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Press Release
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SKT, Iceotope and SK Enmove Join Forces for AI Data Center Innovation2024.02.28
SK Telecom (NYSE: SKM, “SKT”), Iceotope Technologies, the global leader in Precision Liquid Cooling, and SK Enmove, Korea’s leading base oil and lubricants provider developing thermal fluids for data center, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to collaborate on the development of liquid cooling technique/solution that optimizes energy-efficiency of AI data centers. Since air conditioning and cooling systems consume the largest amount of energy in data centers, the key to realizing an energy-efficient AI data center lies in reducing the power consumption of these systems. Under the MOU, SKT, Iceotope and SK Enmove will collaborate to deploy Precision Liquid Cooling (PLC)* using SK Enmove’s thermal fluid at SKT’s AI Data Center Testbed. The deployment is to demonstrate PLC’s value in cooling efficiency and power savings. Moreover, SKT will develop an integrated Coolant Distribution Unit (CDU) to support various liquid cooling systems with the technical support of Iceotope. *Iceotope’s Precision Liquid Cooling (PLC) technology uses a precise delivery of dielectric fluid to remove heat from the hottest components of the server, thereby significantly reducing energy consumption. Going forward, SKT plans to develop an AI-based autonomous cooling system. The AI Autonomous Cooling System will analyze the temperature and power load in the AI data center and automatically control the supply temperature and flow rate of thermal fluids in the CDUs to increase the operational efficiency of the AI data center. “By combining core technologies and capabilities of SKT, Iceotope and SK Enmove, we expect to develop innovative energy efficiency solutions that can not only help us strengthen our competitiveness in AI data centers, but also put us on the right path towards sustainability,” said Lee Jong-min, Vice President and Head of Future R&D at SKT. “We are thrilled to be collaborating with SKT and SK Enmove on AI data center innovation and look forward to helping them and their customers to realize energy-efficiency in their facilities with our Precision Liquid Cooling solutions,” said David Craig, CEO of Iceotope. “Importance of establishing sustainable environment is increasing these days. Through this cooperation, we aim to contribute to the vitalization of the immersion cooling market and solidify our position as an Energy Saving Company,” said Seo Sang-hyuk, Vice President and Head of e-Fluids B2B Business Office at SK Enmove.
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SKT, Deutsche Telekom, e&, Singtel, and SoftBank Corp. Announce Plan to Establish a Joint Venture2024.02.26
SK Telecom (NYSE:SKM, “SKT”), Deutsche Telekom, e& Group, Singtel and SoftBank Corp. today held the inaugural meeting of the Global Telco AI Alliance (GTAA) at MWC Barcelona 2024 and announced their plans to establish a joint venture. The meeting was attended by SK’s Chairman Chey Tae-won, SKT’s CEO Ryu Young-sang, Deutsche Telekom’s CEO Tim Höttges and DT’s Board Member for Technology & Innovation, Claudia Nemat, e& Group’s Group CEO Hatem Dowidar, Singtel Group’s CEO Yuen Kuan Moon, and SoftBank’s CISO Tadashi Iida. Through the Joint Venture Company, the five companies plan to develop Large Language Models (LLMs) specifically tailored to the needs of telecommunications companies (telcos). The LLMs will be designed to help telcos improve their customer interactions via digital assistants and chatbots. The goal is to develop multilingual LLMs optimized for languages including Korean, English, German, Arabic and Japanese, with plans for additional languages to be agreed among the founding members. The joint venture plans to focus on deploying innovative AI applications tailored to the needs of the Global AI Telco Alliance members in their respective markets, enabling them to reach a global customer base of approximately 1.3 billion across 50 countries. Deutsche Telekom boasts about 250 million subscribers across 12 countries, including Germany and the U.S. The e& Group has 169 million subscribers in 16 countries across the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, while the Singtel Group has 770 million subscribers in 21 countries, including Australia, India, and Indonesia. The Joint Venture Company will be established within this year. Compared to general LLMs, telco-specific LLMs are more attuned to the telecommunications domain and better at understanding user intent. By making it easier for telcos to deploy high-quality generative AI models swiftly and efficiently, telco-specific LLMs are expected to help accelerate AI transformation of various telco business and services, including customer service. The LLMs are currently being optimized. Telcos’ customer service data is used to fine-tune the model for telco-specific questions. This is because tariff and contract models, information on special hardware such as the router, for example (e.g. How do I do a reset?) are rarely found in the general training data of the large models. But it's exactly this content that a telco bot needs to know. So that it is able to understand, summarize and respond to these specific concerns. This targeted training ensures the LLM understands the unique language and needs of telecom operators, paving the way for enhanced, personalized, and efficient customer experiences. “We as telcos need to develop tailored LLM for the telco industry to make telco operations