[Edaily Reporter Kim Hyun-ah ] SKTelecom(017670)is opening up its proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) model to the startup ecosystem in an effort to enhance the competitiveness of domestically developed AI. The strategy is to increase use cases for its proprietary AI model and accelerate the discovery of industry-focused AI services in collaboration with startups.

SKTelecom announced on the 26th that it will participate in the “2026 Everyone’s Challenge AX-LLM,” organized by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, and provide the API for its AI model “A.X K1” to three domestic startups.

The “Challenge for All AX-LLM” is a program that supports technical collaboration to enable domestic startups to develop and commercialize AI services using domestically developed large language models (LLMs).

Seven companies that possess their own LLMs—including SKTelecom, Upstage, LG Corp. AI Research, NC AI, KTCorporation, Naver Cloud, and Oracle—are participating in this initiative as partner companies.

The process involves startups selecting a partner company they wish to collaborate with and submitting a business plan, after which each company conducts a review to select its collaboration partner.

SKTelecom received the most collaboration applications from startups among the participating partner companies and, following a review conducted with external experts, ultimately selected three companies: Team Limited, Persely, and DevAll Company.

Team Limited is a company developing a personalized shopping curation agent based on receipt data, while Perselli provides AI-based solutions for automating influencer marketing and promotions. DevAll Company operates an AI-based solution for managing delinquent receivables.

SKTelecom plans to provide the A.X K1 API to the selected companies through the end of this year and support service enhancement and commercialization validation in conjunction with its in-house startup incubation program, “SKTCH with AI.”

During the collaboration period, the startups will develop A.X K1-based AI services and validate their applicability at actual customer touchpoints. They will subsequently pursue a proof of concept (PoC) for business collaboration with SKTelecom.

A.X K1 is an AI model developed by SKTelecom through the government’s “Proprietary AI Foundation Model Project (Dokpamo).” Through this collaboration, SKTelecom aims to expand the scope of application for its proprietary AI model and secure AI use cases across various industries, including finance, retail, and security.

Eom Jong-hwan, Head of Sustainable Management at SKTelecom, said, “Through collaboration with startups, we will expand the scope of application for SKTelecom’s proprietary AI model and contribute to revitalizing the domestic AI ecosystem.”