KT ventures into Thai, Southeast Asian AI markets with in-house Mi:dm

[Courtesy of KT]

South Korean mobile carrier KT Corp. is tapping the Thai market for its hyperscale artificial intelligence (AI) model Mi:dm to set a firm foundation for its overseas expansion. KT announced Sunday that it held a meeting with Thai information and communication technology (ICT) company Jasmine Group at the KT headquarters in Gwanghwamun, Seoul on Thursday, where the duo discussed collaborating on business plans using the mobile carrier’s Mi:dm.

In September, KT signed a business agreement with Jasmine Technology Solution PCL (JTS), an affiliate of Jasmine Group, to jointly build a large language model (LLM) for Thailand and Southeast Asia. Via this latest collaboration KT and Jasmine Group plan to build a Thai-dedicated LLM, along with a business model on how to use it, as well as drawing up a plan to respond to AI regulations in Southeast Asia to gain more business in the region. While KT transfers the technology and know-how required to build the LLM, Jasmine Group will create a graphics processing unit (GPU) farm, a cluster of GPUs that serve as a basic infrastructure, to analyze the Southeast Asian market.

The duo will also specifically prep the GPUs for a new internet data center (IDC) promoted by JasTel Network Co., a Jasmine Group subsidiary, in the first half of 2024 and begin building an LLM for the Thai language from the second half of the year. These efforts will expand beyond Thailand to the entire Southeast Asian market, including Laos and Cambodia.

“Through this cooperation, we expect to contribute to enhancing the competitiveness of Thailand’s AI industry with Jasmine Group and to successfully enter the Southeast Asian AI market together,” KT chief executive officer Kim Young-shub said.