SK Networks on Friday announced that it will invest 25 billion won ($19 million) in Upstage, a Korean startup specializing in generative AI solutions, as it seeks to expand its business in the emerging technology.

The company, a general trading affiliate of SK Group, said it forged the deal to support Upstage, which is leading in the private large language model market, becoming the lead investor in the startup's Series B funding.

“We are looking to back Upstage's market expansion and help the company grow into a global leader in the LLM industry," an SK Networks official said.

"By utilizing SK Networks' extensive global network, crafted through investments in tech companies both at home and abroad, we will support Upstage to thrive on the international stage."

Upstage is a prominent startup renowned for its advanced technology in the small-scale LLM market.

According to SK Networks, Upstage's internally developed small language model, Solar, has achieved remarkable recognition. In December, it secured the top spot in the Open LLM Leaderboard with an impressive score of 74.2 points. The evaluation was conducted by Hugging Face, the world's largest machine learning platform.

Upstage is also the first domestic AI startup to secure a cumulative 10 gold medals in the prestigious Kaggle competition, often hailed as the Olympics for AI.

SK Networks said it looks forward to fostering synergy in working with Upstage, particularly with en-core, a recently incorporated subsidiary specializing in data management and solutions.

SK Networks President and Chief Operating Officer Choi Sung-hwan and Upstage CEO Kim Seong-hoon clinched the deal in Las Vegas on Thursday (local time), on the sidelines of the CES 2024, the world's largest tech show.

The AI market is projected to surge from $23 billion in 2022 to $207 billion by 2030, according to data by Statista, a global research firm. The LLM sector specifically is anticipated to witness substantial growth, reaching $52 billion with an average annual growth rate of 24 percent, when compared to 2022.