SK Telecom unveiled its own artificial intelligence (AI) chip and announced plans to enter the AI semiconductor business.
The South Korean telecoms operator said its new "SAPEON X220" chip is optimized for processing large amounts of data in parallel. Its deep learning computation speed is 6.7 kilo-_frames per second, which is 1.5 times faster than that of Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) for inference that are being widely used by AI-service companies. At the same time, it uses 20% less power than GPU by consuming 60 watts of energy and is about half the price of a GPU.
SKT plans to use the chip for its own AI-powered services, including for voice recognition. The aim is to generate synergies by combining AI semiconductor chips and 5G edge cloud.
SAPEON X220 will also be utilized by SKT’s affiliate companies. For instance, ADT Caps will apply the chip to enhance the performance of its AI-based video monitoring service named T View. In addition, SAPEON X220 will be applied to the cloud server of the next-generation media platform of Cast.era, a joint venture of SKT and Sinclair Broadcast Group.
SKT also announced a plan to enter the AI as a Service (AIaaS) business. It will offer a complete solution package as a service by combining its AI chip and AI software, including diverse AI algorithms for features like content recommendation, voice recognition, video recognition and media upscaling, along with Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).
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