SK Telecom's Operating Profit Up 4% Last Year... "A.Dot to Launch Paid Service Within the Year" (Comprehensive)

SK Telecom announced on the 12th that its consolidated operating profit for last year was tentatively estimated at 1.8234 trillion KRW, a 4% increase compared to the previous year. Revenue rose by 1.89% year-on-year to 17.9406 trillion KRW. Net profit increased by 25.56% to 1.4388 trillion KRW.

Operating profit for the fourth quarter was 254.1 billion KRW, down 14.44% from the same period last year. Revenue and net profit were 4.5115 trillion KRW and 446.5 billion KRW, respectively.

SK Telecom explained that overall performance expanded as sales in its core artificial intelligence (AI) business grew and costs decreased through company-wide structural improvements.

Consolidated net profit increased due to valuation gains reflected from the merger of AI semiconductor company Sapeon with Rebellion. Based on business units, SK Telecom's AI-related sales grew 19% compared to the year before last.

In particular, AIX business sales reached 193 billion KRW, recording a high growth rate of 32% during the same period as key AI B2B products such as AI cloud business expansion, AICC (AI Contact Center), and Vision AI grew.

AI Data Center (AIDC) sales increased by 13.1% to 397.4 billion KRW, supported by higher operating rates of new data centers including the Gasan Data Center.

Among the seven reorganized business units at the end of last year, SK Telecom stated that it will enhance the execution capabilities of the AIX Business Unit, AI DC Business Unit, A.Dot Business Unit, and GPAA (Global Personal AI Agent) Business Unit to achieve tangible results in the AI field this year.

The performance targets disclosed during the conference call for this year include an increase in operating profit and 1% revenue growth compared to last year, adjusted for the sale of subsidiaries such as SK Communications at the end of last year. The AIX division is also expected to grow by 30%.

To achieve these goals, SK Telecom plans to convert A.Dot to a subscription model and promote monetization as early as this year. Bundling or linking with pricing plans to create synergy with other SK Telecom services is also under consideration.