Yoo Young-sang SKT President "Metaverse, AI Semiconductors, Quantum Cryptography, Targeting Global Market"

Ifland Receives Global Love Calls... Expands to Over 80 Countries
Sapion Emerges as a Global Top-Tier AI Semiconductor Player
Quantum Cryptography Leads the World Market with Technology and Marketability

On the 28th (local time), SKT President Yoo Young-sang announced at a press conference held in Barcelona, Spain, that the company will actively pursue global expansion in the three major 'Next Big-tech' areas (metaverse, AI semiconductors, quantum cryptography).

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Hye-seon] SK Telecom held a press conference on the 28th (local time) in Barcelona, Spain, where MWC22 is taking place, announcing that it will actively globalize its three major 'Next Big-Tech' areas (Metaverse, AI semiconductor, quantum cryptography).

SKT President Yoo Young-sang emphasized, "2022 will be the inaugural year for SKT's Next Big-Tech, born from three years of accumulated know-how since the commercialization of 5G, to fully enter the global market."

He also stated that the company plans to reorganize its business sectors into five major groups?▲wired and wireless communication ▲media ▲enterprise ▲AIVERSE ▲connected intelligence?and simultaneously promote stable growth of core businesses.

Global Love Calls Flood for Ifland

SKT's 'Metaverse, AI semiconductor, and quantum cryptography communication' technologies, introduced over the past three years since the commercialization of 5G, attracted attention from major global ICT players at this MWC.

SKT's metaverse service 'Ifland' will actively enter the global market starting with 80 countries this year. 'Ifland' has established itself as a new communication platform, receiving over 1,500 partnership requests domestically, and has garnered high expectations from the international telecommunications industry as a successful metaverse service independently developed by a global telecom operator. The company explained that collaboration meeting requests from telecom companies worldwide flooded in at MWC22.

At the MWC22 SKT exhibition hall, the company showcased the development version of the global 'Ifland' to be released worldwide, along with the ‘HMD (Head Mounted Display)’ version developed to expand users' metaverse experience areas.

Additionally, to leap into a global innovation service, SKT plans to improve the platform to be open so users can showcase various content in 'Ifland,' open a marketplace in the virtual space applying crypto technology, and enhance user convenience through service upgrades. SKT intends to evolve ‘Ifland’ into a single AIVERSE service where AI agents, content, economic systems, and backend infrastructure are interconnected.

Expansion in AI Semiconductor Sector

SKT announced plans to become a top-tier global AI semiconductor business by launching next-generation follow-up models of AI semiconductors by the end of this year or early next year. The AI semiconductor market is expected to grow approximately 44% annually, reaching a global market size of 40 trillion KRW by 2025. SKT explained that, considering the market growth and rapidly increasing internal demand for 5G MEC and machine learning servers, it decided to pursue global expansion.

Based on the AI accelerator project started in 2016, SKT developed prototypes over three years and launched the AI semiconductor ‘SAPEON X220’ in November 2020. ‘SAPEON X220’ received favorable reviews for its excellent performance, processing 6,700 images per second with the power consumption of a single incandescent bulb, despite being priced lower than existing GPUs. Earlier this year, SK Square, SK Hynix, and SKT jointly invested to establish Sapeon in the U.S., laying a foothold for global market penetration.

SKT plans to focus on securing commercial cases in manufacturing, security, media, and automotive sectors by collaborating with Sapeon, the AI semiconductor specialized company recently spun off, to expand its presence in the global AI semiconductor field this year.

Through the launch of next-generation AI semiconductors and active global expansion, SKT aims to grow into a company with cumulative sales of 2 trillion KRW and a corporate value of 10 trillion KRW by 2027.

Global Top Player in Quantum Cryptography Communication

SKT aims to become a global top quantum cryptography business operator in the field of quantum cryptography communication, where the scope of application is expanding day by day due to the diversification of smart devices and the increasing importance of security. Based on 'IDQ,' the world’s leading quantum cryptography technology company acquired in 2018, SKT has already created use cases of quantum cryptography communication in major telecommunications, financial, and public networks across Europe, North America, and Asia. At the end of last year, the ‘Quantum Cryptography Communication (QKD-based) Network Integrated Management Standard (ETSI GS QKD-018)’ proposed by SKT was approved by the Industrial Standard Group under the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).

In Korea, SKT applied quantum cryptography communication to a 221km section of its 5G backbone network in 2019, the world’s first, and in 2020 launched the world’s first QRNG (Quantum Random Number Generator) phone, the 'Galaxy A Quantum,' in collaboration with Samsung Electronics, leading the quantum cryptography ecosystem. Particularly, based on this technological capability and market potential, SKT has secured over 250 customers and partners, doubling sales compared to before the acquisition and continuously achieving results.

This year, SKT plans to expand sales of existing products such as QRNG and QKD (Quantum Key Distribution) and extend its business into new security-related areas like blockchain and quantum cryptography solutions.

President Yoo Young-sang emphasized, "We will become a global leading quantum cryptography business operator by collaborating with companies in the global telecommunications security IT sector."

SKT is also actively utilizing AI in ESG through the ‘Barrier Free AI’ project, which applies AI to support the elderly and socially vulnerable groups.

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