"AI Semiconductor No.1 Challenge" SKT Launches Korea's First AI Semiconductor for Data Centers

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Cho] SK Telecom is launching the world's top-tier artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor, developed independently for the first time in Korea. Through this, the company aims to lead the realization of the Moon Jae-in administration's declaration of becoming the 'No.1 AI nation' while also securing a foothold in the global AI semiconductor market, which is expected to grow to about 50 trillion KRW by 2024.

On the afternoon of the 25th, SK Telecom showcased its self-developed data center AI semiconductor and announced its future AI semiconductor business vision at the event 'Korean New Deal, Meeting Korea's Artificial Intelligence' held at KINTEX in Ilsan.

Kim Yoon, SK Telecom CTO and the presenter, unveiled the AI semiconductor ‘SAPEON X220’ and described it as “a remarkable achievement made possible through SK Telecom’s technological capabilities and service expertise, active government support, and collaboration with small and medium-sized enterprises.” The AI semiconductor, which serves as the core brain of AI, is a specialized non-memory semiconductor designed for executing large-scale computations required for AI services at ultra-high speed and low power consumption.

◆World-Class AI Semiconductor Launched First in Korea... Half the Price of GPUs

With this AI semiconductor launch, SK Telecom has thrown its hat into the future semiconductor market dominated by global big tech companies such as Nvidia, Intel, and Google.

As AI services rapidly expand across daily life and industries, the need to enhance AI data center performance is increasing. Most companies operate AI data centers using GPUs (graphics processing units), but the high cost of GPUs and the large power consumption leading to high operating expenses have raised market expectations for AI semiconductors.

The newly revealed ‘SAPEON X220’ boasts superior performance and lower cost compared to existing GPUs. Its deep learning computation speed is 1.5 times faster than GPUs, which increases data processing capacity by 1.5 times when applied to data centers. The price is about half that of GPUs, and power consumption is only 80%.

SK Telecom emphasized that it secured the competitiveness of ‘SAPEON X220’ through customized design. Unlike GPUs designed for graphic information processing, the semiconductor is designed to maximize efficiency by dedicating most of its data processing capabilities to simultaneous and parallel data processing.

◆AI Semiconductor Brand Launch... Full-Scale Entry into Global Market

SK Telecom also launched the AI semiconductor brand ‘SAPEON’. The name ‘SAPEON’ is a compound of ‘SAPiens’ (meaning humanity) and ‘aEON’ (meaning an eternity), expressing the commitment to continuously provide the benefits of AI semiconductor-based artificial intelligence innovation to humanity. Based on core AI semiconductor design capabilities, SK Telecom plans to enter the global AI semiconductor market in earnest through collaboration with semiconductor companies of all sizes.

Currently, SK Telecom is conducting a national project under the Ministry of Science and ICT to develop next-generation AI semiconductors and is collaborating with global semiconductor company SK Hynix on memory-related technologies. Industry insiders expect synergy effects from the partnership with SK Hynix, which has accumulated semiconductor technology expertise. Additionally, SK Telecom plans to contribute to revitalizing the domestic semiconductor ecosystem by cooperating with small and medium semiconductor companies such as ‘Aizic Land’, ‘KTNF’, and ‘Dudaji’ for semiconductor design, server system production, and cloud software development.

According to market research firm Gartner, the AI semiconductor market is expected to grow sharply at an average annual rate of 36%, from about 7.8 trillion KRW in 2018 to about 50 trillion KRW in 2024. In particular, the semiconductor market required for AI data centers is expected to rapidly shift from the existing GPU-centered market to AI semiconductors like the ‘X220’.

SK Telecom is targeting the global market with an 'AIaaS (AI as a Service)' strategy that provides integrated solutions necessary for AI service delivery, from AI semiconductor chip-based hardware to AI algorithms and APIs software.

An SK Telecom official explained, "We will nurture ‘SAPEON’ as a differentiated AI total solution brand by integrating our self-developed AI semiconductor with various AI services such as AI-based content recommendation, voice recognition, video recognition, and video quality enhancement." For OTT companies wishing to introduce AI-based content recommendation services, SK Telecom will provide everything from high-performance, high-efficiency data centers based on AI semiconductors to content recommendation algorithms and APIs software, enabling these companies to easily adopt high-level AI services.

Furthermore, SK Telecom plans to advance its mobile communication services by combining its world-class 5G mobile edge cloud (MEC) technology with AI semiconductors. Applying AI semiconductors to MEC servers will allow customers to use high-level AI services without being constrained by device performance, based on ultra-low latency communication.

◆AI Semiconductor Scheduled for First Delivery This Year... Pilot Projects with SK ICT Family Next Year

Starting at the end of this year, SK Telecom will begin enhancing AI services by applying ‘SAPEON X220’ in various fields such as media, security, and AI assistants.

First, ‘SAPEON X220’ will be applied to government New Deal projects such as the ‘AI Data Processing Voucher Project’ and the ‘MEC-based 5G Public Sector Leading Application Project’ to accelerate government AI technology development and upgrade 5G MEC technology. Next year, SK Telecom plans to expand AI semiconductor application mainly within the SK ICT family, including its AI services ‘NUGU’, ‘Supernova’, ‘Tview’, and ADT Caps.

As a result, voice recognition for ‘NUGU’, media quality enhancement for ‘Supernova’, and AI-based video surveillance performance for ADT Caps and ‘T View’ are expected to improve significantly, greatly enhancing user convenience.

Additionally, SK Telecom plans to apply ‘SAPEON X220’ to the next-generation media platform cloud server of Cast.era, a high-definition digital broadcasting equipment developer jointly established with the US Sinclair Broadcast Group, to improve broadcasting service quality.

Currently, SK Telecom is also developing a successor semiconductor to ‘SAPEON X220’ through a national project under the Ministry of Science and ICT, with mass production scheduled to begin in 2022. CTO Kim Yoon stated, “In the future, by combining AI semiconductors with SK Telecom’s AI, 5G, and cloud technologies, we will grow into a global top-tier AI company.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.