South Korea’s major telecom operators are beginning to see tangible growth from their investments in AI, cloud, and AI data centers, even as traditional telecom businesses remain largely stagnant or decline. Second-quarter results from SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus point to a common shift: AI-related infrastructure and services are becoming increasingly important sources of enterprise growth.
SK Telecom posted only 0.5% year-on-year revenue growth in the second quarter of the year, but its AI data center business surged 92.5%. The carrier attributed the increase to expanded data center operations and rising demand for high-performance computing infrastructure as generative AI adoption accelerates. SK Telecom has also established SK Hyper to oversee AIDC development and plans to invest KRW750 billion ($540 million) through 2030.
KT provides another example of the shift toward AI-led enterprise services. While overall second-quarter revenue fell 10.1% year-on-year, its AI transformation (AX) business grew 22.3%. KT said demand from the financial sector and double-digit growth at its cloud and data center arm were key contributors. The operator won 22 AX projects from financial institutions during the first half of 2026and is targeting more than a doubling of AX revenue by 2028.
LG Uplus likewise reported growth in its enterprise infrastructure business, which increased 8.6% year-on-year to KRW464.4 billion. AIDC revenue rose 28.9% to KRW124.1 billion, driven by higher demand for colocation services, while its solutions business, including AI contact centers and smart mobility, grew 6.8%.
The developments highlight how telecom operators are expanding beyond connectivity into the infrastructure and enterprise services required by growing AI workloads. For operators, AIDCs, cloud platforms, and AI transformation services are emerging alongside traditional network businesses, although the three carriers are pursuing different combinations of infrastructure, services and investment.
The Korean operators are also committing significant capital to this shift. SK Telecom aims to build 5GW of AIDC capacity by 2029, beginning with a gigawatt-scale cluster in Ulsan. KT plans to secure an additional 1GW of AIDC capacity by 2031, while LG Uplus is building a 200MW AIDC in Paju, with the first facility scheduled to open in the first half of 2027, and plans to invest about KRW2 trillion in AIDC infrastructure.
Juan Pedro Tomas
Editor
RCR Wireless News
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