KT, South Korea’s leading telecommunications company, has forged a strategic alliance with U.S. tech giant Microsoft to collaborate on artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing.
Microsoft, along with Google, is one of the world’s leading AI companies and a major investor in OpenAI, the developer of the popular AI chatbot ChatGPT. KT operates the largest number of IDCs, or Internet data centers, in the country. The two companies plan to develop AI services tailored to the Korean market, train AI specialists, and jointly invest billions of dollars in the country.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and KT CEO Kim Young Shub signed a strategic partnership at the Microsoft headquarters in Washington, U.S., on June 3 (local time). The two companies will work together on AI and cloud computing research and development projects, and invest in AI graphics processing unit (GPU) farms - computing systems that connect multiple GPUs to process vast amounts of data - and data centers.
KT and Microsoft also plan to set up an AI and Cloud Innovation Center in Korea to develop AI services and train AI specialists. Although the two companies did not disclose details of the cooperation or the specific investment amount, the industry estimates the investment will reach trillions of won.
The two companies are expected to disclose the investment amount when they announce specific business details in September. “We have been discussing cooperation with Microsoft for half a year since the end of last year, and it is meaningful that we have become a strategic partner rather than just a technical collaborator,” said a KT official.
KT put considerable effort into this agreement, according to industry insiders. With tech giants such as Microsoft and Google making large-scale investments and attracting top talent, KT was concerned that the technology gap would inevitably widen without collaboration. KT has also been proactive in AI and introduced its large language model (LLM), Mi:dm, last October.
Through this collaboration, KT aims to launch Korean-style AI and cloud services, also known as Sovereign AI. With Sovereign AI, each country maintains control over its data and develops AI models and services that align with its culture, language, and policies. Sovereign AI is garnering attention from many countries, allowing each country to independently develop AI technologies and protect their AI sovereignty.
KT anticipates that the demand for Sovereign AI and cloud services will continue to grow, especially in the public and financial sectors, where data security is important. These sectors are heavily regulated, making it difficult for foreign companies to enter, which is why Microsoft sought a domestic partner. KT is reportedly considering products utilizing MS’s latest technologies while allowing data to be managed directly from KT-operated IDCs.