more efficient, which is a low-hanging fruit. Our ultimate goal is to discover new business models by redefining relationships with customers. The Global Telco AI Alliance brings synergy to its members by allowing them to achieve more by working as a team,” said Ryu Young-sang, CEO of SKT. "We want our customers to experience the best possible service. AI helps us do that. Already today, more than 100,000 customer service dialogs a month in Germany are handled by Generative AI. By integrating telco-specific large language models, our 'Frag Magenta' chatbot becomes even more human-centric: AI personalizes conversations between customers and chatbots. And our joint venture brings Europe and Asia closer together,” said Claudia Nemat, Board Member Deutsche Telekom for Technology and Innovation. “This is a monumental step for e& and for the Telco industry at large. From streamlining customer support interactions to enabling personalised recommendations, this multi-lingual LLM will revolutionise how businesses engage with customers”, said Dena Almansoori, Group Chief AI and Data Officer, e& group. “In collaboration with our Global AI Telco Alliance partners, we look forward to shaping both the present and future of customer engagement and setting new standards for efficiency and innovation across the telecommunications landscape to better serve our customers and create meaningful impact.” “This promises to be a game changer not just for us at Singtel but for any telecom company out there looking to lift their customer experience beyond limited automated responses and generic chatbot interactions. This multi-lingual LLM tailored for telcos will greatly expand chatbot capabilities with relevant responses to customers’ technical queries, freeing up service agents to deal with more complex customer issues and we intend to deploy this across the Singtel Group. With leading telcos from three different continents working on this innovative model, this unprecedented effort to scale AI development for the telecom industry would not have been possible had we all decided to go it alone,” said Yuen Kuan Moon, Group Chief Executive Officer, Singtel. “Through a powerful alliance with industry leaders, we embark on a mission to revolutionize global communication, elevate service quality, and ignite a new era of technological innovation powered by AI. Together, we have the power to shape the future of telecommunications, empowering communities worldwide with seamless connectivity and boundless opportunities,” said Hideyuki Tsukuda, Executive Vice President & CTO of SoftBank Corp.
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SKT, DOCOMO, NTT and Nokia Team Up to Implement AI in the 6G Air Interface2024.02.22
SK Telecom (“SKT”), DOCOMO, NTT and Nokia today announced they have joined forces to develop the 6G AI-native air interface (AI-AI), a critical next-generation technology that could greatly boost network performance while increasing energy efficiency. The four companies will show video demonstration of an AI-AI proof of concept at SKT’s booth at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Feb. 26-29. This new 6G collaboration builds on an existing relationship between DOCOMO, NTT and Nokia targeted at 6G innovation. With the addition of SKT, the four companies will be able to expand the scope and scale of 6G AI-AI testing and validation as well as explore a broader range of business use cases for the technology. The collaboration is developing future proof-of-concept 6G AI-AI systems, which will then be put to the test using selected use cases and real environmental scenarios. These over-the-air validation tests will be conducted both in the lab and outdoors to best simulate real network results. SKT, NTT, DOCOMO and Nokia will cooperate on improving AI model performance by utilizing data generated from real networks or through simulation. This will be instrumental in developing AI training models for a best-in-industry AI-AI solution. By working together, SKT, DOCOMO, NTT and Nokia will be able to combine their research efforts and bring their core areas of expertise to the table. SKT, DOCOMO and NTT are recognized worldwide for their successful adoption of every generation of networking and their ability to create new business value from advanced technologies, while Nokia’s industrial research arm, Nokia Bell Labs, is a leader in 6G innovation. Yu Takki, Vice President and Head of Infra Tech at SKT, said: “ This milestone represents a significant step forward in collaborative efforts towards the development of 6G core technology involving technology leaders from Korea, Japan, Europe and the United States. SKT will maintain its momentum in its R&D efforts of applying AI technology to network infrastructure as we move forward to become a global AI company.” Takaaki Sato, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at DOCOMO said: “DOCOMO and NTT are delighted to advance this project with Nokia, a global vendor leading the world, and SKT, a mobile operator co-leading Asia. Through this collaboration, we will take the lead in innovative technology development and standardization of 6G, and focus on building a global ecosystem that includes future industries and technologies.” Peter Vetter, President of Bell Labs Core Research at Nokia, said: “For Nokia to create a world-class 6G system, it’s critical we get input from the service providers that will one day deploy 6G. SKT, NTT and DOCOMO are among the most innovative service providers in the world, which gives us the perfect partners to design the networks of the future.”
