SK Telecom shares set a new all-time high, reclaiming the No. 1 spot in market capitalization among the three telecom companies. The gains are seen as driven by the spotlight on returns from SK Telecom's investment in a U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) firm and by the company's passing of the first stage of the government-led "independent AI foundation model" assessment, which lifted investor sentiment.
On the 4th, SK Telecom closed at 77,900 won, a record high. It also retook the top spot in market cap among telecom companies from KT, which it ceded in Jan. last year, after one year. While the KOSPI has been trending higher recently, SK Telecom's rally was the steepest among the three. The stock jumped 46% from 53,300 won on the 2nd of last month. Over the same period, KT rose 11.5% and LG Uplus climbed 12.4%.
Foreign buying is cited as the key driver behind the sharp rise. This year, except for the 3rd, foreign investors were net buyers of SK Telecom shares. According to a Financial Supervisory Service filing, global asset manager Wellington Management Company bought shares on the market on the 21st–22nd of last month to secure a 5.01% equity stake in SK Telecom, becoming the fourth-largest shareholder.
The surge in the value of Anthropic, a U.S. AI firm backed by SK Telecom, is cited as a key factor spurring foreign purchases. SK Telecom invested about 130 billion won in Anthropic in 2023. As Anthropic recently raised new funding at a $25 billion valuation, the value of SK Telecom's equity stake is estimated to have swelled to about 2.6 trillion–3.6 trillion won. That corresponds to about 15.54%–21.52% of SK Telecom's market capitalization of 16.7321 trillion won.
Being selected as a second-phase company in the government-led "independent AI foundation model project" alongside LG AI Research Institute and Upstage is also seen as a positive for the stock. SK Telecom's strategy to expand its AI business has enhanced the stock's appeal, and the expansion of AI infrastructure has emerged as a key investment point. Analysts say SK Telecom is improving the visibility of its medium- to long-term AI business by expanding its data center operations to the Seoul metropolitan area, South Gyeongsang, and the southwest region, including the Ulsan AI data center being pursued jointly with Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Improvement in subscriber metrics also acted as a tailwind. During KT's penalty waiver period in Jan., SK Telecom saw a net increase of 165,370 subscribers, while KT recorded a net decrease of 238,062. LG Uplus posted a net increase of only 55,317. A telecom industry official said, "The hacking incident that flared up last year has already been largely priced in, and a series of recent positives are giving SK Telecom shares momentum."