Beneath this new technique, SK Telecom will broaden its Ulsan AI knowledge heart to a 1 GW-scale capability
In sum – what to know:
Ulsan AIDC expands to 1 GW scale – SK Telecom is creating nationwide and international AIDC hubs, with new tasks in Korea’s southwest and plans for Vietnam.
International partnerships deepen AI innovation – AWS and Nvidia collaborations speed up Edge AI, AI-RAN, and the manufacturing AI cloud.
SKT turns into full-stack AIDC developer – Firm to internalize design, construct, and operation processes, commercializing superior AIDC resolution packages.
Korean service SK Telecom introduced plans to evolve right into a complete synthetic intelligence knowledge heart (AIDC) developer and broaden into the worldwide market, the corporate stated in a launch.
The technique was unveiled by newly appointed CEO Jung Jaihun throughout his keynote speech on the SK AI Summit 2025.
Beneath this new technique, SK Telecom will broaden its Ulsan AI knowledge heart to a 1 GW-scale capability, supported by energy-specialized options, as a part of its ambition to make Korea Asia’s main AI hub. The corporate plans to copy this mannequin by way of extra AIDC websites and appeal to overseas funding into Korea’s AI infrastructure.
In October 2025, SK Group signed an MoU to construct a brand new AIDC in Korea’s southwestern area, becoming a member of the present hubs in Gasan and Ulsan.
“Following the launch of the Ulsan AIDC, international corporations have begun recognizing SK Telecom’s improvement capabilities. We’re laying the muse for South Korea to turn into Asia’s AI infrastructure hub,” the manager stated.
The corporate additionally plans to enter Southeast Asia, beginning with Vietnam, the place it’ll companion with SK Innovation to construct an LNG-powered AIDC that makes use of chilly vitality for data-center cooling.
Jung emphasised that as AI providers broaden, telecom operators’ networks are being redefined. “Leveraging nationwide infrastructure, telecom corporations can uniquely bridge the hole between AIDC and on-device AI by way of Edge AI and AI-RAN,” he stated.
To speed up this, the Korean service has launched a long-term R&D partnership with Amazon Net Companies (AWS), combining SKT’s infrastructure experience with AWS’s international cloud know-how.
Additionally, SK Telecom will collaborate with Nvidia, the federal government, and academia, to show AI-RAN know-how. The corporate will even purchase over 2,000 Nvidia RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell GPUs to construct a producing AI cloud, supporting AI transformation inside SK Hynix.
SK Telecom additionally stated it goals to internalize AIDC improvement by dealing with design, development, and operation. The corporate plans to commercialize an AIDC resolution bundle that integrates 4 core applied sciences in collaboration with international companions:
-Out-rack resolution – manages exterior methods together with cooling, energy, and safety.
-Clustering resolution – optimizes interconnection between servers.
-In-rack resolution – improves server-level effectivity.
-Power resolution – enhances energy and thermal administration.
In its newest earnings assertion, SK Telecom stated its AI enterprise grew 35.7% year-on-year within the third quarter of the 12 months.
The AIDC unit generated KRW 149.8 billion ($104.7 million) in income, supported by the Pangyo Knowledge Heart acquisition and the GPU leasing help program, the service stated.
To speed up its transition towards an AI-centered enterprise mannequin, SK Telecom just lately introduced plans to consolidate its beforehand distributed AI operations underneath a brand new AI company-in-company (AI CIC) construction.
