November 23, 2024

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Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Ring is teased at the Galaxy S24 Unpacked event in San Jose, California in January. (Samsung Electronics)

With the opening of the world’s largest mobile tech show just a day away, South Korea’s major telecommunications firms SK Telecom and KT Corp., and Samsung Electronics, are poised to showcase their latest artificial intelligence technologies and services.

Samsung said Sunday it would unveil the Galaxy Ring, the tech giant’s first wearable health tracker in the form of a ring, for the first time at the annual Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, following its teaser at the Galaxy S24 Unpacked event in San Jose, California, last month.

The tech giant's new wearable product will be displayed in three colors and nine sizes, including black, gold and silver, at the tech giant’s 1,745-square-meter experience booth at Fira Gran Via, the main venue. For security reasons, however, visitors will be allowed to watch the gadget only at the show. They will have to wait until its official launch to try it on.

The company is also set to showcase its upcoming intelligent health features for the first time. My Vitality Score, offers personalized health insights based on multiple factors including sleep, activity and heart rate variability, while Booster Card will track predefined goals and deliver users’ actionable insights.

It will unleash more mobile experiences with Galaxy AI, centered around its latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S24 series, while offering the chance to experience enhanced productivity first-hand with the Galaxy Book4 series, set to launch globally starting Monday.

Models pose against the backdrop of the SK Telecom's Global Telco AI Alliance sculpture set up at the MWC 2024 in Barcelona, Spain. (SK Telecom)

Korea's No. 1 mobile carrier, SK Telecom, said it would present the vision for the “Telco AI World” at this year’s MWC, and showcase its cooperation with the Global Telco AI Alliance more specifically.

The GTAA was launched in July, aimed at boosting AI transformation with three other major global telecom firms, Deutsche Telekom, e& and Singtel. The company said the founding members, which have a total of 1.3 billion users in 50 countries around the world, plan to join forces in the development of large language models for telecom based on economies of scale.

As SK Telecom vowed to pursue a fast transformation to become a global AI company in collaboration with global firms, it will introduce AI innovation in LLMs for telecom firms by setting up its 992-square-meter booth under the theme of "AI, on the Point of Inflection" this year.

In addition to the telecom giant's AI assistant service, A., launched in September, various network infrastructure technologies based on AI, including sixth-generation simulator and open LAN optimization technology, will also be on display.

The company will also demonstrate next-generation liquid cooling technology for AI data centers, as well as the group's fabless startup Sapeon's latest AI chips and AI data center security. A full-scale model of an urban air traffic aircraft in collaboration with US aviation company Joby Aviation will be available for flight simulation.

With the theme of "Digital Innovation Partner KT, Creating the Future,” KT Corp., the country’s second-largest mobile carrier, said it would mainly introduce its next-generation network and AI technologies by running an exhibition booth with two theme zones -- next fifth-generation and AI life -- at the upcoming MWC.

Workers introduce KT Corp's exhibition technologies and services near the event venue of the MWC 2024 in Barcelona, Spain. (KT Corp.)

KT will boast technology to build an aviation communication network for UAM operations, a future means of transformation. Quantum cryptography communication equipment that prevents hacking in all wired and wireless networks, communication server power-saving technology to save network power and liquid immersion cooling technology will also be displayed.

It will also promote its partnership with Thailand's communication technology company Jasmine Group to create an LLM service based on the Thai language. In October, the two sides agreed to construct the GPU farm in the first half of this year and start creating the Thai LLM in the second half.

KT CEO Kim Young-shub, the only Korean board member of the MWC's event organizer, the Global System for Mobile Telecommunication Association, or GMSA, will attend the CEO board meeting as a representative of Korean telecom firms, to discuss information and communication technology with the heads of telecom giants globally.

Meanwhile, this year's MWC event will deal with six themes, including 5G advanced and AI. Some 2,400 exhibitors are set to flock to the venue during the four-day run, with Korea alone sending about 165 companies, making it one of the top five exhibitors, after Spain, the US, the UK and China.

By Jie Ye-eun (yeeun@heraldcorp.com)