SK Telecom (SKT) plans to secure funding for its expansion of artificial intelligence data centers (AIDC) through project financing and financial investors, minimizing its direct investment burden due to the scale of the project.
On August 5, SKT Chief Financial Officer Park Jong-seok acknowledged during a second-quarter earnings conference call, "We fully understand the market's concerns regarding the 5-gigawatt (GW) AIDC project," adding, "We are considering various options in light of this."
Park emphasized, "Given the substantial investment required for the AIDC project, it is realistically difficult for SKT to fund it entirely on its own. We plan to leverage external investments, including project financing, to secure the necessary funds for the project."
Last month, SKT established a specialized company, SK Hyper, for the AIDC initiative, committing a total of 750 billion won by 2030. SK Hyper will lead customer acquisition and AIDC development based on the secured site and power infrastructure.
This year, SKT will invest 330 billion won in SK Hyper, with the remaining funds to be disbursed in installments starting next year, aligned with project progress. SKT stated that this year's investment will not significantly burden its free cash flow (FCF).
SK Hyper will operate separately from SK Broadband's existing data center business. Park noted, "SK Hyper will have its own personnel and organization to drive the project," and added, "We aim to create synergies by combining SKT's customer acquisition and business development capabilities with SK Broadband's data center operational expertise."
Additionally, SKT anticipates that the demand for AI infrastructure will not be a temporary phenomenon. As the focus of generative AI shifts from training to inference, computational demand is increasing, and the public sector's use of AI is expanding, indicating a structural change in the industry. Lee Jae-shin, who oversees AI business development at SKT, stated, "We are currently in ongoing discussions regarding AI infrastructure demand, particularly with global big tech companies," and added, "The 5GW expansion will be pursued flexibly and sequentially in line with customer demand and project progress."
* This article has been translated by AI.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.