SK Telecom posts Q1 revenue of 4.39 trillion won on AI DC growth

May 07, 2026, 10:50 am

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SK Telecom’s headquarters in Euljiro, Seoul. /SK Telecom

SK Telecom said on Thursday it posted 4.3923 trillion won ($3.2 billion) in revenue and 537.6 billion won in operating profit for the first quarter of 2026.

Operating profit edged down from a year earlier but increased from the previous quarter, surpassing the 500 billion won mark for the first time in a year. The company said profitability improved on the back of subscriber recovery during the quarter.

SK Telecom added around 210,000 net mobile handset subscribers in the first quarter, helping mobile service revenue rise 1.7% from the previous quarter.

Its fixed-line affiliate SK Broadband also posted solid growth, with revenue reaching 1.1498 trillion won and operating profit totaling 116.6 billion won, up 3.2% and 21.4% year-on-year, respectively, driven by growth in high-speed internet services.

The company’s AI business continued to expand rapidly. Revenue from AI data centers surged 89.3% year-on-year to 131.4 billion won in the first quarter, supported by higher utilization rates at facilities including the Gasan AI data center and increased GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) sales.

SK Telecom said it plans to strengthen competitiveness across the entire AI data center value chain and continue expanding infrastructure hubs as global big tech companies ramp up demand for AI infrastructure.

The company also plans to accelerate its expansion into the AI B2B market. SK Telecom said it will leverage its capabilities as a full-stack AI provider spanning infrastructure, models and services, along with its enterprise business experience, to target the corporate AI market more aggressively. To support the effort, the company recently established a new enterprise integration task force reporting directly to the CEO.

In the AI B2C segment, SK Telecom aims to enhance synergies between its AI agent business and telecommunications operations to reinforce core competitiveness. Its flagship AI service “A.” will also improve performance by integrating an in-house AI foundation model with capabilities comparable to global AI models.

“During the first quarter, we achieved meaningful results in strengthening our core competitiveness centered on customer value and recovering profitability through our streamlined AI business,” said Park Jong-seok. “We will continue focusing on improving earnings through sustained performance growth.”

#SK Telecom #SKT #AI data center #AI DC #GPUaaS