SK Telecom, one of South Korea’s largest telecom operators and part of the wider SK Group, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of National Defense (MND) for applying the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT)’s Sovereign AI foundation model to the defense sector to accelerate defense AI transformation.
In a press release SK Telecom (SKT) explained that under the MOU, it will cooperate with the MND on:
– developing and demonstrating defense specialized AI models based on the MSIT’s Sovereign AI Foundation Model Project;
– collecting and utilizing publicly available defense data; and
– utilizing GPUs provided as part of MSIT’s National AI Project.
The agreement marks the first application of MSIT’s Sovereign AI Foundation Model Project in the defense sector. The initiative represents a public-private-military collaboration aimed at expanding the AI ecosystem and strengthening the nation’s AI competitiveness.
The signing ceremony was held at SKT’s headquarters in Seoul with the attendance of Kim Myung-gook (Head, Industrial AI Office, SK Telecom), and Jeon Joon-boem (Director General, Defense AI Planning Bureau, MND).
“Through this agreement, we expect to rapidly develop and demonstrate a defense specialized AI model based on the Sovereign AI Foundation Model Project, which could serve as a turning point for taking defense AI transformation to the next level,” said Jeon Joon-boem, Director General, Defense AI Planning Bureau, MND. “To effectively introduce AI across the defense sector, we will continue to expand cooperation with the private sector, including SKT.”
This MOU was established as a follow-up measure under MSIT’s Sovereign AI Foundation Model Project, aimed at accelerating digital transformation by applying AI to the defense sector.
“This collaboration will serve as a pivotal moment for our proprietary AI technology to be deployed at scale across the defense sector,” said Choi Dong-won, Director General of the Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Policy Bureau at MSIT. “We will actively support defense AI transformation by combining the private sector’s outstanding technological capabilities with the government’s GPU infrastructure, and in doing so, create a virtuous cycle that energizes the AI ecosystem in Korea.”
SKT will spearhead the development of defense-specialized AI models, leveraging its capabilities in large language model (LLM) development and GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) infrastructure. In particular, the collaboration represents the first step toward introducing sovereign AI to safeguard national defense autonomy. SKT plans to provide MND with lightweight versions of its models, optimized for reduced size and faster processing speed.
It is deeply meaningful to contribute to strengthening Korea’s national defense competitiveness based on SKT’s integrated capabilities spanning AI technology, data centers, and telecommunications,” said Kim Myung-gook, Head of Industrial AI Office at SKT. “Going forward, we will continue to expand AI adoption across sectors where data sovereignty and security are paramount — including finance, manufacturing, healthcare, and the public sector — to further advance Korea’s AI competitiveness.”
MND will 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, while strengthening the collaborative framework built on national R&D infrastructure.