Earth Day 2024: Forging an Eco-friendly Future for AI – How SK is Creating Sustainable Technology

Earth Day is an annual opportunity to recognize the importance of preserving our planet – especially as we take innovative leaps into the future. As technology becomes more advanced, energy demands also increase – including the expanding prominence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions.

SK companies are not only enabling advanced AI technology, but ensuring AI becomes more energy-efficient at the same time. This is part of SK’s commitment to sustainability – and why we’re investing billions in eco-friendly businesses around the world.

Energy-efficient AI takes many forms – from high-bandwidth memory chips to power-saving technologies for smartphones and liquid cooling solutions for data centers. These advancements are part of SK’s pledge to reduce its carbon emissions by 200 million tons in 2030.

Learn more about how SK technologies are aligning the advancement of AI with a more sustainable future for the planet. 
 

SK hynix – Boosting Energy Efficiency via HBM Memory Chips

To complement the massive growth of AI, SK hynix is investing in the development of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) chips – hardware that can process terabytes of data, the equivalent of 230 full-high-definition movies per second, with major gains to energy efficiency.

HBM chips differ from their conventional counterparts by creating a ‘data skyscraper’ and stacking memory layers vertically. Their design enables more streamlined communication across ChatGPT and other leading AI models. In addition to driving more energy efficiency, HBM chips can also ramp up the scalability and speed of data transfer.

SK hynix projects that HBM chip demand could grow 82% each year through 2027. Thanks to the company’s unwavering commitment to innovation, industry experts say SK hynix is best equipped to meet the sector’s demands – while helping maximize energy efficiency.

SK Telecom – Creating AI-Based Smartphone Power-Saving Technology

A strong battery life is one of the key factors that customers seek in smartphones. SK Telecom, in partnership with MediaTek and Nota AI, recently created a smartphone power-saving technology using on-device AI, that aims to decrease power consumption during data transmission and reception.

The technology enables the smartphone to predict whether data transmission will happen within a particular time period – all in real time. If the prediction indicates that data transmission will occur, it will maintain the connection between the base station and device. If the prediction does not indicate data transmission will occur, it will disconnect from the base station to stop using power.

As a result, the companies’ AI model can make an impact on smartphone power savings – helping consumers while still conserving our planet’s resources.

SK Enmove – Reducing Power Consumption in AI Data Centers

The unprecedented growth of AI brings increased demands for the world’s data centers. SK Enmove, SK Telecom, and Iceotope Technologies recently signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly develop a liquid cooling solution for AI data centers. It will leverage SK Enmove’s thermal fluid to cool down servers with non-conductive specialized thermal fluids.

This new form of thermal management improves power consumption. It also cuts back on operation costs associated with more traditional methods, like air conditioning, that reduce heat in the air and consume substantial amounts of energy in the process.

SK Enmove remains dedicated to driving innovation with liquid cooling solutions and cultivating sustainable environments.

Driving a More Sustainable Tomorrow

While SK is proud to celebrate Earth Day every April, we remain committed to making a continuous impact each and every day – not just in AI, but in other emerging industries as well. We must all work together to preserve the planet’s resources as we forge a more sustainable tomorrow for our shared, global communities.