On March 26, SK Telecom held its 40th Annual General Meeting at the T Tower in Euljiro, Seoul, approving ▲ the 2023 financial statements ▲ amendments to the articles of incorporation ▲ the appointment of four directors, among other agenda items.
The 2023 consolidated financial statements were approved with annual revenues of 17.6085 trillion won and operating profit of 1.7532 trillion won, reflecting year-on-year growth of 1.8% and 8.8%, respectively. The annual dividend per share was confirmed to be 3,540 won, an increase of 6.6% compared to the previous year.
Through amendments to the articles of incorporation, the process related to dividend record dates was improved so that investors can check the year-end dividend amounts in advance before investing. The previous stipulation regarding the year-end dividend record date being at the end of the fiscal year was removed, allowing the board of directors to determine the year-end dividend record date in a more shareholder-friendly manner. The new dividend record date rules will take effect starting from the year-end dividend for 2024.
President Yoo Young-sang was re-appointed as an inside director with an overwhelming 98.4% support from shareholders. Appointed CEO of SK Telecom in November 2021, he has achieved solid results in 2022 and 2023 and aims to accelerate the implementation of the ‘AI Pyramid Strategy’ to generate concrete results in AI business this year.
The AI Pyramid Strategy is a phased strategy that groups ‘Self-Strengthening’ through the advancement of AI technology and ‘Collaboration’ centered on AI alliances into a pyramid shape to drive innovation across all areas of industry and daily life.
Additionally, SK Telecom strengthened the board’s global investment and financial capabilities by appointing Noh Mi-kyung, a global risk management expert, as a new outside director, alongside Kim Yang-seop as CFO and Lee Seong-hyung as an inside director and other non-executive director.
New outside director Noh Mi-kyung has been responsible for risk management at HSBC in Seoul and Hong Kong since 2009. SK Telecom has stated that Noh will leverage her expertise as a top risk manager in the global finance industry to perform various risk management tasks in the board’s decision-making processes.
CFO Kim Yang-seop and Lee Seong-hyung from SK Holdings will help maintain the company’s financial health while contributing to the continued expansion of AI and global businesses, despite increasing economic uncertainties globally.
During the meeting, President Yoo Young-sang shared the 2023 financial results and business performance with shareholders, detailing the current status of ongoing projects within the AI Pyramid Strategy and the vision towards becoming a global AI company.
According to Yoo, the AI Pyramid Strategy consists of ‘AI Infrastructure’, which is the backbone of AI and allows immediate benefits from AI; ‘AIX (AI Transformation)’, which enhances and innovates telecommunications through AI and extends AI technology into adjacent areas; and ‘AI Services’, which are directly engaged with customers, all of which are said to be continuously growing across all sectors.
In the AI Infrastructure area, SK Telecom plans to expand its data center capacity, which has established itself as a stable revenue source with ongoing sales growth, to over 200MW by 2030, double the current capacity. Furthermore, SK Telecom intends to package its AI data center capabilities, including the AI semiconductor competitiveness of Sapien and SK Hynix, next-generation data center cooling technologies, and management of SK Broadband’s data center infrastructure to strengthen its business competitiveness.
Moreover, the company is leveraging AI technology in its existing wired and wireless networks to enhance efficiency in both capital expenditure and operational costs while aiming to evolve toward AI infrastructure in the long term to elevate the value of SK Telecom’s infrastructure.
The collaboration in developing a global communication large language model (LLM) with Deutsche Telekom, ENN, Singtel, and SoftBank announced at MWC 2024 is also progressing steadily, with a goal of securing global commercial cases within the year.
In the AIX area, SK Telecom plans to strengthen its wired and wireless communication competitiveness by evolving into AI customer service and hyper-personalized AI media, while actively starting enterprise AI business. Particularly, the recently opened ‘Enterprise AI Market’ targets enterprises and public organizations by providing various LLMs from players like AIDOTX, Anthropic, and OpenAI, expected to significantly enhance the productivity of corporate clients.
The UAM business aims to successfully execute the upcoming ‘K-UAM Grand Challenge’ demonstration project through a partnership with global UAM leader Joby Aviation while promoting the acquisition of business rights, enabling both domestic market leadership and joint entry into global markets. The AI-based veterinary imaging diagnosis assistance service ‘X Caliber’ will work towards accelerating its global market penetration and expanding its diagnostic range to boost market and product competitiveness.
Lastly, in terms of AI services, SK Telecom aims to enhance the AI personal assistant ‘A.’ into a Personal AI Assistant (PAA) while simultaneously securing global references for growth and developing a global PAA.
■ Release of AI Governance Principles ‘T.H.E AI’
At this year’s AGM, SK Telecom unveiled its AI governance principles, currently being established, known as ‘T.H.E AI.’ This acronym represents ‘by Telco. for Humanity. with Ethics AI,’ symbolizing the characteristics (Telco, based on communication technology), goals (Humanity, aimed at people), values (Ethics, centered on ethical values), and the ensuing AI governance principles for SK Telecom’s AI.
In January, SK Telecom voiced the growing need for AI technology regulation worldwide, deciding to incorporate an AI decision-making system into its corporate management process to ensure the reliability and safety of AI. Currently, SK Telecom operates a dedicated AI governance organization and is establishing internal standards to be adhered to by its members in the development and operation of AI governance processes and technologies and services.
President Yoo expressed, “2024 is a significant year for SK Telecom, marking our 40th anniversary,” adding, “SK Telecom has led the development of the mobile communication industry over the past 40 years, and we will again strive for challenges and innovations at the center of global change with AI.”
Lee Sang-jin, daedusj@autodiary.kr