KT to Invest 18 Trillion Won to Become Asia's AX Hub

KT's substantial 18 trillion won investment is largely driven by its ambition to evolve into an "AX platform company," building on solid growth in its core telecom and B2B AX operations. The five-year plan focuses on two main areas: strengthening network infrastructure through 6G development, multi-satellite control capabilities, and enhanced information security, and expanding its AI infrastructure to support future growth.

The AI infrastructure investment includes securing additional gigawatt-scale AI data center capacity by 2031, with 3,500 telecom facilities nationwide serving as "AI edge" sites. This network aims to establish an ultra-low-latency inference environment, which KT states is crucial for physical AI applications and autonomous driving. Additionally, the company intends to expand its submarine cable capacity, positioning itself as an "Asia AX connectivity hub."

Beyond infrastructure, KT is pursuing new growth pillars, notably a stablecoin business. This strategy involves combining KT's network with its financial affiliates, K Bank (16 million subscribers) and BC Card (3.5 million merchants), to establish an early presence in the digital finance value chain. This initiative, alongside other corporate and consumer AI services, is expected to contribute to the goal of doubling AX revenue by 2028.

The company's reported profitability gains, with operating profit increasing sharply in the first and second quarters, are attributed partly to a 22.3% year-on-year rise in second-quarter AX revenue. This growth, driven by AI adoption among financial firms and subsidiary KT Cloud, provides the financial foundation for its ambitious infrastructure and new business expansion plans.