 |
| Song Jae-ho, vice president of KT's AI/DX Convergence Division, speaks during a press conference at a hotel in Seoul, June 21. The company said on Sunday that it will invest $11.65 million in local AI company Moreh. Courtesy of KT |
By Baek Byung-yeul
KT will invest 15 billion won ($11.65 million) in local artificial intelligence (AI) software company Moreh as part of its plan to establish a cooperation system integrating all stages of AI development from hardware to software, the company said Sunday.
KT said that this is its second investment in Moreh following its initial investment in 2021. It will invest 10 billion won and its subsidiary KT Cloud will invest the remaining 5 billion won.
"The cooperation between KT Group and Moreh will be a milestone in securing the country's AI competitiveness based on domestic technology, because the domestic AI infrastructure market is largely dependent on overseas solutions," the company said.
KT has been implementing what it calls its "AI full-stack" strategy that encompasses software and hardware based on domestic technology with the country's AI companies including KT Cloud, Moreh and Rebellions. AI full-stack refers to products and services that supervise the entire process from infrastructure such as semiconductors and cloud, which are foundational to AI, to AI application services provided to customers, KT elaborated.
Moreh is a startup specializing in AI infrastructure software, providing an AI infrastructure software stack and AI cluster and cloud services.
KT said Nvidia's global reliance on graphic processing units (GPUs), which are key to its AI business, is more than 80 percent because most of its AI services are built on Nvidia's CUDA, a programming language used for GPU.
By applying the AI infrastructure software stack provided by Moreh, it can solve the dependence on overseas GPUs because the software is compatible with Nvidia's CUDA, the company said. Chipsets developed by domestic AI chip design firms such as Rebellions will also be easily applicable to AI development environments.
To lay the foundation for future growth, KT added that it will continue to invest in local startups and look for additional business opportunities within them. In particular, the company plans to invest around 2 trillion won by 2027 to provide a stable growth foundation for startups and lead the establishment of a healthy innovation ecosystem in the country.
"We will continue to do our best to help domestic partners such as Moreh play an active role in the global AI market," the company said.
![[INTERVIEW] Ex-NIS chief urges politicians to stop misusing spy agency](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/59da8df88faa4a50ad42945501b03bca.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
![[REVIEW] Musical 'Monte Cristo' returns with riveting tale of vengeance, love](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/3934be1fa6844478b619a015d610bc5b.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
![[INTERVIEW] Meet the man behind giant rubber ducks that once took over Seoul](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/df32c60c8204448e98ccdb9841366bec.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
