We will invest a total of about 12 trillion won over three years in information security, IT, and networks, and 6 trillion won within five years to build AX (AI transformation) infrastructure such as AI data centers (DC) and subsea cables, so KT will leap forward as an AX platform company. As new growth businesses, we plan to kick off building a digital finance platform based on a Token Factory that applies a telecom operator's unique billing and settlement capabilities to AI services and a stablecoin.
Park Yoon-young, KT president, on the 6th held his first press briefing at the Pullman Ambassador Seoul East Pole Hotel in Gwangjin District, Seoul, marking 100 days since taking office, and announced key strategies to leap into an AX platform company. A token is the basic unit an AI model uses when ingesting and outputting. Having previously served at KT as head of future business development at the Institute of Convergence Technology, head of corporate consulting, and head of the corporate division (president), and having been credited with boosting B2B (business-to-business) business performance, Park emphasized growth in his specialty, the B2B market.
Park defined the AX platform company blueprint he drew as corporations that, as a national key telecommunications operator, take responsibility for the present and future of Korea's connections and achieve overwhelming growth with platforms and innovative services that lead the AX era.
◇ "Before and after privatization, the essence is connection"
Born in 1962, Park graduated from Seoul National University with a degree in civil engineering and earned his master's and doctorate in civil engineering. He joined in 1992, when KT was Korea Telecom, as a network technology researcher, moved to SK, then returned to KT. He later served as head of future business development at the KT Institute of Convergence Technology, head of corporate business consulting, and head of the corporate business division (president).
Park took office on Mar. 31 this year. As former KT president Kim Young-shub effectively gave up a second term due to a large-scale hacking incident, the new president was tasked with handling the aftermath of the hacking and rebuilding a vulnerable organizational culture exposed by it. In addition, right after taking office, Park also faced the burden of normalizing the abnormal power of the KT board that had backed him as the new chief executive officer (CEO).
Seemingly mindful of this, before announcing a leap to an AX platform company, Park said, "KT worked for the nation when it was launched in 1981 as Korea Telecom, and since its privatization in 2002, it has pursued maximizing shareholder returns. There were different identities, but the essence of our business was connecting people to people, people to data, and data to data," adding, "In the AX era, connecting people to AI and AI to AI is KT's new calling."
He added, "It has been nearly 100 days since I took office, and in the course of building our strategy, I was reminded of the importance of security and networks," noting, "In particular, we are training so that security is not a part of what we do but the whole."
◇ The winning move is "AX"… "Operating experience in AI DCs is the differentiator"
While strengthening existing telecom competitiveness, Park picked the AX platform as the field where he will go all in.
KT will invest a total of 12 trillion won—4 trillion won in information security and IT and 8 trillion won in networks over three years—to strengthen its core telecom business. It will completely overhaul its companywide security system and secure leadership in key future network technologies such as sixth-generation mobile communications (6G), satellites, and data center interconnect (DCI). In particular, it will directly control and operate multiple satellites in geostationary orbit (GEO) and low Earth orbit (LEO) to secure Korea's telecom sovereignty. Based on this, it will invest 6 trillion won in AI infrastructure over five years. Of the 6 trillion won, 5 trillion won will go to building a hyperscale AI data center with 1 gigawatt (GW) of capacity. The remaining 1 trillion won will be invested in subsea cables to add 90 Tbps to the current 38 Tbps of supply.
The Token Factory, cited as a new growth driver, is a strategy that notes AI services have shifted from flat-rate plans to usage-based billing structures. Park's strategy is not to remain a simple intermediary business but to lower token generation expense by optimizing AI agents. For the stablecoin, the company plans to leverage its own technology with Kbank's customer base and combine it with BC Card's payment and settlement infrastructure to cover the entire process from issuance, custody, and remittance to a real-use ecosystem.
Asked whether the investment size is small compared to competitors, Park said, "The numbers are within the scope of what KT can do based on real demand," adding, "What matters in AI DCs is operating experience, and this is where KT is differentiated from other companies."