Deputy Prime Minister Bae Kyunghoon to Meet CEOs of Major Telecom Firms to Discuss AI Data Center Investments

Meeting on July 23
Expected Discussions on AIDC and Advanced Network Infrastructure

Bae Kyunghoon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT, will meet with the chief executive officers (CEOs) of the three major mobile carriers—SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus—to discuss plans to expand investments in data centers and networks for the artificial intelligence (AI) industry.

According to the telecommunications industry and the Ministry of Science and ICT on July 21, Deputy Prime Minister Bae is scheduled to hold a meeting on July 23 at the SK Telecom headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, with Jung Jaeheon, CEO of SK Telecom; Park Yoonyoung, CEO of KT; and Hong Beomsik, CEO of LG Uplus.

Backgroundhoon Bae, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT, is speaking at a press conference marking his first anniversary in office held at the Government Complex Sejong on the 20th. Photo by Yonhap News

It has been reported that the main agenda of this meeting will be the expansion of AI data centers (AIDC), which are considered essential infrastructure for the AI industry, and investment strategies for next-generation communication networks. The government will discuss with the industry institutional support measures to encourage AIDC investments for the growth of the AI industry, while telecom operators are expected to share their respective investment plans and cooperation strategies.

With the explosive increase in computing demand required for AI model training and inference, building AIDCs that can accommodate large-scale graphics processing units (GPUs) has emerged as a key task. The three major telecom firms are also entering the AIDC business, signaling their commitment to fostering this sector.

Plans to advance network infrastructure to support the AI era are also expected to be discussed. This is because AI services require large volumes of data to be transmitted quickly and reliably in real-time. As a result, the importance of ultra-low latency and high-reliability networks is growing.

At this meeting, the participants are also expected to review the progress and investment environment for the introduction of standalone 5G (SA) technology, which is being pursued with the goal of commercialization by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, this will be the second meeting between Deputy Prime Minister Bae and the CEOs of the three telecom companies, following a previous gathering in April. At that time, the main agenda included strengthening network security, expanding basic communication rights, and securing competitiveness in AI.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.