SKT and Krafton Release A.X-K2 Models Under South Korea's Sovereign AI Project
SK Telecom (SKT) and Krafton have released the A.X-K2 family of models on Hugging Face, including the A.X-K2-ALM and A.X-K2-Raon-Speech-21B-A3B models. These models were developed as part of South Korea's government-funded Sovereign AI Foundation Model Project. This release represents a key milestone in South Korea's national initiative to build independent AI capabilities and reduce reliance on foreign technology providers. The project employs a competitive funding structure to accelerate domestic AI innovation and secure technological sovereignty. The project involves a total government investment of ₩530 billion ($360 million) through 2027, utilizing a tournament-style elimination format where underperforming companies are dropped every six months. The released models include large-scale architectures and speech-integrated models, such as the 21B-parameter Raon-Speech model.
## BACKGROUND
Sovereign AI refers to national or regional efforts to build and control AI infrastructure, data, and models locally to protect national security and preserve cultural representation. South Korea's initiative initially funded five major local tech teams, including SKT, Upstage, and LG AI Research, to develop domestic foundation models.