Baek Byung-yeul is a journalist at The Korea Times focused on cultural content, including films and cultural events in South Korea. You can contact him at baekby@koreatimes.co.kr to share your insights.
KT launches high-performance cloud specialized for AI service
KT Cloud employees pose with the company’s new cloud service AI SERV, specialized for AI service development companies that need high-performance computing systems at affordable prices, Monday. Courtesy of KT
By Baek Byung-yeul
KT Cloud launched a powerful cloud computing service designed for AI service development, which will help boost its AI infrastructure business, the cloud subsidiary of KT said on Monday.
The company said AI SERV is a dedicated infrastructure for AI inference services that applies slicing technology to graphic processing units (GPUs).
In the field of hyperscale AI development, the learning area requires a large number of high-performance GPUs for a short period of time, while the inference area requires a small number of GPUs to be used continuously and constantly. As a result, using the infrastructure used for learning as the inference infrastructure has resulted in an unnecessary cost burden.
KT Cloud said AI SERV focused on the fact that AI companies that have completed AI development and learning processes and are providing AI services can divide high-performance GPU infrastructure into the optimal amount needed for each service.
The company added AI SERV uses slicing technology to divide a single GPU service into five 0.2-GPU units. This allows users to use the infrastructure as needed, reducing costs and allowing for flexible use in a variety of situations.
Previous slicing technologies could suffer performance degradation in the divided units. However, AI SERV is able to use the infrastructure 100 percent without performance degradation, even when sliced, the company added.
“The launch of AI SERV allows customers to use the optimal infrastructure at each stage, from AI learning to inference and serving, at a more reasonable cost,” Yun Dong-sik, CEO of KT Cloud, said. “We will continue to work with domestic and foreign partners to promote the growth and expansion of the hyperscale AI industry, while also helping various AI companies and startups to use AI infrastructure without additional burden.”
KT Cloud has been leading the AI infrastructure business here, launching its first pay-as-you-go infrastructure service, HAC (Hyperscale AI Computing), in 2022. The company has also collaborated with chip design company Rebellions and AI infrastructure solution company Moreh to develop AI frameworks, AI cloud semiconductor chips, and other related services.