SK Telecom (SKT) announced on July 26 it will participate in the Ministry of SMEs and Startups-led 2026 Everyone’s Challenge AX-LLM and collaborate with three startups. The programme supports technical collaboration for Korean startups adopting domestic AI models. SKT received the most collaboration applications among the seven demand-side companies, which include Upstage, LG AI Research, NC AI, KT, Naver Cloud, and Oracle. After screening with outside experts, SKT selected Teamlimited, Purcelli, and Devall Company. SKT will provide an application programming interface (API) for its in-house AI model A.X K1 to these startups through the end of this year. Linked to its startup nurturing programme SKTCH with AI, SKT will also support service advancement and validation for commercialisation. Each startup plans to shift its existing service to be based on A.X K1 and pursue a proof of concept (PoC) for business cooperation with SKT. A.X K1 is a model SKT developed through a government project, with development completed at the end of last year.