KT posts record quarterly operating profit driven by robust AI-related business

KT headquarters building located in Gwanghwamun Jongno-gu Seoul Yonhap — KT headquarters is seen in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul, in this undated photo. Yonhap

SEOUL, August 12 (AJP) - Telecom giant KT Corp posted 1.01 trillion won of operating profit in the second quarter, it said on Monday.

The highest quarterly profit in its history was driven by its artificial intelligence (AI)-related business that grew 13.8 percent on-year.

Its consolidated revenue also stood at 7.43 trillion won (or US$5.4 billion) during the period between April and June, a 13.5 percent increase from the same quarter last year. Even excluding approximately 390 billion won earned from one-off asset sales, its sales performance still exceeded market expectations.

Revenues from wireless communications grew by a modest 1.6 percent compared to a year ago, while the AI business division achieved double-digit growth, emerging as the company's key growth engine.

Its CEO, Kim Young-shub already declared AI as one of the company's main sources of revenue for the future at the annual Mobile World Congress which was held in Barcelona in February this tear and vowed to integrate it with information and communications technology.

As part of such efforts, KT plans to unveil a language-related model in collaboration with Microsoft and also launch a cloud service featuring "confidential computing" technology with enhanced security in the second half of this year, which is expected to improve its sales in the second half of this year.

It also hopes to benefit from its deal with American data analytics firm Palantir in March, making it the only South Korean company with strategic partnerships with both Microsoft and Palantir.

But challenges remain in the public-sector business after failing to qualify for the government's massive consortium program supporting AI projects. Industry analysts expect that KT could overcome this setback by leveraging private-sector demand through partnerships with the two U.S. tech companies.

Candice Kim candicekim1121@ajupress.com