South Korean telecom giant SK Telecom is offering voluntary retirement to employees at its recently formed AI division, AI CIC, as part of its plan to streamline and unify its artificial intelligence operations.
The company confirmed that the program is not a downsizing effort but a “supportive measure” to help employees whose roles or locations may change during the reorganization. “This special retirement program is entirely a supportive measure and is not intended as a restructuring or downsizing measure,” an SK Telecom spokesperson said.
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The AI CIC unit, which houses around 1,000 employees, was launched in late September to merge SK Telecom’s various AI-related teams into a single structure. It oversees the company’s personal AI assistant “A-dot,” AI data centers, enterprise AI services, and global AI partnerships.
Severance benefits will reportedly differ by tenure and rank, though participation is fully voluntary. Employees who remain with the company may be reassigned to other offices or departments.
The restructuring aligns with SK Telecom’s plan to generate ₩5 trillion (around $3.5 billion) in annual AI revenue by 2030. The company recently announced new initiatives including offering Nvidia Blackwell GPUs-as-a-service and collaborating with OpenAI to develop AI data centers in Korea under the “Stargate Korea” project.
