[Edaily Reporter Yun Junghoon ] It has been reported that Park Yoon-young, CEO of KTCorporation who took office last March, is actively reviewing plans to re-merge KT Cloud, a subsidiary that serves as a key growth driver.

This is interpreted as reflecting a strategic decision to consolidate dispersed infrastructure capabilities—such as cloud and AI data centers (AIDC)—into a single entity to secure economies of scale, thereby positioning the company as a leading domestic AX (Artificial Intelligence Transformation) platform provider.

Furthermore, as this aligns with the government’s current regulatory stance on dual listings, the likelihood of this plan becoming a reality is gaining momentum.

According to industry sources on the 24th, KTCorporation CEO Park Yoon-young is reportedly keeping the door open to a potential re-merger with KTCorporation Cloud and has instructed internal teams to review the matter.

An industry official stated, “CEO Park recently emphasized the importance of core telecommunications infrastructure, such as data centers and submarine cables, in the AI era,” adding, “He mentioned the idea of reviewing a plan to reintegrate KT Cloud with KTCorporation.”

This proposal effectively represents a reevaluation of the “spin-off of the cloud business and independent initial public offering (IPO)” strategy pursued by the previous management. Although KTCorporation Cloud had established a plan to increase its corporate value based on an independent technology and management system following its spin-off in 2022 and pursue an IPO, it appears that the company has recently concluded that an independent structure alone would make it difficult to secure an advantage in the capital competition against global Big Tech firms and competitors.

In particular, the AI data center business is considered a prime example of a capital-intensive industry requiring massive investment. With competitor SKTelecom reportedly set to secure 5GW of infrastructure in collaboration with NVIDIA at the group level, analysts suggest that KTCorporation(030200) must actively leverage the creditworthiness and funding capacity of KTCorporation’s parent company—rather than operating solely as a subsidiary—to gain the upper hand in the competition for power supply and IDC site acquisition. It is widely believed that KTCorporation, with its annual cash generation capacity of several trillion won, would have an advantage in terms of reducing financial costs and ensuring execution efficiency if it directly leads infrastructure investments.

This plan aligns with the vision of an “AX (Artificial Intelligence Transformation) platform company” that CEO Park presented as his first priority upon taking office. At the time of his appointment, he stated, “I will develop KT into a national telecommunications operator responsible for the present and future of networks, as well as an AX platform company leading the AI era.”

In particular, the fact that CEO Park skipped a separate official event on his first day in office and instead made his first visit to the “KTCorporation Network and Security Control Center” in Gwacheon—where he emphasized, “I will make network stability and security competitiveness my top priorities”—is cited as the background for this plan. This move reflects his determination to fundamentally restore trust as a national telecommunications operator following the recent hacking incident. Furthermore, it is interpreted as based on the judgment that keeping the cloud infrastructure under the control of KTCorporation headquarters—rather than in a separate subsidiary—is more stable for establishing a security governance framework that customers can trust.

Furthermore, the need to invest in undersea cables—which handle critical data traffic in the AI era—is adding weight to the discussions on re-merger. Four of the six key undersea cables owned by KTCorporation have already exceeded their 25-year service life and require replacement or new investment, making an investment of hundreds of billions of won inevitable. While undersea cables themselves are not part of KTCorporation Cloud’s direct business scope, some argue that integrated management with the cloud is more efficient from the perspective of operating a unified infrastructure in the AI era.

There is also speculation that the current structure—in which Kim Bong-kyun, Executive Vice President of KTCorporation Enterprise, concurrently serves as CEO of KT Cloud—is a preliminary step toward a re-merger. This structure is seen as facilitating the merger process by first breaking down the barriers between the B2B business organization and the cloud business to establish an integrated operational framework.

In terms of the ownership structure, there are no major obstacles. As of the end of last year, KTCorporation was the largest shareholder, holding a 92.63% stake in KT Cloud, meaning the procedural foundation for pursuing a merger is already largely in place. However, to make KT Cloud a wholly-owned subsidiary, KTCorporation will need to purchase the shares held by external financial investors—such as IMM Credit Solutions, which holds a 6.94% stake—and reach an agreement with them.

A senior industry official stated, “Considering competition with global Big Tech companies, true competitiveness can only be achieved when telecommunications, AI, cloud, and GPU infrastructure are integrated and operate as a single unit,” adding, “Under a ‘one-team’ structure, the merger could be a viable option.” However, the official noted, “Since telecommunications, AIDC, and cloud are fundamentally different in nature, the potential for a decline in operational efficiency following organizational integration remains a variable.”