SK Telecom Co., Ltd. (SKM) Stock Price & How to Invest

SK Telecom is Korea's largest wireless carrier, with 23.5 million mobile subscribers at the end of 2025 and a 41.6% share of a three-operator market, ahead of KT at 30.8% and LG Uplus at 27.6%. Revenue splits into three reportable segments. Cellular services, covering wireless service fees, interconnection and handset sales, produced KRW 12,552.5 billion of 2025 revenue. Fixed-line runs through SK Broadband, now 99.1% owned with the residual 0.9% under agreement, which sells broadband to 7.2 million homes, IPTV to 6.7 million and telephone service including VoIP to 3.3 million, and booked KRW 4,540.6 billion. Everything else, including commerce, the enterprise business and the young AI data centre operation, sits in a third bucket. Group revenue was KRW 17.10 trillion in 2025, near US$11 billion to US$12 billion depending on the exchange rate applied. SK Inc. owns 30.6% of the shares. SK Square, the semiconductor and ICT investment company that holds the group's SK hynix stake, was split out of SK Telecom in November 2021 and distributed to shareholders, so it is a sibling listing rather than a subsidiary. In September 2025 management folded its scattered AI units into one internal organisation it calls the AI Company-in-Company.

Three variables drive the earnings line. ARPU fell 5.1% in 2025 to KRW 27,845 a month, around US$19, as the government kept pressing carriers toward cheaper 5G tiers. Subscriber share keeps leaking to MVNOs, which reached 18.3% of the Korean market by December 2025 from 15.5% two years earlier. Capital expenditure ran KRW 2,206.6 billion in 2025 and is guided slightly higher for 2026. Against that backdrop, 2025 was distorted by the USIM breach: a KRW 134.8 billion regulatory fine plus KRW 212.0 billion of response costs pushed operating profit down to KRW 1,048.5 billion from KRW 1,690.9 billion a year earlier. The 2026 recovery therefore flatters itself, with second-quarter operating income up 67.3% against a damaged base while revenue moved just 0.47%. What the market appears to be paying for is the AI data centre plan: 5 GW of capacity phased in from 2029, another 10 GW contemplated from 2035, a wholly owned subsidiary called SK Hyper capitalised at KRW 750 billion, and press reports of a KKR equity investment the company has confirmed it is still evaluating. AI data centre revenue was KRW 136.2 billion last quarter. The ADS has roughly doubled in a year on a business whose top line has not grown since 2023.

The 2025 cybersecurity incident is not closed. Malware discovered on April 18, 2025 had exfiltrated USIM authentication data belonging to 5G and LTE subscribers, and SK Telecom waived cancellation fees between April 19 and July 14, losing roughly 0.73 million mobile subscribers in that window alone. The Personal Information Protection Commission fined the company KRW 134.8 billion on August 27, 2025 and issued a correctional order. SK Telecom paid provisionally and then sued to overturn the decision in January 2026; the case is pending before the Seoul Administrative Court. Response costs of KRW 212.0 billion were charged to the cellular segment in 2025 on top of the fine, and customer compensation claims remain unresolved. A second incident would cost considerably more than the first, in subscribers as much as in fines. Regulation presses from the other direction as well. The Ministry of Science and ICT has repeatedly pushed carriers into cheaper mid-tier 5G plans and LTE plan access for 5G handsets, and in January 2025 announced support for MVNOs including lower network leasing costs. Ownership carries a specific legal hazard too. The Telecommunications Business Act caps aggregate foreign ownership at 49.0%; SK Telecom put its foreign level at 36.2% as of December 31, 2025, with SK Inc. holding 30.6%. Were SK Inc. ever deemed a foreign entity under that statute, the combined figure would breach the ceiling, and the company states it could then experience a change of control. Finally, the price already reflects a lot. The ADS has gained roughly 80% over the past year and trades near 33 times trailing earnings, while consolidated revenue has gone sideways since 2023 and first-half 2026 revenue was slightly negative. The AI data centre revenue supporting that re-rating is scheduled to begin in 2029, and the funding structure is still undecided. Won weakness also erodes dollar dividends, which the depositary converts from won before paying ADS holders.

3 analysts publish price targets on SKM, averaging $34.57 against a $40.29 price as of August 2026, or -14.2%. The published targets run from $30.00 to $40.00, a narrow spread, and the ratings split 0 buy, 2 hold, 1 sell. Over the last six months there has been 1 raise and 0 cuts among the published actions. A price target is what an analyst published on a date, not a prediction, and sell-side ratings skew positive across the whole market.

Read the full SKM forecast and price target for the target table, the recent rating actions by firm, and how the consensus has shifted.

We give no verdict on SK Telecom Co., Ltd.. Both cases are real, which is why the question is contested at all, so here is the strongest version of each.

The case for buying. The AI data centre programme is the entire growth case. AI data centre revenue reached KRW 136.2 billion in the second quarter of 2026, up about 92% year over year, from a base small enough that it still contributes under 4% of quarterly sales. The most optimistic published target, $40.00, assumes this works close to its best case.

The case against. The 2025 cybersecurity incident is not closed. The most pessimistic target, $30.00, is roughly what SKM is worth if this bites instead.

Read the full bull and bear case on SKM, including what would have to change to break either one. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

A simple financial snapshot. These are approximations and refresh quarterly; for current figures see SK Telecom Co., Ltd.'s investor relations page or your broker.