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SK Telecom and NTT DOCOMO Release White Paper on Key Considerations for vRAN2024.02.20
SK Telecom (NYSE:SKM, “SKT”) and NTT DOCOMO, INC. (“DOCOMO”) today announced their joint release of the virtualized RAN (vRAN) white paper, “Key Considerations for vRAN: Insights from SK Telecom and DOCOMO.” The white paper reviews the future prospects of vRAN base station equipment for telcos, leveraging the collective expertise of the two companies in network construction and operation. In addition to outlining expectations for base station equipment vendors, the paper provides technical insights tailored for telcos. One of the two main themes of the paper is the direction of technological advancements crucial for the adoption of vRAN base station equipment. It highlights three key future requirements: - Increased processing capacity and reduced power consumption - Early implementation of key virtualization capabilities, including resource pooling, scaling, and auto-healing - Enhanced integration technology and tools for vRAN base station equipment The paper's other main theme is on accelerator technologies for signal processing in vRAN base station equipment. It centers on conducting technical analysis of capacity, power consumption, and complexity across different accelerator structures and network architectures based on proprietary studies. Accelerator technologies for signal processing in vRAN base station equipment In November 2022, SKT and DOCOMO signed a cooperation agreement to advance technology studies of next-generation telecommunications infrastructure for 5G evolution and 6G. In February 2023, the two companies jointly released two white papers, one on energy-efficient 5G mobile networks and related technologies, andthe other on requirements for future 6G networks. Moving forward, the two companies remain committed to collaborative efforts across diverse technical domains to establish a global ecosystem that encompasses cutting-edge industries and technologies. "This white paper represents a significant milestone based on the strong collaboration between our two companies, building upon our joint publication last year on Green Mobile Networks and 6G Requirements white papers, ” said Yu Takki, Vice President and Head of Infra Tech Office of SKT. “We will continue our collaboration with global leading operators like DOCOMO to prepare for the evolution towards future networks." “I am delighted to announce the joint publication of this white paper summarizing the technical outlook and insights on vRAN equipment development and technologies, as a new achievement resulting from the technical collaboration between SKT and DOCOMO that began in November 2022,” said Masafumi Masuda, GM and Head of RAN Technology Promotion Office of DOCOMO. “We look forward to further enhancing collaboration between the two companies and leading the industry ecosystem together towards the success of 5G Evolution and 6G.” ※ Click here to download the white paper.
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SKT to Showcase AI Technologies at MWC Barcelona 20242024.02.18
SK Telecom (NYSE: SKM, “SKT”) announced today that it will participate in the upcoming Mobile World Congress Barcelona 2024 (“MWC 2024”) kicking off February 26 in Barcelona, Spain, where it will showcase a range of future technologies driven by AI innovations, including communication services, network infrastructure, and real-world applications. SKT, which continues to transform itself into a global AI company, is set to occupy a 992㎡ exhibition area situated at the heart of Hall 3 in Fira Gran Via, the primary convention venue for MWC 2024. Here, the company will present telco-centric AI technologies under the theme ‘AI, on the Point of Inflection’. The central focus of the exhibition will be telco-specific large language models (LLMs). The exhibition will shed light on SKT’s efforts to develop LLMs tailored for teleco business that can also be leveraged across diverse applications, with the ultimate goal of maximizing their effectiveness for both service providers and customers. SKT will be introducing multiple use cases rooted in telco-specific LLM, including Litmus Plus, an AI-enhanced system for analyzing indoor and outdoor traffic data; AI Quantum Camera, versatile for applications in robotics, security, and healthcare; virtual agents featuring chatbot capabilities; an AI-based system for filtering spam and smishing; and AI call center (AICC). Additionally, SKT will present AI technologies with extensive everyday applications spanning fields from media to healthcare. Visitors to SKT’s booth will be able to explore X Caliber, an AI-based X-ray image diagnosis assistance service; AI Media Studio, a platform for media-processing and content quality enhancement; and Intelligence Vision, a biological microscope leveraging Vision AI. Furthermore, the exhibition will feature AI Data Center (DC) technology, which incorporates liquid immersion cooling, a next-generation advanced thermal management approach; various AI-driven network infrastructure technologies; and a life-sized UAM (Urban Air Mobility) aircraft simulator. Meanwhile, SKT will highlight its ongoing ESG initiatives at the 4YFN (4 Years From Now) event, an exhibition stage set up at Hall 8.1 of Fira Gran Via. In collaboration with 15 Korean innovation startups, SKT aims to showcase ESG solutions that can help address today’s social challenges. SKT CEO Ryu Young-sang plans to visit MWC Barcelona 2024, where more than 2,400 businesses are expected to participate, to present the company’s strategy for continued transformation into a global AI company and promote partnerships with various global partners. In addition, CEO Ryu plans to take the opportunity presented by the MWC stage to further build on discussions for the Global Telco AI Alliance, which was officially launched in July last year. “At this year’s MWC Barcelona, we will showcase how we are driving new innovations with advanced AI technologies,” said CEO Ryu. “We will also take this opportunity to accelerate our transformation into a global AI company by engaging in extensive collaboration with global players.
