Shares of SK Telecom surged more than 13% over the past five trading sessions, rising from $31.41 to $35.61, after SK Group and NVIDIA unveiled a partnership valued at over $500 billion to build AI infrastructure on a massive scale. The deal is among the largest cross-border AI commitments ever announced, and it puts SK Telecom at the center of South Korea's ambitions to become a global AI hub. But the muted -0.2% move on Friday suggests the initial euphoria may already be priced in. SK Telecom Lands a $500 Billion NVIDIA Partnership — Is a Telecom Giant Really the Right Company to Build Asia's AI Backbone?
Shares of SK Telecom rallied 13% over five sessions before the deal was even official, then flatlined Friday at $35.61, suggesting the market front-ran the announcement and is now asking harder questions about execution. SK Group and NVIDIA announced plans for a partnership valued at over $500 billion, spanning AI factory construction and next-generation memory supply. For a company with a market cap of roughly $14 billion and trailing revenue of $12 billion , the headline number is staggering — but the fine print matters.
The Deal Is Mostly a Letter of Intent, Not a Check
The two sides signed letters of intent to formalize the agreement. That means the $500 billion figure spans years and multiple SK Group entities — including SK hynix's memory supply — not a single SK Telecom capital commitment. Two gigawatts of compute capacity exceeds what most national power grids allocate to any single industrial tenant , raising real questions about power sourcing, permitting, and financing. Funding is expected to come from a combination of its own investment, strategic partner investment, long-term customer contracts, and project financing.
SK Telecom Is Betting It Can Become a Cloud Company The core play: SK Telecom builds and operates the AI data centers, selling computing power to enterprise and government customers across Asia-Pacific. An AI Cloud specializes in GPU-based cloud computing tailored specifically for AI workloads — unlike SK Telecom's current bread-and-butter wireless business. SK Group will invest 140 trillion won to build a 2-gigawatt AI data center, with plans to expand to 5GW and eventually 15GW. That roadmap implies tens of billions in capital spending over the next decade from a company with a P/E near 17 and moderate debt-to-equity of 0.45 .
SK Hynix Is the Real Prize for NVIDIA
SK Hynix currently controls roughly 60% of the global high-bandwidth memory market — the specialized chips NVIDIA needs for its most advanced AI processors. The memory supply deal locks that in for NVIDIA. For SK Telecom shareholders, the benefit is indirect: the partnership raises the group's profile, but SK hynix trades separately.
The Stock's Run Needs Revenue to Back It Up
SK Telecom's Q1 2026 operating profit beat consensus by 4.7%, driven by upselling and AI-driven growth in data center operations. That's encouraging, but the AI factory won't generate revenue until 2027 at the earliest. The lone covering analyst rates SKM a "Hold." Until construction timelines, anchor tenants, and capital costs are detailed, the $500 billion headline remains an aspiration — not an earnings driver.