[Concall] LG Uplus "Solutions Also Strong... Continued Expansion of Smart Factory"

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] Jo Won-seok, Head of LG Uplus Corporate New Business Group (Executive Director), stated during the Q1 2021 earnings conference call on the 12th, "The strong performance in the solutions sector in Q1 was driven by 5G-based new business results such as relay messaging, SME solutions, online solutions, and smart factories amid the COVID-19 situation."

In the first quarter of this year, LG Uplus Corporate Infrastructure division recorded sales of 341.5 billion KRW, a 9% increase compared to the same period last year, driven by growth in solutions, Internet Data Center (IDC), and corporate lines. In particular, the solutions sector achieved sales of 98.8 billion KRW, up 11.3% year-on-year.

Executive Director Jo said, "Sales also reflected the demonstration and supply of factory solutions for LTE and 5G private networks," adding, "The smart factory business is expanding its scope to include equipment management, quality control, and automation, which are core to factory operations."

He continued, "In the first half of the year, in addition to distribution board diagnosis and predictive maintenance, we expect additional sales from new solutions such as 'AI vision inspection' that detects defects in products based on artificial intelligence (AI), 5G network-connected AGV (Auto Guided Vehicle), and autonomous driving robots."

For the second quarter, the plan is to increase actual sales contributions by expanding business opportunities in new businesses. By targeting non-face-to-face (untact) demand, sales in existing businesses such as corporate lines will also increase, continuing growth in the overall corporate infrastructure business including IDC.