SEOUL, Jan 28, 2026, 04:59 (KST) — The market has closed.
SK Telecom Co., Ltd (017670.KS) surged 12.3% Tuesday, closing at 69,400 won after hitting 71,600 won—its highest since 2000—in a dramatic revaluation tied to its AI business. The jump lifted its market cap to 14.9 trillion won, surpassing competitor KT. Shares of KT and LG Uplus also climbed. 1
This is significant because Korean telecom stocks typically behave as defensive dividend plays, not AI proxies. But this week, that’s shifting: investors are factoring in a possible boost from SK Telecom’s minority stake in U.S. AI start-up Anthropic and a bid tied to a government-supported “foundation model” initiative — a large AI model trained on extensive data.
Hana Securities analyst Kim Hong-sik bumped his 12-month target price to 80,000 won and kept a buy rating intact. He highlighted a rebound in dividends per share and the chance of increased demand should SK Telecom be chosen as an independent AI foundation model operator. “We recommend bringing forward the timing to buy,” Kim said. 2
Anthropic, the company behind the Claude chatbot, is preparing a funding round that could peg its value near $350 billion, according to the Financial Times, confirming earlier Reuters reports. This surge in valuation sheds new light on the worth of minor stakes held by companies throughout the sector. 3
In 2023, SK Telecom announced a $100 million investment in Anthropic to develop telecom-specific AI, including a multilingual large language model (LLM) designed to generate and interpret text, along with an AI platform for services. 4
UBS analyst Sohyun Park maintained a neutral rating with a 52,000-won target price, noting that recent gains reflect fresh interest in the potential value of the Anthropic stake and whether its eventual monetisation might boost shareholder returns. Park highlighted February 11 as a key date, pointing to the upcoming earnings report as a crucial milestone. Expectations also suggest dividend payments could return to normal later this year. 5
SK Telecom’s ADRs (SKM), which mirror the Seoul-listed shares, climbed 10.6% to $27.43 in U.S. trading Tuesday afternoon.
Yet, the AI-fueled rerating carries significant uncertainties. Anthropic hasn’t announced an IPO timeline, new funding rounds risk diluting current shareholders, and Seoul might scrap its AI project, forcing the stock to rely once more on its dividend and steady telecom cash flow.
Seoul reopens at 9 a.m., with traders eyeing whether Tuesday’s sharp rise holds or if profit-taking kicks in. SK Telecom’s earnings and dividend update, due around Feb. 11, remains the next major catalyst. 6
