South Korea’s leading telecommunications company, SK Telecom, has announced a voluntary retirement program for employees in its recently established AI subsidiary, AI CIC, just weeks after its official debut.

According to a company spokesperson, the initiative is part of a broader plan to consolidate SK Telecom’s AI-related divisions under one umbrella and enhance operational efficiency. The move, the company insists, is not a downsizing measure but a “supportive option” for employees whose roles, departments, or work locations may be affected by the ongoing reorganization.

“In late September, SK Telecom launched the AI CIC (Company-in-Company) unit and indicated that further structural details would be finalized by the end of October,” the spokesperson said. “This special retirement program is designed to provide flexibility and support for staff, and is not intended as a restructuring or layoff exercise.”

The program, which extends across all levels of staff—from junior employees to senior managers—offers workers the option to voluntarily retire with severance benefits that reportedly vary based on tenure and position. Employees who choose to remain may be reassigned to other offices or divisions within the company.

Industry sources estimate that the AI CIC division currently employs about 1,000 staff members. The unit oversees key operations including SK Telecom’s personal AI assistant ‘A-dot’, AI data centers, enterprise AI solutions, and global AI partnerships and investments.

The spokesperson explained that the new structure seeks to streamline overlapping roles and functions, which could lead to role transitions or relocations. However, the company emphasized that no fixed target has been set for the number of employees expected to accept the retirement offer.
This strategic shift comes as SK Telecom strengthens its commitment to artificial intelligence, aiming to achieve ₩5 trillion (approximately $3.5 billion) in annual AI-driven revenue by 2030. The company is banking on growth in AI-based consumer and enterprise services and AI infrastructure development to achieve this goal.

In addition to this internal restructuring, SK Telecom recently launched a GPU-as-a-service initiative using Nvidia’s Blackwell processors, and partnered with OpenAI to establish AI data centers in southwestern Korea under the ‘Stargate Korea’ project—a move signaling its ambition to become a major player in the global AI ecosystem.

Source: Techcrunch