SK Telecom’s Euljiro headquarters. Photo courtesy of SK Telecom
The South Korean government is introducing domestically developed artificial intelligence to the defense sector, which demands the highest level of security. The decision aims to accelerate AI transformation (AX) across the defense sector amid the growing importance of sovereign AI following the Iran war. Cooperation among the private sector, government, and military is expected to further expand Korea’s domestic AI ecosystem.
SK Telecom (017670.KS) announced Tuesday that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Ministry of National Defense at its headquarters at SKT Tower in central Seoul, titled “Utilization of the Ministry of Science and ICT’s Proprietary AI Foundation Model in the Defense Sector,” to promote defense AX.
SK Telecom and the Ministry of National Defense will develop and validate a defense-specialized AI model based on the proprietary AI foundation model. The two sides will also cooperate in various areas, including collecting and utilizing open data in the defense sector and supporting the use of advanced graphics processing units (GPUs).
This is the first time that an AI selected for the proprietary foundation model project has been applied to the defense sector. SK Telecom’s elite team advanced to the second stage of the proprietary AI foundation model project in January this year with “A.X K1,” the country’s first hyperscale AI model to exceed 500 billion parameters.
The company said the latest cooperation is significant in that it demonstrates practicality beyond model development. Based on its large language model (LLM) development capabilities and GPU-as-a-Service infrastructure, SK Telecom plans to lead the development of the defense-specialized AI model. The company plans to apply lightweighting technology to the AI model and further train it with defense data to implement an AI model optimized for the defense environment.
“It is highly meaningful that we can contribute to strengthening the competitiveness of K-defense based on our integrated capabilities spanning AI technology, data centers, and telecommunications,” said Kim Myung-kook, head of SK Telecom’s Industrial AI Division. “We will continue to expand AI applications in fields such as finance, manufacturing, healthcare, and the public sector, where data sovereignty and security are critical, to strengthen K-AI competitiveness.” Jeon Jun-beom, director general of the Defense AI Planning Bureau at the Ministry of National Defense, said, “We will continue to expand cooperation with the private sector to effectively introduce AI across the defense sector.”