SK Telecom formed the K-AI Alliance, joining forces with prominent Korean AI companies to consolidate Korea’s AI capabilities and expand globally.
SKT Newsroom interviewed Andre S. Yoon, CEO of MakinaRocks – an AI company specializing in diverse industries and a key partner of the K-AI Alliance – to talk about the collaboration, synergy, and outcomes achieved through the K-AI Alliance to date.
* This article contains the opinions of other companies and may differ from SK Telecom’s official position.
K-AI Alliance Goes Beyond Mere Technical Cooperation and Functions as a Community, says MakinaRocks CEO Andre S. Yoon
MakinaRocks CEO Andre S. Yoon
MakinaRocks develops and provides industry-specific AI solutions to facilitate AI transformation in manufacturing and other sectors. The AI solutions company works with clients across various sectors, including automotive, semiconductor, battery, chemical, retail, finance, defense, and public sector, with the goal of realizing “Real-World AI.” Its mission is to enhance productivity through intelligent transformation of core business processes within an enterprise by using industry-specific AI powered by their AI platform “MakinaRocks Runway.” Since its founding in 2017, MakinaRocks has partnered with over 40 global clients, executing more than 80 AI projects and deploying over 5,000 models in the field. As a key partner in SK Telecom’s K-AI Alliance, MakinaRocks collaborates in areas such as AI data centers and manufacturing AI.
Q. Tell us about your experience so far as a partner company of the K-AI Alliance.
We are proud to contribute to spreading AI innovation across industries, alongside other leading AI companies in Korea and abroad. MakinaRocks aims to revolutionize industries and enhance global competitiveness through AI, just as the K-AI Alliance does. Being a part of the K-AI Alliance provides a unique opportunity to expand the domestic AI technology ecosystem and collaborate on delivering tangible business outcomes. We remain committed to fostering synergy with other partners and ensuring that AI adds real value across diverse fields and industries. .
Q. What are some achievements resulting from your being part of the K-AI Alliance?
MakinaRocks participated in the K-AI Alliance exhibition at the SK AI Summit 2024 held on November 4th-5th. Pictured is the MakinaRocks booth at the exhibition
Since joining the K-AI Alliance, MakinaRocks has been laying the groundwork for creating synergies in the industrial AI space through various collaborations. This year, we worked with SK Telecom and other SK Group affiliates to develop an anomaly detection service for electric vehicle (EV) chargers. The goal was to leverage AI to preemptively predict EV charger breakdowns, enhancing the reliability of charging infrastructure and ensuring smooth operation. MakinaRocks provided a solution powered by a semi-supervised deep learning algorithm capable of detecting anomalies in the main power modules inside the chargers up to a month in advance, even with limited data and facilitating proactive maintenance planning. The process was carried out using our AI platform “Runway,” which automates and standardizes the process of developing, deploying, monitoring, and retraining AI models, enabling rapid scaling and adaptation in tailored AI solutions.
In addition, MakinaRocks is working closely with SKT’s Future R&D department to develop a prototype for an AI data center infrastructure management solution. As data centers are becoming increasingly important in the AI era, we are exploring innovative approaches to AI data center operations in line with SKT’s vision for the future of AI. MakinaRocks will provide an MLOps solution that enables SKT’s AI researchers to efficiently develop and operate various AI models required for AI data centers. At the same time, we are developing software that offers comprehensive visualization of critical data.
Furthermore, MakinaRocks is actively expanding its areas of collaboration to additional industries, such as the energy solutions sector through the “SKT Connectivity” business. We are also exploring various opportunities for international collaboration with SKT, proposing AI applications such as optimizing task scheduling and detecting anomalies in chemical production processes.
Q. What is the significance of the K-AI Alliance to you as a partner company on the frontline, and what role does MakinaRocks play in the alliance?
The K-AI Alliance is a network that fosters collaboration and innovation across the Korean AI ecosystem, from AI infrastructure to application services. We want the alliance to function as a community that combines the AI expertise of each company to solve practical problems in industries and strengthen global competitiveness, going beyond being merely a venue for sharing technology. As a member of the K-AI Alliance, we aim to play an important role in creating real business outcomes through close collaboration with other partners. MakinaRocks will continue to actively contribute to transforming industries and boosting global competitiveness with AI.
Golden Time to Apply AI on Solid Foundation of Manufacturing – SKT and K-AI Alliance Partners to Play Pivotal Role in Supporting Industries
Q. What kind of cooperation and solidarity is needed for the K-AI Alliance to be competitive in the global market, and what is SKT’s role in this endeavor?
Korea has long been a manufacturing powerhouse, with the sector serving as a key driver of the national economy, accounting for 30% of the GDP. The manufacturing industry now stands at a golden time to integrate the transformative power of AI, marking a pivotal moment to achieve a quantum leap in its evolution through AI-driven capabilities. The K-AI Alliance serves as an important network to capitalize on this opportunity and maximize the synergies between AI technology and manufacturing.
In particular, the various AI technologies that support manufacturing can be more powerfully utilized through collaboration. SKT will play a pivotal role by providing hyper-connected networks and data platforms to enable the practical application of AI technologies in the field, while supporting K-AI Alliance partners in strengthening their respective expertise.
Q. What do you think about SKT declaring its vision of becoming a “Global AI Company” and making strides to become an AI Company?
SKT’s declaration of its vision to become a “Global AI Company” and its transition toward becoming an AI-driven enterprise is a truly pioneering step. AI is a key technology for future industries. SKT’s investment in the AI field, backed by its technological expertise and infrastructure, significantly boosts competitiveness both domestically and globally. We’re excited to support SKT in its journey to becoming an AI company and look forward to the transformative impact it will have across industries.
Q. What is your vision for MakinaRocks and what are your plans for the future?
MakinaRocks operates with the vision ‘To make the world super-productive with machine intelligence,’ firmly believing that AI will make the world more productive. The impact of AI will go beyond tasks in the office such as translation, creating documents, and coding, and will bring an unprecedented level of productivity revolution through the intelligent transformation of the field in various industries or the “real world.”
AI is the technology that enables data-driven problem definition, solution, and decision-making in the field. It resolves issues beyond human speed, using a myriad of methods that the human mind is not able to consider. AI doesn’t replace what humans are capable of doing but rather accomplishes what humans cannot in unexpected ways. Such innovation will go beyond factory automation to the realm of intelligent transformation. With this vision, MakinaRocks will provide intelligent transformation of core processes with industry-specific AI technology to drive real-world innovations.
