SK Telecom (SKT) will build out AI radio access network (AI-RAN) infrastructure in South Korea. The operator will lead the Hyper-AI Network Infrastructure pilot project as part of the South Korean government’s 10-year AI Highway plan, which was first unveiled last year.
SKT's involvement will include testing three physical AI services under the initiative: self-driving cars, humanoid robots, and quadruped robotics of the more canine sort, as powered by 5G standalone (SA).
Equipment from South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and HFR will be tested in the endeavor, alongside kit from foreign vendors Ericsson and Nokia. According to Korea Times, SKT will first build AI-RAN networks in the Seoul satellite city and airport hub of Incheon, and use Samsung equipment for a patrol robot service at a local refinery owned by the operator’s SK parent group.
HFR equipment will be used in another Seoul satellite, Pangyo, for autonomous transport services, which are already being tested in the city. Ericsson kit will be used in the second year of the project for more autonomous vehicle testing at KG Mobility's Pyeongtaek plant.
SKT joined the AI-RAN Alliance in March and is currently the only South Korean operator to have a board seat at the body. It joined the group shortly after running an AI-RAN project with Nokia and HFR, as well embarking on a partnership with Ericsson trialing AI-RAN to power 6G networks.
These events coincided at this year's Mobile World Congres (MWC) event where SDxCentral heard first hand from the operator of its telco to “techo” transformation. The efforts followed a recent split at the company with one division operating all things telecom and the other concentrating solely on AI.
SKT told this title it leverages sister brand – and recent IPO rollercoaster – SK Hynix, with the firm touting the memory chipmaker's Gaia generative AI suite optimized for semiconductor operations. Gaia is included in the SKT stack to track metrics such as graphic processing unit (GPU) utilization, high-bandwidth memory usage, power, and peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe)/network traffic.
SK Hynix raised $26.5 billion in its initial public offering last week. Its stocks has since seen a drop of more than 15% percent.
SKT plans to invest around $481 million in Hynix's U.S. based subsidiary, SK Hynix NAND Product Solutions. The investment was said to be is aimed at bolstering cooperation among SK affiliates across AI-centric data centers and related businesses.