SK Telecom Q2 Operating Profit Surges 67% to 566 Billion Won... AI Data Center Revenue Soars (Update)

Revenue Increases 0.5% to 4.3591 Trillion Won

830 Won Dividend per Share Paid in Q2

Jaeheon Jung, Co-Chair of the AIDC Alliance and CEO of SK Telecom, is delivering the opening remarks at the AIDC Alliance inauguration ceremony held on July 29, 2026, at Lotte Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Dongju Yoon

SK Telecom's operating profit surged significantly, driven by a base effect due to temporary expenditures resulting from last year's hacking incident.

On August 5, SK Telecom announced that, on a consolidated basis, its revenue for the second quarter of this year reached 4.3591 trillion won and operating profit stood at 566 billion won, marking an increase of 0.5% and 67.3%, respectively, compared to the same period last year. Net profit for the period was 466 billion won.

The sharp increase in operating profit is attributable to the base effect from temporary expenditures last year.

The AI Data Center (DC) business is showing the fastest growth among SK Telecom's business areas. In the second quarter, revenue from the AI DC business came in at 136.2 billion won, a 92.5% increase from the same period a year ago, supported by expanded operations.

SK Telecom explained that, as the adoption of generative artificial intelligence (AI) spreads across all industries and demand for high-performance computing infrastructure grows dramatically, execution capability to deliver AI infrastructure desired by global big tech clients in a timely manner is becoming increasingly critical.

Last month, SK Telecom secured momentum for its DC business by establishing 'SK Hyper,' a company exclusively dedicated to AI DC business development. SK Hyper intends to take the lead in the market by promptly securing critical elements such as DC site locations and power, and by rapidly boosting business execution capabilities, such as attracting global customers.

SK Telecom has set a primary goal of sequentially opening AI DCs with a total capacity of 5 GW (gigawatts) by 2029, centering these efforts around SK Hyper.

In its telecommunications business, SK Telecom achieved a net increase in mobile handset subscribers through marketing activities such as discovering new customer segments and running differentiated campaigns. The second-quarter dividend was set at 830 won per share, the same as in the first quarter.

Park Jongsuk, Chief Financial Officer of SK Telecom, stated, "In the first half of the year, we focused on strengthening our fundamentals based on stable profits from telecommunications, while also laying the foundation for the rapid expansion of the AI Data Center business. We will do our utmost to ensure that SK Telecom plays a leading role as Korea becomes the AI infrastructure hub of Asia."

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