SK Telecom said on the 10th that it held a media briefing at NTT's headquarters in Otemachi, Tokyo, with Japan's information and communications technology (ICT) group NTT and Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom, and that they will jointly create the IOWN (Innovative Optical and Wireless Network) AI fund to invest in next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
The three companies will establish a fund management company, Catalight Capital, based in Silicon Valley and East Asia, to build a global fund management system. The fund is expected to reach $500 million (about 760 billion won).
The fund will invest in promising startups across a wide range of areas, including: ▲ AI data center infrastructure such as power efficiency optimization and liquid cooling ▲ AI Semiconductor such as AI accelerators, graphics processing units (GPU), and Neural Processing Unit (NPU) ▲ AI service applications across various industries including healthcare, manufacturing, and finance ▲ AI software for cloud distributed systems and inference optimization ▲ optical communications that improve data transmission performance and power efficiency. Targets include innovative corporations in North America as well as Asia and Europe.
Beyond financial investment, the fund participants aim to create new business models and grow together by supporting technology verification, service advancement, and customer development. They plan to close the first round of investor recruitment soon and officially launch the fund. NTT said about 20 global corporations, including Sony and Toshiba, have expressed interest in participating as limited partners. SK hynix is also preparing to join the fund.
The launch of this AI fund is drawing attention as leading East Asian ICT corporations jointly move to expand the AI ecosystem. In particular, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won has argued for stronger cooperation, saying Japan and Korea can rise as "rule makers" of a new international order through active economic solidarity.
SKT said, "Capabilities such as building and stably operating AI infrastructure and rapidly scaling AI services are emerging as core competitiveness, with a clear trend of alliances at the national or corporations level," adding, "Starting with this fund launch, we plan to continue pursuing cross-border Korea-Japan economic and technological cooperation in areas such as AI data centers (DC) and B2B and B2C services."
At the briefing were key executives from the three companies, including SKT CEO Jung Jai-hun, NTT CEO Akira Shimada, and Chunghwa Telecom President Lin Rongci.