SK telecom expands alliance with local AI players

[Courtesy of SK telecom Co.]

SK telecom Co. is expanding its alliance with domestic artificial intelligence (AI) companies to bolster the AI ecosystem in South Korea and enhance its own AI business competitiveness.

SK telecom announced on Sunday that it hosted its annual Unite 2024 event for the Korean alliance on Friday in Silicon Valley, the United States.

During the event, SK telecom revealed plans to transition the alliance into an open platform, encouraging greater participation and collaboration among AI companies.

The event saw the participation of 15 companies, including SK telecom, Moloco, Bespin Global, Phantom AI, TUAT, Scatter Lab, and CMES.

The goal is to expand the alliance by actively encouraging participation from domestic AI firms and fostering technological and business cooperation among them.

The addition of new partners, such as Lablup, a GPU optimization platform provider, and XL8, an AI-based subtitle and translation solution provider, has increased the total number of alliance members to 18.

Since SK telecom announced the formation of the so-called K-AI Alliance at the global telecommunications expo, Mobile World Congress, in February last year, the number of participating companies has grown from seven to 18 in less than two years.

The Unite 2024 event also featured keynote speeches from leading AI companies such as OpenAI and Perplexity, providing valuable insights into the AI field.

In its quest for AI industry competitiveness, SK telecom is also collaborating on a global scale with the Global Telco AI Alliance (GTAA), a consortium of international telecom operators.

This partnership aims to develop AI solutions tailored to the telecommunications sector.