Yoo Young-sang, president of SK Telecom, mentioned that this year poses an unprecedented crisis and stated on the 2nd that it can be overcome through the achievements in artificial intelligence (AI) business.
In his New Year's address that day, Yoo evaluated, "2024 will be a year to secure the soundness of the telecommunications business through strengthening fundamental competitiveness and to enhance the operational effectiveness of the AI pyramid strategy, thereby establishing a foundation for a global AI company based on both telecommunications and AI." He further explained, "I expect 2025 will face an unprecedented crisis. Market outlook is bleak due to geopolitical issues such as global economic instability, and the domestic economy also faces various challenges, including a slowdown in consumer spending."
Yoo said, "In terms of the technological environment, while new opportunities such as market growth driven by AI-based digital innovation and innovation through the convergence of AI and telecommunications are anticipated, competition for supremacy in AI technology and investment will also accelerate."
Yoo emphasized the need to improve competitiveness by eliminating unnecessary elements while considering both short-term revenue and long-term growth, stating that the paradigm of the existing telecommunications business must be completely transformed through AI.
He further clarified that the market must achieve visible results in AI. He noted the establishment of a synergy system among SK Telecom, SK Broadband, and SK C&C for business-to-business (B2B) AI projects initiated last year and demonstrated the potential for business-to-consumer (B2C) AI services through A-dot and the global AI agent Aster, adding that this year, AI must lead to actual revenue growth.
Yoo also urged employees to achieve meaningful results across all areas, including AI data centers (DC) for AI infrastructure development, GPU as a service (GPUaaS), edge AI projects, AI transformation (AIX) solutions, and personal AI agents (PAA). He set a goal of establishing a flexible corporate culture, stating that flexible communication through horizontal dialogue must be secured and that business-sharing and infrastructure-staff organizations should come together to create a strong teamwork.
Yoo remarked, "In difficult situations, we must change, and when we change, there are paths to success; when we succeed, it lasts. Let's recall the saying 'Gungjeokbyeon (窮則變), byeonjeoktong (變則通), tongjeokgu (通則久)' and navigate this challenging path together," and said, "In this era of uncertainty, let us all prepare for crises and gather wisdom and passion to boldly move toward the vision of becoming a 'global AI company.'"