastructure 3.
Critics say steady AI workloads pull constant power and may not fit traditional telecom networks. That fuels doubts about the long-term financial viability of the full-stack plan 3.