SK Telecom has made an additional investment in AI model developer Anthropic. As Anthropic pursues an initial public offering, the value of SKT's stake is also expected to rise.

SKT said on June 10 it participated in the Series H funding round to strengthen its partnership with Anthropic. It said it will use the move to strengthen its role in the global AI ecosystem.

SKT invested $100 million in Anthropic in August 2023 to secure about a 2 percent stake. After Anthropic issued new shares, SKT's stake has been diluted to about 0.3 percent.

Anthropic is valued at about $965 billion, or about 1,471 trillion won, the report said. Applying SKT's stake ratio from the 2023 investment, the value of its holding is estimated at more than 4.4 trillion won. SKT recently also joined Anthropic's security cooperation body, Project Glasswing.

Jae-heon Jung (정재헌), SKT's chief executive, said at a media briefing in Tokyo on June 10 on jointly creating an "AI fund" with NTT that the company joined the funding because it was offered an additional investment opportunity as an early investor.

SKT did not disclose the size of the latest investment. It has been reported that SKT is focusing on strategic cooperation rather than a simple exit based on a rise in the value of its Anthropic stake.