LG Uplus eyes W3tr investment in AI by 2028

LG Uplus CEO Hwang Hyeon-sik speaks in a press conference in Seoul on Thursday. (LG Uplus)

LG Uplus CEO Hwang Hyeon-sik said Thursday the company would invest up to 3 trillion won ($2.15 billion) in the telecom carrier's artificial intelligence business over the next four years.

The announcement came as the CEO introduced the company's AI transformation strategy during a press briefing in Seoul.

Hwang highlighted that the key behind the telecom carrier's AX strategy is customer-centered thinking and AI orchestration.

“To grow as an AX company, it’s essential to accurately understand and quickly reflect what customers want. Partnering is important, but we must also strengthen our capabilities to achieve this,” the CEO said.

“By doing so, we will build AI orchestration capabilities that enable us to select and combine the best models and systems, ensuring stable operation and management,” he added.

As part of its AX efforts, the CEO hinted that the company will embark on the development of an AI-based home agent in collaboration with US tech giant Google.

“We’ll review the project together from the initial planning stages of the home agent,” he said. "We believe that with our extensive experience in various smart home IoT services, we can bring strong advantages to the home agent service as well."

On the same day, LG Uplus unveiled a new call-recording service, dubbed ixi-O.

ixi-O offers features such as AI call answering, on-screen call transcription, real-time voice phishing detection and call recording with summaries without relying on servers.

"Until now, telecommunications has focused on connecting people and information, but in the future, new connection points will emerge through AI, along with agent services to link them," the CEO said. “Through ixi-O, we aim to create unique value in the key telecom sector."

The telecom carrier plans to establish a personal AI agent ecosystem by launching a range of AI agent services centered around ixi-O.

In the business-to-business sector, LG Uplus will leverage its strengths in the AI data center and the all-in-one enterprise AI solution, ixi-O Enterprise.

Starting with a mobile agent based on ixi-O, the telecom carrier plans to expand into a home agent by integrating media, ultimately building a full AI agent ecosystem, Hwang said.