American tech giant Microsoft and KT Corporation (formerly Korean Telecom) have entered a strategic, multi-billion dollar partnership for five years. The purpose of this agreement is to “accelerate AI innovation in Korea” by targeting specific areas to work on.
“Our strategic partnership brings together KT’s industry expertise with the power of our entire tech stack, from Azure AI to Microsoft 365 Copilot”, said Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft, in a press release.
Agreement Between Microsoft And KT Corporation
News of an agreement between Microsoft and KT Corporation came in June 2024. On Sunday, Microsoft released a statement confirming the deal, which will see KT Corporation substantially invest in Artificial Intelligence (AI), cloud technologies, and IT business. In return, Microsoft will provide the necessary resources such as infrastructure and manpower.
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As part of this treaty, both companies have identified five key areas: the development of customized AI solutions for Korea, delivering Korean sovereign cloud solutions, the establishment of an AI transformation (AX) specialized service company, the advancement of AI R&D capabilities across Korea, and KT’s AICT transformation.
For the first of these, the companies will develop customized versions of GPT-4o and Microsoft’s Phi family of small language models. KT Corporation will provide the necessary data to train the AI models on Korean culture and industries. Additionally, there is a plan to launch a sovereign cloud service in Korea using Microsoft Cloud.
Speaking on the potential this pact holds for AI in Korea, KT CEO Young-Shub Kim said, “The partnership with Microsoft presents a pivotal opportunity, not only for technological collaboration but also for expanding Korea’s AI foundation and driving transformative innovation across industries and daily life”.
The CEO of Microsoft also shared this sentiment, stating, “Together, we will help accelerate the AI transformation of Korean organizations across the private and public sectors.”
