en.Wedoany.com Reported - KT has consolidated its AI transformation (AX) functions into the "AX Business Division" and appointed Park Sang-won, former representative of Samjong KPMG, as the division head. This move aims to integrate strategy development, technology development, proposal, and execution into a unified responsibility system to enhance execution capabilities and achieve formal profitability in AI business.

The division is formed by restructuring the former "Technology Innovation Division" and "Strategy & Business Consulting Division," which were responsible for integrating technology and consulting organizations under former CEO Kim Young-seop. Born in 1968, Park Sang-won graduated from Yonsei University's Department of Business Administration and earned a master's degree in business administration from Seoul National University. He began his career in 2007 as a consultant in the financial sector at A.T. Kearney, a global consulting firm based in the U.S., and moved to Samjong KPMG in 2008, where he long led consulting work in manufacturing, services, and finance.

Park emphasized building an end-to-end business model responsible from consulting to operations, and transforming KT's internal innovation experiences into replicable success models. To achieve this, he established five specialized organizations under the AX Business Division: AX Strategy Headquarters, AX Business Headquarters, AX Engineering Headquarters, AX Proposal & Execution Headquarters, and AX Technology Headquarters. On the technology execution front, KT externally hired Yang Jae-young, who previously led "Digital Employee" and AI Agent businesses at Samsung SDS, as the head of AX Technology Headquarters. This technology headquarters includes positions such as Agentic AI Development Lead, AX Platform Development Lead, and AX Solution Development Lead.

Based on this organizational restructuring, KT has launched B2B AX solutions ranging from problem discovery to on-site verification and formal business conversion, with the core being the "KT Innovation Center" and "AX Squad." The Innovation Center, opened in October 2024, allows customers to experience AI application cases and jointly concretize business tasks. Since its opening, over 200 client companies have visited, with more than 30 introducing AX technology with the assistance of KT's AI partners and expert teams. The AX Squad, based on a six-week verification framework, develops AI Agents at client sites, collects frontline feedback, and validates effectiveness, focusing on preliminary assessment of return on investment (ROI) and formal business feasibility in real business environments.

KT is also advancing an ecosystem strategy that combines external startups and industry experts, centered on the AX Business Division. The company proposed the "AX Alliance" concept, planning to integrate startups with core technology capabilities such as data cleaning and security, along with knowledge from law firms, accounting firms, and seasoned experts across industries, with the KT platform to provide industry-specific AX services. Simultaneously, KT launched the "K-PATH 2026" recruitment program for startups, formerly known as "Korea Potential AI Startups (KPAS)," which previously discovered companies like Allganize, Enhance, LangCode, and SelectStar. Recruitment areas include AI Agent platforms, enterprise AI, data and AI-oriented data, physical AI and robotics, AI infrastructure, and foundation models. Selected startups will receive joint technology verification (PoC), R&D linkage, joint market development, customer discovery, investment linkage, and network support.

Park stated that K-PATH is not just a startup support program but a platform to discover core partners who will jointly build the future AX business with KT. Industry analysts noted that KT's strengths lie in simultaneously possessing communication networks, enterprise customer bases, public, financial, and media touchpoints, as well as cloud and security infrastructure. If resources are effectively integrated, KT could become an AX platform service provider; conversely, if organizations operate independently, the AX Business Division may remain merely a new department. Another view suggests that Park's tendency toward organizational coordination leadership aligns well with the characteristics of AX organizations requiring long-term investment and technology development, and his experience in global corporate partnerships will also help handle collaboration with key partners like Microsoft.