• Revenue (TTM): ~KRW 17.06 trillion for the twelve months to June 30, 2026, roughly US$11 billion to US$12 billion depending on the won rate applied, against KRW 17.10 trillion in fiscal 2025, KRW 17.94 trillion in 2024 and KRW 17.64 trillion in 2023. SK Telecom reports in Korean won under IFRS, so a screener line reading 17,058,105 is KRW millions and not US dollars. Second-quarter 2026 revenue was KRW 4,359.1 billion, up 0.47% year over year, while first-half revenue of KRW 8,751.4 billion was down 0.47%.
• Earnings and margins: Operating income was KRW 1,048.5 billion in 2025 under IFRS, down from KRW 1,690.9 billion in 2024 and KRW 1,756.3 billion in 2023, with the fall driven by the KRW 134.8 billion regulatory fine and KRW 212.0 billion of cybersecurity response costs. The recovery shows in 2026: second-quarter operating income of KRW 566.0 billion was up 67.3%, and profit for the quarter of KRW 466.0 billion was up 459.8% against that weak base. Trailing twelve-month earnings run about KRW 3,432 per common share, near KRW 1,907 per ADS at the five-ninths ratio.
• Segments and operating metrics: Cellular services produced KRW 12,552.5 billion of 2025 revenue and KRW 744.2 billion of segment operating profit, down 52.7%. SK Broadband contributed KRW 4,540.6 billion of revenue and KRW 141.5 billion of profit. AI data centre revenue was KRW 136.2 billion in the second quarter of 2026, up about 92%. SK Telecom ended 2025 with 23.5 million mobile subscribers and 41.6% share, against KT at 30.8% and LG Uplus at 27.6%, plus 7.2 million broadband and 6.7 million IPTV subscribers. Monthly ARPU excluding MVNO subscribers was KRW 27,845, about US$19.
• Cash flow and balance sheet: Total assets stood at KRW 30.11 trillion and shareholders' equity at KRW 12.96 trillion on December 31, 2025, with cash and equivalents of KRW 1,490.0 billion. Capital expenditure ran KRW 2,206.6 billion in 2025, of which KRW 733.9 billion went into wireless networks, and management expects slightly more in 2026. Translated, total debt sits near US$6.6 billion against roughly US$1.3 billion of cash, giving an enterprise value around US$21.7 billion and EV/EBITDA near 7.6 on approximately US$2.8 billion of EBITDA. Headcount fell to 22,723 at the end of 2025 from 26,195 two years earlier.
• Market pricing: The ADS traded near $40.29 in late August 2026 against a 52-week range of $19.66 to $47.18, up roughly 80% over the year, for a market capitalisation of about US$15.7 billion. There were 213,000,896 common shares outstanding as of March 31, 2026, equal to roughly 383 million ADS at the five-ninths ratio, which is why a screener's per-share book value of about $46.79 sits above the ADS price. Trailing P/E is near 33 and the forward figure closer to 16, price to book about 1.6, five-year beta about 0.69.
• Dividend: The quarterly dividend has held at KRW 830 per common share, with KRW 176.8 billion declared for the second quarter of 2026 on an August 31 record date and a September 17 payment date. Annualised, that is KRW 3,320 per common share, or roughly KRW 1,844 per ADS gross, near US$1.25 at around KRW 1,480 to the dollar, a gross yield close to 3% on a $40 ADS. Published ADR yields for SKM often print nearer 1.25% because data feeds pick up only part of the depositary payment record and because the ADS price itself doubled during the trailing period. Korean withholding tax and depositary fees reduce what actually lands.

Trailing earnings are depressed by the 2025 breach costs, which is why a trailing P/E near 33 sits so far above a forward figure near 16. On EV/EBITDA around 7.6 the operating business screens close to other incumbent Asian carriers, so most of the ADS re-rating has arrived through the AI data centre story rather than through telephone economics. Book value and the dividend anchor the other side of the case, and neither has moved much since 2023.

Other names that sit close to SKM: same theme, named as a direct competitor, or held beside it in the same funds. Each entry says which. Worth a look if you are thinking about diversification within a thesis rather than concentration on one ticker.

There are three common ways to get SKM exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) directly at any major broker. Hold an ETF that includes it, which spreads the position across many companies. Or build it into a focused thematic portfolio, so SKM sits alongside other stocks that express the same thesis.

Walnut takes the portfolio route. Describe a thesis where SKM fits (for example “AI infrastructure” or “dividend-growth large-caps”) and the AI proposes 5 to 6 constituents with target weights. You review the plan and fund it through your own broker when you're ready.

New to this? Start with how to invest in stocks, see how to analyze a stock with AI, or compare the best AI stock analyzers.

As of August 2026, SKM prices a flat, regulated Korean telephone company plus an option on a 15 GW AI data centre programme that produces almost no revenue yet, at roughly 33 times trailing earnings after the ADS gained about 80% in a year.

Whether SKM is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, what would have to go right, and the risks in is SKM a buy or a sell?, and where the stock could go from here in the SKM stock forecast.

For income investors, whether SKM pays a dividend and how the payout looks is covered in does SKM pay a dividend? And to weigh SKM against a peer, read the full side-by-side comparisons: SKM vs AMZN and SKM vs MSFT.