[Market Focus] SK Telecom Surges on Expectations of Rising Anthropic Stake Value... Hits Record High

SK Telecom showed strong performance with a gain of over 5%, hitting a new 52-week intraday high.

As of 9:25 a.m. on January 20, SK Telecom was trading at 62,400 won on the Korea Exchange, up 3,200 won (5.41%) from the previous day. The stock climbed as high as 62,700 won during the session, setting a new 52-week high.

The rally is attributed to expectations of an increase in the value of SK Telecom's stake in Anthropic. On this day, Korea Investment & Securities raised its target price for SK Telecom by 16.4% to 71,000 won, reflecting a revaluation of its Anthropic stake. Kim Jeongchan, a researcher at Korea Investment & Securities, stated, "SK Telecom's share price rose 7% yesterday, driven by the revaluation of its Anthropic stake and renewed attention to its competitiveness in artificial intelligence (AI) as it entered the second phase of its proprietary AI foundation model development project." He added, "News that Anthropic secured a $25 billion investment in a pre-IPO round at a $350 billion valuation has brought renewed focus to the value of SK Telecom's stake, which was acquired with a $100 million investment in 2023." He continued, "According to the semi-annual report for the first half of last year, SK Telecom held a 0.7% stake in Anthropic, with a book value of 192.5 billion won. Although the stake is expected to be diluted to 0.58% through subsequent investment rounds, considering Anthropic's soaring valuation, the value of SK Telecom's holding is estimated to have increased to approximately 3 trillion won."