Shares of SK Telecom rose 2.3% to $32.82 on June 30 after parent SK Group unveiled one of the largest corporate investment pledges in history — a ₩2,100 trillion ($1.4 trillion) plan to remake South Korea as a global AI powerhouse. The stock had been sliding from $34.40 the prior week, and investors are now weighing whether this announcement marks a turning point or just another megacap spending promise that will take years to prove out. SK Group Bets $1.4 Trillion on AI and Chips — Can SK Telecom Justify a Telecom-to-Data-Center Transformation?
Shares of SK Telecom rose 2.3% to $32.82 on June 30, a bounce after a bruising week that saw the stock slide from $34.40 to $32.07. The catalyst: SK Group announced a ₩2,100 trillion (~$1.4 trillion) medium-to-long-term investment roadmap, splitting ₩1,100 trillion for semiconductor production and ₩1,000 trillion for AI data centers nationwide. The plan, unveiled alongside Samsung's own mega-pledge at a presidential briefing, is the largest corporate spending commitment in South Korean history — and it puts SK Telecom, a ~$12.5 billion wireless carrier, at the helm of an infrastructure buildout many times its own size.
• A Telecom Company Now Running a Power-Plant-Scale Construction Job. SK Hynix is central to the chip expansion push, while SK Telecom will lead the buildout of 15 gigawatts of AI data center capacity across the country.
In the first phase, SK plans to develop 5 gigawatts beginning in 2029, then add another 10 gigawatts by 2035. For a company with trailing revenue of roughly ₩12.65 trillion, orchestrating a ₩1,000 trillion data center program means relying overwhelmingly on outside money. SK estimates the project will attract about ₩1,000 trillion through strategic partner funding, customer occupancy agreements, and project financing. If those partners don't show up, the balance sheet risk falls back on SKT shareholders.
• The Market Liked the Headline but Punished the Details Elsewhere. Shares of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix declined on Monday, with Samsung down 4.8% and SK Hynix erasing early losses of nearly 6% to fall 1.6%.
Investors worry heavy capex could squeeze margins in the next chip cycle. SK Telecom's modest pop looks more like relief after a $34.40-to-$32.07 slide than conviction about a decade-long blueprint.
• Nvidia Partnership Adds Credibility — but Timeline Is Foggy. SK Telecom plans to build a gigawatt-scale AI Cloud in Korea using the Nvidia DSX platform, with the first AI factory coming online in 2027. However, SK Telecom itself clarified that the first AI factory planned for 2027 will not be gigawatt-scale and that expansion to gigawatt capacity will be implemented gradually in phases. That gap between the headline ambition and admitted execution pace is exactly what investors should watch.
• Oversupply Risk Is the Elephant in the Room. Deep tech industries like semiconductors and AI don't move on political timelines — fabs take years to build, and the risk is that by the time they're ready, demand will have ebbed, leaving companies with oversupply and crashing prices. SK Telecom trades at a forward P/E of roughly 19×, cheap if AI infrastructure revenue materializes, expensive if it remains a telecom with ambitions. The stock sits 41% below its June 2 high of $47.18 — a discount that prices in plenty of skepticism, but perhaps not enough execution risk.