SKT meets with IonQ to discuss business initiatives

SK Telecom CEO Ryu Young-sang, left, and IonQ Executive Chair Peter Chapman pose during a meeting in Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of SK Telecom

SK Telecom CEO Ryu Young-sang met with IonQ Executive Chair Peter Chapman Thursday to discuss cooperation between the two companies.

According to the Korean telecommunication operator, the meeting at its headquarters in Seoul was also attended by senior SK Telecom officials, along with Chief Financial Officer Thomas Kramer and Vice President of Sales and Strategic Partnerships Philip Farah from the U.S. quantum computing company.

During the meeting, the two companies explored potential cooperation on quantum business initiatives as a follow-up to their recent strategic alliance agreement. Reconfirming their shared interest in areas such as quantum networking and quantum security, they discussed strengthening and developing their cooperation in these areas.

"Cooperation with IonQ is an opportunity for SKT to expand its business area not only to quantum security but also to quantum computing," Ryu said. "SKT will continue to invest and cooperate to lead the market in the future."

SKT and IonQ also examined the possibility of expanding SKT's current quantum security business partnerships with various local government agencies and companies to include quantum computing, leveraging the cooperation between the two companies.

The two also agreed to maintain and strengthen cooperation with ID Quantique (IDQ), a Swiss company specializing in quantum-safe cryptography, for quantum security, and will join forces in promoting the potential of quantum computers.

The meeting comes about two months after SKT signed a memorandum of understanding with IonQ in February in an effort to prepare for the artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum era. IonQ is known for developing highly stable and precise trapped ion technology that captures ions with an electric field and controls them with lasers.

Quantum computers, which can process larger amounts of data more quickly than conventional computers, are expected to provide faster and more optimized AI technologies and services while using less power than existing systems.

With the partnership, SK Telecom expects to enhance its competitiveness by applying IonQ’s quantum computing technology to its AI technologies, including its AI agent service, AI data centers and GPU cloud service.

As part of the agreement, SKT and SK Square traded in their shares of IDQ with IonQ's shares, establishing a firm business partnership with IonQ.