Yoo Young-sang, SKT CEO, "Embedding AI Intelligence into UAM and Autonomous Vehicles"

SKT 2.0 Long-Term Vision Announced at CES 2022

Yu Young-sang, President of SK Telecom, is holding a press conference in Las Vegas, USA, where CES 2022 was held, and announcing the vision of the 'SK ICT Alliance.' Photo by SK Telecom

[Asia Economy Reporters Minyoung Cha, Heungsun Kim] "SK Telecom aims to realize 'AI-VERSE' (a compound of AI and Universe) by adding our unique value of 'connectivity' and intelligence to next-generation devices."

On the 9th, according to SK Telecom, CEO Yoosang Yoo held a press conference at CES 2022 in Las Vegas, USA, where he revealed the long-term vision of 'SKT 2.0' containing this content. AI-VERSE is a futuristic world that fuses artificial intelligence (AI) and extended virtual worlds (metaverse).

CEO Yoo emphasized, "For a service provider like SK Telecom, the core issue is what devices to connect and how to add intelligence to those connections to provide value to customers," adding, "We have a long-term vision to expand new future-type devices in AI-VERSE that drive cars instead of people."

He continued, "There are still many technical challenges to overcome, so it may take some time, but by aiming for AI-VERSE, services that have never existed before will unfold," and said, "SK Telecom will lead and pioneer the creation of such services."

According to this long-term plan, SK Telecom will innovate its three major services: T Universe (subscription), ifland (metaverse), and AI agents. In addition, following smartphones, it will introduce new services by adding evolved connected intelligence to future devices leading the next decade, such as UAM (Urban Air Mobility), autonomous vehicles, and robots.

In particular, the UAM business division is a project that CEO Yoo passionately leads directly through a task force under his direct supervision. CEO Yoo stated, "We will officially announce and strongly promote the creation of the UAM business."

SK Telecom, together with SK Square and SK Hynix, launched the ‘SK ICT Alliance’ to jointly develop and invest in ICT convergence technologies and pursue global expansion, accelerating semiconductor technology development. They also plan to establish 'Sapeon Inc America,' the US branch of the 'Sapeon Korea' corporation introduced in Korea last year.

CEO Yoo said, "By combining SK Telecom’s technology, SK Hynix’s memory semiconductor technology, and SK Square’s investment capabilities, we will build a semiconductor company in the US," adding, "This long-term vision will be a clue to SK Telecom’s future 10 years from now, as revealed in the New Year's address."