SK Telecom will spin off SK Broadband's artificial intelligence (AI) data center (DC) business to establish a specialized company, SK Horizon. It will also raise more than 3 trillion won from external investors to target the Asian AI infrastructure market.
SK Telecom said on the 27th that it will conduct a spin-off of its wholly owned subsidiary SK Broadband into the surviving entity SK Broadband and the new entity SK Horizon. Based on book value of net worth, the partitioning ratio is about 0.84 for SK Broadband and about 0.16 for SK Horizon. It plans to complete the split by the first quarter of next year after government approvals and an extraordinary shareholders meeting.
SK Horizon will oversee eight operating data centers in Seocho, Ilsan, Bundang, Gasan, Centum, Yangju, and Pangyo, as well as AI data centers under construction in Ulsan and Guro. The total infrastructure capacity is 318 megawatts (MW). It will add more data centers and gradually expand the build-out of submarine cables needed for global AI operations. The company name reflects its aim to open a new horizon for the AI data center industry.
Along with this partitioning, SK Telecom signed an equity investment agreement in SK Horizon with global investment firm KKR and a consortium of IMM Investment and Stonebridge Capital. The total investment is 3.08 trillion won. Once the deal is completed, SK Telecom will hold 51% of SK Horizon to retain management control. KKR and the IMM consortium will secure 29% and 20%, respectively. The funds will be used to expand AI data centers and related infrastructure.
With the launch of SK Horizon, SK Telecom will refine the group's AI data center business structure. SK Telecom will lead overall strategy and partnerships with global big tech, while SK Horizon will handle operations of existing data centers and expansion of foundational facilities such as submarine cables. SK Hyper, established in July, will focus on developing large-scale new AI data centers. SK Hyper has set a goal to secure 5 gigawatts (GW) of data centers by 2029 and 15 GW by 2035 in phases.
Kim Seong-su, CEO of SK Broadband, is expected to concurrently serve as CEO of SK Horizon. The board will decide on the final appointment after the entity is established. The surviving entity, SK Broadband, will expand AI transformation (AX)-based products and services centered on fixed-line, media, and corporate business.
CEO Kim Seong-su said, "This is a preemptive reorganization to strengthen business expertise and execution speed," and added, "We will grow SK Horizon into Korea's top-tier AI data center infrastructure company."