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

A South Korean telco giant SK Telecom Bringing big changes to its new AI department, AI CICA few weeks after its launch. SK Telecom confirmed to TechCrunch that a voluntary retirement program is being offered to employees employed by the unit as part of a larger effort to consolidate the company’s various AI-related divisions.

“In late September, SK Telecom announced the launch of an AI CIC (company-in-company) unit and confirmed that detailed organizational restructuring will be finalized by the end of October,” an SK Telecom spokesperson told TechCrunch. “This special retirement program is purely a support measure and is not intended as a restructuring or retrenchment measure.”

The voluntary retirement program will not involve forced layoffs, and is intended to support employees whose role, organization or work location may change, the spokesperson said. Employees who wish to remain with the company may be reassigned to regional offices.

Details of the voluntary retirement program have been communicated to employees of all experience levels, including both junior and senior employees, industry sources told TechCrunch. The AI ​​unit has about 1,000 employees, according to media reports.

According to the spokesperson, AI CIC aims to consolidate SK Telecom’s various AI-related units under a centralized organization. “This integration involves streamlining overlapping roles and functions, which may inevitably lead to changes such as role changes, organizational realignments or transfers,” they said.

The new department is SK Telecom’s personal AI agent, A. (pronounced “A-dot”), will oversee the development of its AI data center operations, enterprise AI business, as well as global AI partnerships and investments.

The separation package is allegedly Employees are expected to vary based on tenure and location, but the spokesperson told TechCrunch that the company has not set any such internal targets. “As participation is completely voluntary, it is difficult to predict at this stage [how many employees] This could impact the organization as a whole,” the spokesperson said.

The restructuring comes as SK Telecom looks to streamline operations and increase efficiency, with a specific focus on AI. The company plans to record AI division annual revenue of ₩5 trillion (about $3.5 billion) by 2030 and expects AI-powered B2C and B2B services as well as related infrastructure to drive that growth.

The telecom giant recently unveiled an AI infrastructure effort, offering Nvidia Blackwell GPU-as-a-ServiceAnd earlier this month Partnered with OpenAI Building an AI data center in Southwest Korea as part of the ‘Stargate Korea’ initiative.