SK Telecom will establish a CIC (company-in-company) to oversee its artificial intelligence (AI) business and invest 5 trillion won in AI over the next five years. President Ryu Young-sang of SK Telecom will concurrently serve as head of the AI CIC and has set a goal of achieving annual revenue of at least 5 trillion won by 2030.
SK Telecom said on the 25th that it will launch the AI CIC, announcing the plan at a town hall meeting for all employees chaired by Ryu.
Ryu said, "To avoid missing the AI golden time, where crisis and opportunity coexist amid rapid changes in the AI environment, we need internal AI innovation from the user's perspective and AI business innovation from the supplier's perspective." He added, "To that end, we are newly launching the AI CIC, an elite organizational structure that concentrates companywide AI capabilities."
SK Telecom plans to grow the newly launched AI CIC into the main body of SK Telecom's AI business and further into the core that leads SK Group's AI business as a whole. It will also pursue internal AI innovation, including in-house systems, organizational culture, and strengthening employees' AI capabilities.
SK Telecom will reorganize functions and organizations into an AI CIC system, including ▲ adot (A.) service ▲ adot Biz (A. Biz) service for corporations ▲ AI DC (data center) business ▲ global AI alliance investments ▲ AI R&D ▲ messaging/authentication business, to drive AI innovation that boosts business productivity and efficiency.
Ryu will concurrently serve as head of the AI CIC, and the detailed organizational reshuffle will take effect at the end of October.
According to the company, the newly launched AI CIC has a fast and lean organizational structure to respond flexibly and swiftly to environmental changes. SK Telecom plans to build an organizational culture that is performance-oriented and encourages continuous challenges based on employees' competencies.
In particular, it plans to invest about 5 trillion won in AI over the next five years to achieve annual revenue of at least 5 trillion won by 2030. To that end, it will form a stable virtuous cycle of AI demand (AI B2C, AI B2B) and supply (AI infrastructure) and secure a self-sustaining revenue structure.
AI B2C will focus on securing a sustainable revenue structure by expanding the domestic and overseas subscriber base centered on adot. AI B2B will accelerate business expansion by demonstrating productivity gains through agentic AI services such as adot Biz and securing references in manufacturing AI.
For the AI DC business, it said it aims to become Korea's top-tier AI DC operator by attracting global big tech and leading government projects.
It will also integrate dispersed AI technology assets and strengthen its role as an "AI platform" that supports AI technology and operations across SK Group as a whole. It will simultaneously pursue a flexible AI model acquisition strategy to address diverse AI needs across government, industry, and the private sector.
In addition, it will move quickly on technology development (R&D) in future growth areas such as digital twins and robotics, and on expanding domestic and overseas partnerships based on full-stack AI capabilities.
Ryu said, "The SK Telecom AI CIC will establish itself as Korea's representative AI operator across all AI areas, including services and platforms, AI DC, and proprietary foundation models," adding, "Through this, we will play a central role in building the domestic AI ecosystem while becoming a company that contributes to the success of the national AI strategy."
Ryu also announced internal AI innovation measures. First, by placing employees with AI capabilities evenly across the organization, the company plans to strengthen companywide AI capabilities and create synergies that expand each employee's career.
It will also accelerate AX (AI transformation) of companywide systems and infrastructure based on AI/DT. In the MNO business, it will optimize and automate key work processes and innovate online and offline customer touchpoints, while in the network (infrastructure) business, it will push AX-based work innovation such as enhancing N/W operations automation and improving service stability based on intelligent N/W.
It will also work to improve work productivity through AI-based ways of working innovation. By maximizing the internal application scope and use of adot Biz to increase work efficiency, and by operating in-house systems that lead AI work innovation such as AI Frontier and AI Board, it plans to spread an AI-centered internal culture.
Along with the AI innovation announced that day, Ryu asked employees to join forces so that SK Telecom can regain customers' trust and make a fresh leap forward through three innovation tasks: security innovation and fundamental competitiveness innovation (O/I).
In security, the company will apply a security-first strategy across management, focusing on the information protection innovation plan announced in Jul., strengthening technology and systems such as enhancing security governance and building a zero-trust information protection framework, as well as expanding information protection organizations and personnel and introducing advisory processes with security experts and institutions at home and abroad.
Ryu said, "Over the past three years, through the transition to an AI company, SK Telecom has achieved various results such as securing 10 million adopters of adot, selecting a proprietary AI foundation model, launching the Ulsan AI DC, and building global partnerships, laying the groundwork for future growth."
He added, "Centering on the AI CIC, we will achieve another round of AI innovation to restore the trust of customers and the market and move forward as a global AI company."