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SKT, MediaTek and Nota Develop On-device AI-based Smartphone Power Saving Technology2024.02.15
SK Telecom (NYSE:SKM, “SKT”) today announced that, in collaboration with MediaTek, a global application processor maker, and Nota AI, a startup specializing in AI lightweighting, it developed a smartphone power-saving technology using on-device AI. Smartphone battery life is an important factor that affects customer experience. Thus, from the hardware side, diverse efforts are being made to increase battery capacity and reduce the power consumption of components like displays, and at the same time, new attempts are also being made to develop communication technologies capable of reducing power consumption that occurs in regards to data transmission and reception. In general, the device performs data transmission and reception while connected to the base station, and even after the completion of data transmission/reception, the device stays connected to the base station for a set amount of time to standby for data that may occur in the future, which leads to non-negligible consumption of power. SKT, together with MediaTek and Nota, developed an on-device AI-based technology that enables the device to predict, in real-time, whether data transmission will occur within a certain period of time, thereby controlling an optimal connection status between the device and the base station. That is, if the prediction indicates that data is likely to occur, it will continue to maintain connection between the device and the base station. On the other hand, if it thinks that data is unlikely to occur, it will disconnect from the base station to prevent unnecessary use of power. The three companies focused on selecting optimal AI model and lightweighting the model using techniques such as quantization and pruning to enable low-latency and low-power operation on smartphones. They then applied the lightweight AI model to a real smartphone modem to verify its real-time operation, and secured a level of prediction accuracy that can translate into smartphone power savings. The research and development achievement will be introduced at SKTs booth (Hall 3 Stand 3I30) during MWC Barcelona 2024, and continued efforts will be made to improve the completeness of the technology by further advancing AI models and conducting tests for network interworking.
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SKT Announces FY 2023 Results2024.02.05
SK Telecom (NYSE:SKM, “SKT”) today announced its earnings for the year 2023 on a K-IFRS consolidated basis: revenue of KRW 17.609 trillion, operating income of KRW 1.753 trillion and net income of KRW 1.146 trillion. Compared to last year, SKT’s consolidated revenue and operating income increased by 1.8% and 8.8%, respectively, backed by even growth of three business areas - namely AI Infrastructure, AI Transformation (AIX) and AI Service - promoted under its AI Pyramid Strategy announced in September 2023. On a non-consolidated basis, SKT’s revenue, operating income and net income stood at KRW 12.589 trillion, KRW 1.456 trillion and KRW 1.060 trillion, respectively. SKT expects its AI businesses to achieve revenue growth based on strong AI infrastructure and technology capabilities it has built so far. AI data center, AI enterprise and AI semiconductor are expected to drive the growth of SKT’s AI business by rapidly expanding sales this year with steep growth in market demand. The company also plans to keep adding attractive features/services to its personal AI assistant service A.(pronounced “A dot”) to lead the AI assistant service market. Moreover, in 2024, SKT aims to create tangible results in AI business areas including AI data center, AI semiconductor, telco-specific LLM, and X Caliber. For the fourth quarter of 2023, SKT's board of directors confirmed a dividend of KRW 1,050 per share, which is the same as last quarter. Including the KRW 2,490 per share already paid, the annualized dividend will be KRW 3,540 per share, subject to approval at the Annual Meeting of Shareholders in March 2024. The conference call in regard to SK Telecom’s FY 2023 earnings results can be heard via SK Telecom’s webpage on Monday February 5, from 10:00 Seoul Time. Link: https://irsvc.teletogether.com/skt/skt2023Q4_eng.php Please click the following link to access SKT’s Investor Briefing report and the opening speech of the earnings conference call to learn more about SKT’s 2023 earnings and business plans: https://www.sktelecom.com/en/investor/lib/announce.do (The opening speech script will be available upon completion of the earnings conference call.)
