SK Telecom will commit 738.4 billion won (about $483 million) to SK hynix's U.S. affiliate, deepening capital ties with the group's American AI hub as the carrier expands its AI data center and cloud businesses.

The move is less a standalone investment than another strand in a deliberate weave: with this pledge, SKT becomes the fourth SK Group company to pour money into a single U.S. vehicle that the conglomerate is using to anchor its AI ambitions — joining SK hynix, SK Innovation, and SK Inc. in funding what the group calls its "AI Company."

The Terms

SKT said its board on June 25 approved a capital-contribution commitment to buy newly issued shares — 1,198 of them, for a 0.9% stake — in SK hynix NAND Product Solutions Corp., a stake equal to 5.7% of SKT's equity capital. Rather than a lump sum, the commitment will be paid in sequentially in response to the issuer's capital calls, with June 25, 2030 as the final deadline. "We are pursuing the stake from the perspective of securing synergies with our AI business," SKT said.

What the "AI Company" Actually Is

The target is the entity formerly known as Solidigm — the Intel NAND business SK hynix acquired in 2021 — which SK hynix is reorganizing into a U.S. "AI Company." The distinction matters: the AI Company is not an operating business but an investment hub, whose job is to take stakes in American AI firms and channel the group's AI-infrastructure push through one U.S. vehicle. As part of the reshuffle, Solidigm's existing NAND business is being spun into a subsidiary that keeps the Solidigm name, while the parent shell becomes the AI Company.

It is funded by "capital calls." Instead of wiring a fixed sum up front, each SK affiliate signs a commitment up to a ceiling, and the AI Company draws the money down in tranches as it needs it over a multi-year window — which is why SKT's draws can run all the way to June 2030. That structure lets several SK companies pool capital into one fund flexibly. SK hynix committed up to $10 billion when it announced the reorganization early this year; SK Innovation followed with $380 million and SK Inc. with $250 million, and SKT's roughly $480 million now brings the pledged total to about $11 billion.

A Hub That Is Already Buying

The AI Company is not a blank shell waiting to be filled. It has already begun deploying capital, taking stakes in U.S. AI firms including the search startup Perplexity and the cloud-computing provider Lambda, and it is absorbing Solidigm at a valuation reported at around $10.6 billion as part of the restructuring. The timing is tied to SK hynix's planned U.S. share listing, giving the group a stocked American AI platform as it courts global capital.

Why SKT Is Buying In

The move fits a broader SK Group restructuring of its AI infrastructure businesses under Chairman Chey Tae-won's vision of a "comprehensive AI solutions provider." By combining SKT's network, data center, and cloud capabilities with SK hynix's memory and U.S. AI hub, the group aims to broaden its AI-infrastructure value chain — putting the carrier's operations inside the same structure as the group's memory business rather than alongside it.

For SKT specifically, the scale is the signal. Because the commitment exceeds 5% of the carrier's equity capital — the threshold that triggered the board disclosure — analysts read it as a marker of how central AI infrastructure has become to SKT's growth, a telecom operator increasingly defining its future around data centers, cloud, and the compute economy rather than connectivity alone.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is SK hynix's "AI Company"?

It is a U.S.-based investment vehicle that SK hynix is creating by reorganizing its Solidigm subsidiary. Rather than running a specific operating business, the AI Company functions as an investment hub: it takes stakes in American AI firms and serves as the central conduit for SK Group's AI-infrastructure strategy in the United States. SK hynix's existing NAND flash business under Solidigm is being spun into a separate subsidiary that keeps the Solidigm name, while the parent entity becomes the AI Company. It is funded through capital-call commitments from multiple SK Group affiliates.

What was Solidigm?

Solidigm is the NAND flash-memory and solid-state-drive business that SK hynix created after acquiring Intel's NAND memory unit for about $9 billion in 2021. It is headquartered in the United States and specializes in flash storage, including high-capacity enterprise SSDs used in data centers. In the current restructuring, Solidigm's storage operations continue under a newly formed subsidiary, while the original corporate entity is being repurposed into SK hynix's U.S. "AI Company" investment hub.

Why is SK Telecom investing in SK hynix's AI hub?

SK Telecom says it is buying the stake to secure synergies with its AI business. The carrier is expanding into AI data centers, cloud computing, and related infrastructure, and the investment ties its operations into SK Group's broader AI value chain — which spans memory (SK hynix), network, data center, and cloud (SKT). It also reflects SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won's strategy of positioning the conglomerate as a "comprehensive AI solutions provider," with affiliates pooling capital into a shared U.S. AI investment vehicle.

What is a capital call?

A capital call is a funding arrangement in which an investor commits a maximum amount of money up front but pays it in only as the recipient requests it, in installments over time, rather than transferring the full sum at once. In this case, each SK affiliate has pledged a ceiling to the AI Company, which then draws down the funds in tranches as it needs them — with SK Telecom's commitment period running until June 25, 2030. The structure gives the investment vehicle flexibility to deploy capital when opportunities arise while letting investors fund the commitment gradually.