SK Telecom, one of South Korea’s largest telecommunications operators and a member of the broader SK Group, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to accelerate defense AI transformation by applying the Ministry of National Defense (MND) and Ministry of Science, Information and Communications (MSIT) sovereign AI foundation model to the defense sector.
SK Telecom (SKT) explained in a press release that under the MOU, it will cooperate with MND on the following points:
– Develop and demonstrate defense-specific AI models under MSIT’s Sovereign AI Foundation Models project.
– Collect and utilize publicly available defense data. and
– Utilizes GPUs provided as part of MSIT’s National AI Project.
The contract marks the first application of MSIT’s Sovereign AI Foundation Model project to the defense sector. The initiative represents a public-private-military collaboration aimed at expanding the AI ecosystem and strengthening the country’s AI competitiveness.
The signing ceremony was held at SKT’s headquarters in Seoul, with Kim Myung-guk (Director of SK Telecom’s Industrial AI Office) and Jeong Jun-beom (Director of Defense AI Planning Bureau, Ministry of Defense) in attendance.
“Through this agreement, we are expected to quickly develop and demonstrate defense-specific AI models based on the Sovereign AI Foundation Model Project, which could be a turning point to take defense AI transformation to the next level,” said Jeong Jun-beom, director of the Defense AI Planning Bureau at the Ministry of Defense. “We will continue to expand our collaboration with the private sector, including SKT, to effectively deploy AI across the defense sector.”
This MOU was established as a follow-up measure under MSIT’s Sovereign AI Infrastructure Model Project and aims to accelerate digital transformation through the application of AI in the defense sector.
“This partnership marks a pivotal moment in the deployment of our unique AI technology at scale across the defense sector,” said Choi Dong-won, MSIT Director of Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Policy. “By combining the private sector’s superior technological capabilities with the government’s GPU infrastructure, we will actively support the transformation of defense AI, thereby creating a virtuous cycle that will revitalize Korea’s AI ecosystem.”
SKT will lead the development of defense-specific AI models by leveraging the capabilities of large-scale language model (LLM) development and GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) infrastructure. In particular, this cooperation is a first step toward deploying sovereign AI to protect national defense autonomy. SKT plans to provide MND with a lightweight version of the model that is optimized for reduced size and faster processing speed.
Kim Myung-guk, Director of SKT’s Industrial AI Office, said, “Based on SKT’s integrated capabilities spanning AI technology, data centers, and communications, it is extremely meaningful to contribute to strengthening South Korea’s national defense competitiveness. Going forward, we will continue to expand the adoption of AI in fields where data sovereignty and security are paramount, such as finance, manufacturing, healthcare, and the public sector, to further improve South Korea’s AI competitiveness.”
MND plans to provide SKT with GPU resources secured through MSIT’s national AI project during the second quarter of this year. SKT will leverage these resources to develop and pilot high-performance AI models, as well as strengthen the cooperation framework built on the country’s R&D infrastructure.
