SK Group's headquarters building is seen in this undated photo. Korea Times file

SK Telecom, a major Korean mobile carrier, said Wednesday its first-quarter net income rose 19.6 percent from a year earlier mainly thanks to non-operating profit from investment.

Its net profit came to 361.9 billion won ($264.8 million) in the January-March period, up 19.6 percent from 302.5 billion won a year ago.

The operating profit was up 0.8 percent on-year to 498.5 billion won and revenue rose 2.3 percent to 4.47 trillion won.

The earnings exceeded market expectations. The average estimate of net profit by analysts stood at 341.8 billion won, according to a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency.

The company said its mainstay mobile business continued to show robust performance, while its artificial intelligence (AI) businesses grew sharply.

Its AI enterprise and AI infrastructure units posted 10 percent and 26 percent growth in sales, respectively, in the first quarter, the company explained.

SK Telecom said it plans to further expand its AI business by deepening cooperation with global tech companies, such as U.S. server manufacturer Supermicro and cloud computing company Lambda.

The Korean company also has plans to unveil a large language model (LLM) tailored to the needs of domestic telecommunications companies in June and is also developing a global telco-specific LLM in collaboration with the Global Telco AI Alliance.

"We will further strengthen our foundation on wired and wireless businesses, while focusing on increasing our profitability and efficiency and creating tangible achievements in the AI business to improve the corporate value," SK Telecom's Chief Financial Officer Kim Yang-seob said. (Yonhap)