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SKT Develops Key Technology for Low-latency Core Network for 6G Evolution2024.02.01
SK Telecom (NYSE:SKM, “SKT”) announced that, in collaboration with Intel, it has successfully developed technology to reduce communication delays necessary for the evolution of 6G Core Architecture. The Core network is the gateway through which all voice and data traffic generated from a customer's mobile device passes through to access the Internet network. It is a mobile communication service system that is responsible for security and service quality through the inter-connection of various systems. The 6G Core Architecture is required to have higher flexibility and safety than previous generations of communications, and to provide stable AI service quality and technologies to customers by embedding intelligent and automation technologies. As Core network technology continues to develop, the various systems that make up the network and the detailed functions that provide various services are also explosively increasing. As network complexity continues to increase, the process of sending and receiving messages is frequently recreated. Therefore, communication delays will increase compared to before. It is difficult to address these limitations with communication standard technologies (service communication proxies) for interconnection between unit functions within the existing Core network. Inline Service Mesh, a technology the two companies developed utilizing Intel Xeon processors with built in AI, is capable of increasing the communication speed within the Core network by reducing latency between unit function without Proxy. Through this technology development, AI, which requires a large amount of computation, can be applied to the Core network in a wider variety of models. SKT has already commercialized a technology that reduces wireless resources by 40% and improves connectivity by analyzing movement patterns of real users in real time. Through this cooperation, the two companies will be able to reduce communication delays by 70% and increase service efficiency by 33% in the Core network through the application of the 6G Core Architecture. SKT aims to apply the results of this study to commercial equipment next year. A technical white paper has been published that describes the technology, development process and benefits. SKT and Intel have been continuing to cooperate for research on the development of key wired/wireless mobile communication technologies for the past 10 years. Based on the results of this study, the two companies plan to continue research and development for traffic processing improvement technologies incorporating AI technology in various areas of the Core network. "We have made another technical achievement through continuous technology development cooperation with Intel to secure leadership in 6G," said Yu Takki, Vice President and Head of Infra Tech at SKT. "We will continue our research and make efforts to commercialize AI-based 6G Core Architecture.” "Our research and development efforts with SK Telecom continue to deliver innovations that have been deployed by Communications Service Providers worldwide”, said Dan Rodriguez, Corporate Vice President of Intel Network & Edge Solutions Group. “By leveraging the latest Intel Xeon processors with built in AI features, our companies are able to drive both performance and efficiency improvements that will be vital to the future Core networks.
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SKT Expands AI-powered Veterinary Service ‘X Caliber’ into Global Market2024.01.17
SK Telecom (NYSE:SKM, “SKT”) announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership with Vetology Innovations (“Vetology”), a medical technology manufacturer based in San Diego, California, and inked a commercial contract with Vieworks, an X-ray medical imaging device manufacturer with extensive global network, to promote overseas distribution of its AI-based veterinary X-ray image diagnosis assistance service ‘X Caliber’ and accelerate AI transformation of the veterinary sector. SKT formed a strategic partnership with Vetology, a leading provider of veterinary imaging diagnostics in the U.S. with a clientele of around 3,000 clinics. The two companies will cooperate to create mutually beneficial business opportunities by integrating SKT’s AI technologies and Vetology’s expertise in the veterinary sector. Moreover, SKT signed a commercial contract with Vieworks, a manufacturer of X-ray medical imaging devices that supplies X-ray detector and medical devices to companies in around 100 countries, on January 15, 2024. SKT and Vieworks plan to combine SKT’s X Caliber and Viework’s digital radiography acquisition software ‘VXvue,’ and unveil an integrated medical imaging solution in the first half of 2024. SKT expects these partnerships, which follow a series of partnerships it entered with companies in Australia, Singapore, and Japan last year, to propel the growth of X Caliber in the global veterinary market and contribute to the advancement of the overall AI healthcare industry.
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SKT Transports Visitors to a New World Powered by AI Technologies2024.01.10
SK Telecom (NYSE:SKM, “SKT”) is showcasing diverse AI technologies at CES 2024 held in Las Vegas from January 9 to 12, 2024. The SK booth - jointly operated by SKT, SK Inc., SK Innovation, SK hynix, SK E&S, SK Ecoplant and SKC – features an interactive amusement park, inviting visitors a net-zero world realized through advanced technologies. [Photo 1: Visitors exploring SK’s booth at CES 2024] [Photo 2: Visitors taking a “Magic Carpet” ride to experience future mobility via SKT’s urban air mobility (UAM) technology] [Photo 3: Visitors learning about “X Caliber,” SKT’s AI-powered veterinary X-ray image diagnosis assistance service] [Photo 4: Visitors taking a tour around SK Booth on Clean Energy Train powered by hydrogen] [Photo 5: Visitors taking a look at Dancing Car, which is fully electric, able to recharge in 20 minutes and built to travel hundreds of miles between charges]