KT Corp., a South Korean telecom giant, said Wednesday it has partnered with global cloud service operator Amazon Web Services Inc. (AWS) in a move to bolster its push to develop artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud technologies.

The two companies agreed to pursue joint research in AI and cloud technologies as well as collaboration in media businesses, KT said in a statement.

The telecom operator said it plans to launch a contact center service that combines its AI-based contact center service and AWS' cloud call center service.

The two companies will also collaborate to release an enterprise service that connects KT's cloud services with those from AWS.

The telecom operator said that the move is expected to help its clients use AWS cloud solutions when expanding to overseas markets, while foreign companies that use AWS services will also be able to employ KT's cloud technology when entering South Korea.

KT has recently stepped up its efforts in AI and cloud technology.

The company will establish an AI research institute with KAIST, South Korea's top science and technology university, by the end of this year. (Yonhap)