Yoo Young-sang, SKT CEO: "AI Has Matured One Step... Synergy with SK Affiliates Is a Strength"

Yoo Young-sang, CEO of SK Telecom, expressed his view that "AI technology appears to have matured to the next level" at CES 2025, the world's largest electronics and information technology (IT) exhibition, which opened on the 7th (local time) in Las Vegas, USA.

Yu Young-sang, CEO of SKT (center), and Han Jong-hee, Vice Chairman of Samsung Electronics (right), are taking a commemorative photo at the Samsung Electronics exhibition hall at CES 2025, which opened on the 7th (local time) at the Las Vegas Convention Center in the United States. Photo by Yonhap News

Right after the opening of CES 2025, Yoo visited the exhibition hall jointly organized with SK affiliates such as SK Hynix, SKC, and SK Enmove, toured the exhibits, and then spoke to the press.

He said he attentively listened to the keynote speech by Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, held the day before, and remarked, "Last year, AI technology first emerged and attracted a lot of attention, but now we see many use cases of vertical (specialized) AI in daily life and industry." Yoo also spoke about the AI personal assistant service Esther, which will be launched this year targeting the North American market: "AI assistants seem to be evolving into agents, and then into the concept of avatars. This is a test to see how agent services can be offered on the global stage. We need to fully engage to know the results."

Yoo also mentioned that SK Telecom's strength, compared to other telecom companies, lies in the structure that can create synergy in AI technology and industry with affiliates like SK Hynix and SKC, who jointly organized the exhibition hall at this CES.

After touring the SK exhibition hall, he visited the Samsung Electronics and Panasonic exhibition halls. At the Samsung Electronics hall, Han Jong-hee, Vice Chairman and Head of the Device Experience (DX) Division, who welcomed CEO Yoo, said, "If time permits, I recommend visiting not only the general exhibition but also the private booths." After touring the Samsung Electronics exhibition, Yoo said, "The SmartThings section of Samsung Electronics' exhibition was impressive. It is now natural to integrate AI into homes, and strategically, they are doing very well."

After Yoo's visit to the Samsung Electronics exhibition hall, Haruhito Kowashi, CEO of Panasonic Device Sales Korea, said, "Among the Korean exhibition halls, we have high expectations for the semiconductor, telecommunications, and automotive sectors."

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