TOKYO — SK Telecom (SKT), South Korea’s leading mobile carrier, has made a follow-on investment in Anthropic, the prominent U.S. artificial intelligence safety and research company behind the large language model Claude.

Jeong Jae-heon, CEO of SKT, disclosed the strategic move during a press conference held at the NTT headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, on Wednesday. "We have recently made an additional investment in Anthropic," Jeong told reporters. "As an early-stage investor, we were granted a valuable opportunity to participate in this subsequent funding round, and we decided to join."

SKT initially invested $100 million (approximately 152.6 billion KRW) in Anthropic in August 2023, securing an estimated 0.3% stake. While the specific financial details and the exact size of this newly added investment remain undisclosed, the move underscores SKT's deepening commitment to securing its footing in the highly competitive global AI ecosystem.

Addressing market curiosity regarding potential financial exits, Jeong emphasized that SKT’s vision extends far beyond short-term capital gains. "Rather than focusing on the financial returns from Anthropic’s potential initial public offering (IPO), we determined that maintaining and strengthening our long-term collaborative relationship holds far greater value," Jeong explained. He explicitly stated that the telecom giant has no current plans to liquidate or divest its existing stake.

The rationale behind the extended partnership lies in the strong technological synergy between the two firms. According to Jeong, Anthropic’s advanced generative AI capabilities are increasingly essential for SKT’s core infrastructure and data business portfolios. Conversely, Anthropic is actively seeking to expand and secure its own independent computing power—a domain where SKT and its regional infrastructure can offer substantial strategic alignment.

Security remains a central pillar of this alliance. SKT stands out as the only Asian telecommunications operator participating in Anthropic’s elite security coalition, "Project Glasswing." Through this partnership, SKT previously gained early access to 'Mythos', Anthropic’s cutting-edge AI model designed specifically for detecting security vulnerabilities. Regarding their current progress, Jeong noted that joint efforts in the cybersecurity domain are actively ongoing and have recently yielded "positive, meaningful progress."

Simultaneously, SKT is aggressively broadening its global AI investment network through regional partnerships. On the same day, the company announced a landmark agreement with Japan's NTT and Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom to jointly establish a massive $500 million 'AI Fund.'

This ambitious cross-border fund is designed to build a robust global AI ecosystem by targeting high-potential startups across North America, Asia, and Europe. The investment scope spans the entire spectrum of next-generation AI infrastructure, including specialized AI semiconductors such as Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) and Neural Processing Units (NPUs), next-generation data centers, and advanced optical communication technologies.

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