KT advanced its AI ambitions by agreeing to establish a research institute focused on the technology and software with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).

In a translated statement, the operator said the R&D facility will be located in the central city of Daijeon, where KAIST is based. It aims to open by the close of the year with around 200 staff spanning academics and KT employees.

It will house a dedicated GPU server farm, and initially focus on developing AI technology for robotics, healthcare and media.

KT CEO Ku Hyeon-Mo (pictured, left) said the AI R&D would boost its business base: “We will not spare any support to establish ourselves as the best industry-academic joint project in Korea, changing the lives of our customers and leading the industry in digital transformation.”

KAIST president Lee Kwang-Hyung (pictured, right) said: “KT is an excellent AI R&D partner”, which should help deliver “meaningful innovative technologies” to academia and industry.

At the beginning of 2021, KT set up the AI to Everything Lab and hired University of California robotics expert Dennis Hong as an adviser.