Seoul: SK Telecom Co., South Korea's major telecommunications company, said Monday it has launched an artificial intelligence cloud service based on Nvidia Corp.'s graphic processing unit (GPU) in cooperation with U.S. cloud computing firm Lambda.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the newly launched GPU-as-a-service (GPUaaS) is based on Nvidia's H100 chip, currently the most advanced GPU in South Korea, as stated by the Korean company. For the service, SK Telecom joined hands with Lambda to create a cloud solutions provider's region in its AI data center in Gasan, southwestern Seoul. A region in cloud computing refers to a geographical area where the service provider has established infrastructure to offer its services.

The Gasan data center marks Lambda's first region in the Asia-Pacific region, as reported by SK Telecom. The Korean company highlighted that its Nvidia chip-based AI cloud service will allow its users to conduct stable AI learning and inference, using different GPUs depending on their needs.

Furthermore, SK Telecom plans to adopt Nvidia's more advanced H200 in the first quarter, becoming the first South Korean company to do so. In November, SK Telecom announced its vision to make South Korea an AI data center hub for the Asia-Pacific region by creating a comprehensive AI infrastructure that will integrate AI data centers, GPUaaS and edge AI.