SKT drives an integrated growth strategy for telecom and AI... Token Gateway as a new business

[Financial News] SK Telecom is pursuing a growth strategy that connects its telecom and artificial intelligence (AI) businesses. It is also entering the new business of Token Gateway, which will manage customers’ AI use and connect them to suitable models, leveraging its 23 million customers, network, and AI platforms and infrastructure.
SK Telecom CEO Jung Jae-heon held a town hall for employees at SKT Tower in Seoul on the 8th and announced the ‘SKT Growth Gear strategy.’ The strategy’s core is to link key businesses—including telecom, AI services, and AI infrastructure—using AI technology and AI transformation (AX) as shared drivers.

CEO Jung said, “The focus of AI competition is expanding beyond models and infrastructure to an ecosystem that reliably generates, supplies, and uses tokens,” adding, “For SK Telecom, which has brought together its telecom and AI capabilities, this represents a new growth opportunity.” In its telecom business, the company plans to increase customer value through AI-powered hyper-personalization and proactively secure AI-friendly autonomous networks. It aims to improve telecom services with AI and extend AI services to customers and industries through its telecom networks.
The AI services business will serve both corporate and individual customers, addressing a range of needs from service development to operations. Drawing on its network capabilities and broad AI expertise, the company will target new markets such as defense and public-sector AI, industry-specific AI, and ‘AI for Everyone.’
In AI infrastructure, the company will expand SK Horizon, SK Hyper, and its data center (DC) and subsea cable businesses, and pursue the development of gigawatt-scale AI data centers. It plans to expand its AI Factory, developed in partnership with NVIDIA, in phases, with the goal of launching commercial services next year.

The new Token Gateway business will serve as a control center that manages AI usage patterns among corporate and individual customers and connects them to AI models and infrastructure suited to their needs. SK Telecom plans to build out the business by leveraging its 23 million-customer base, payment systems, and AI platforms and infrastructure that offer a range of models.
The company is also extending AX to its ways of working and organizational operations. Beyond improving individual efficiency through automating repetitive tasks and speeding up work, it will focus on boosting organizational productivity. Soon, it plans to place employees with diverse experience and capabilities in key businesses through an internal open call.
CEO Jung said, “Telecom and AI work in tandem as a single growth engine shaping SK Telecom’s future,” and urged employees, “Let’s continue our One Team culture, using AX to maximize organizational productivity and synergies and accelerate growth.”
[email protected] Yoon Hong-jip Reporter