SK Telecom’s AI unit offers staff voluntary retirement program just weeks after launch

South Korean telco big SK Telecom is making large adjustments at its new AI division, AI CIC, simply weeks after it was launched. Workers employed by the unit are being provided a voluntary retirement program as a part of a broader effort to carry collectively the corporate’s varied AI-related divisions, SK Telecom confirmed to Trendster.

“In late September, SK Telecom introduced the launch of the AI CIC (Firm-in-Firm) unit and confirmed that detailed organizational restructuring could be specified by the tip of October,” a spokesperson at SK Telecom advised Trendster. “This particular retirement program is completely a supportive measure and isn’t meant as a restructuring or downsizing measure.”

The voluntary retirement program is not going to contain pressured layoffs, and is supposed to assist workers whose roles, organizations or work areas might change, the spokesperson stated. Workers who choose to stick with the corporate could also be reassigned to regional places of work.

Particulars of the voluntary retirement program have been communicated to workers throughout all expertise ranges, together with each junior and senior workers, trade sources advised Trendster. The AI unit has about 1,000 workers, per media reviews.

AI CIC is supposed to carry collectively SK Telecom’s varied AI-related items beneath a centralized group, per the spokesperson. “This integration includes streamlining overlapping roles and features, which can inevitably result in adjustments resembling function transitions, organizational realignments, or relocations,” they stated.

The brand new division will oversee the event of SK Telecom’s private AI agent, A. (pronounced “A-dot”), its AI knowledge middle operations, enterprise AI enterprise, in addition to world AI partnerships and investments.

Severance packages are reportedly anticipated to differ primarily based on workers’ tenure and place, however the spokesperson advised Trendster the corporate has set no such inside targets. “As participation is completely voluntary, it’s tough at this stage to foretell [how many employees] it could affect on the group as a complete,” the spokesperson stated.

The restructuring comes as SK Telecom seeks to streamline operations and enhance effectivity, with a selected give attention to AI. The corporate plans for the AI division to document annual income of ₩5 trillion (round $3.5 billion) by 2030, and expects AI-driven B2C and B2B providers in addition to associated infrastructure to drive that development.

The telecom big lately unveiled an AI infrastructure effort, providing Nvidia Blackwell GPUs-as-a-service, and earlier this month partnered with OpenAI to develop AI knowledge facilities in southwestern Korea as a part of the ‘Stargate Korea’ initiative.