SK Telecom is building AI (artificial intelligence) infrastructure targeting the global market in partnership with Nvidia.

On the 8th, SKT stated, “The two companies have agreed to pursue cooperation on a ‘full-stack AI cloud’ that spans from chips to data center operations, based on the Nvidia DSX platform,” adding, “To this end, the two companies plan to expand an ‘AI factory’, a data center specialized for AI workloads, aiming for gigawatt (GW)-scale.” The DSX platform is a platform that defines how to design, build, and optimize AI factories across the full stack, from systems to infrastructure software, facilities, and partner technologies.

Earlier, on the 1st in Taiwan, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang reviewed the AI infrastructure roadmap the two companies had been envisioning and agreed to pursue group-level cooperation. SKT, as the main implementing entity of this cooperation, plans to push ahead with the project with the goal of building the largest AI infrastructure in Asia, based on close collaboration with Nvidia.


The AI factory is scheduled to start its first operations in Korea in 2027. The AI factory is an “intelligence factory” that continually produces “tokens”, the core unit of AI, using power and data as raw materials, and is built on infrastructure based on Nvidia DSX. It is a next-generation concept that goes beyond existing data centers, which have been limited to general-purpose computing and data storage. The AI factory is expected to serve as the first case for validating the governance and operational structure of the two companies’ AI cloud. SKT plans to expand this model step by step into GW-scale infrastructure and extend AI infrastructure across the whole of Asia.

SKT will join the “Nvidia Cloud Partner” program, a global partner ecosystem program that provides high-performance cloud AI services leveraging Nvidia’s AI infrastructure and software. This cooperation aims to secure the lowest token cost and highest performance per watt, which determine competitiveness in the AI infrastructure market.

The cooperation with Nvidia is expected to become the core foundation of SKT’s AI cloud business. Starting with Nvidia Blackwell GPUs (graphics processing units), SKT plans to support AI training and inference and to sequentially utilize the latest AI accelerator “Vera Rubin” platform, scheduled to be supplied in the second half of this year.


SKT intends to use this partnership as a springboard to rapidly grow its AI cloud business. Unlike traditional cloud businesses that provide general-purpose cloud solutions, AI cloud is a new business model that offers services specialized for AI workloads such as AI training, inference, and data processing.

This market has recently emerged as a key axis of the global AI infrastructure supply chain, to the extent that global big tech companies are leasing AI infrastructure on a massive scale.

SKT is also cooperating with Nvidia in the robotics sector. Chairman Chey said, “Based on our close partnership with Nvidia, we have secured full-stack AI infrastructure competitiveness encompassing everything from chips to data center operations,” adding, “By jointly responding to GPU, memory, and energy issues, the two companies will emerge as a leading AI cloud operator driving the development of the AI ecosystem across Asia.”

CEO Huang said, “Telecommunications networks are evolving into national AI infrastructure,” adding, “The telecom networks that connect people, companies, and devices are now becoming the foundation of AI cloud. Through the Nvidia DSX platform, SKT will be able to build large-scale AI clouds and provide agent AI, enterprise AI, and physical AI to companies and industries leading Korea and the world.”

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