SKT and leading domestic quantum companies are unveiling products and solutions utilizing quantum technology.

SK Telecom announced on the 19th that it has confirmed the official name as 'X Quantum (hereinafter referred to as X-Quantum)' and will begin full-scale activities by introducing its first commercial product to mark the 100th day of the launch of the 'Quantum Alliance', a consortium of leading quantum companies in Korea. X-Quantum will commercialize 'Q-HSM' simultaneously with its unveiling at 'Quantum Korea', the largest quantum exhibition in Korea, to be held at KINTEX in Goyang on the 25th.

'XQuantum' is a consortium established by SKT in March together with companies possessing core quantum technologies and components, and its member companies include SKT, SOS Lab, Xgate, Wooriro, KCS, Nokia, and IDQ Korea.

'X-Quantum' is the next-generation quantum cryptography chip 'Q-HSM' jointly introduced by SKT and member company KCS as the first commercial product with the official name confirmed. The product is a new product that adds quantum-resistant cryptography (PQC) technology to the quantum cryptography chip exhibited by SKT and KCS at MWC 2023.

While previous products provided a quantum random number generator (QRNG) and cryptographic communication functions in an integrated manner, the 'Q-HSM' is said to be the world's first quantum chip to simultaneously apply hardware-based QRNG, physically unclonable function (PUF) technology, and software-based PQC cryptographic communication technology.

QRNG is a device that continuously generates unpredictable and patternless "pure random numbers" by utilizing the characteristics of quantum mechanics. PQC is gaining attention as an encryption method that emerged to prevent potential security issues with existing cryptographic systems by creating strong encryption keys. SKT stated, "We developed the PQC algorithm based on the FIPS-203 (CRYSTALS-Kyber) and FIPS-204 (CRYSTALS-Dilithium) standard documents of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the United States."

SKT plans to incorporate Q-HSM into a variety of business areas, including drones, CCTV, home networks, and low-power IoT terminals. It also plans to introduce a hybrid product integrating PQC and QKD in the near future.

In addition, XQuantum plans to develop joint products based on the quantum technologies and products owned by its member companies and offer a variety of quantum solution packages. Furthermore, through joint business opportunities identification and marketing, it plans to pursue joint bids for public works projects and national projects, as well as joint participation in B2B projects.

We also participate in domestic and international exhibitions. XQuantum plans to participate in the upcoming "Quantum Korea 2024" exhibition, showcasing a variety of quantum cryptography products from its member companies at the SKT booth. Furthermore, the two companies plan to jointly participate in a global quantum exhibition to be held later this year to promote XQuantum's products and solutions.

“The alliance has officially decided on ‘XQuantum’ as its name and has launched its first commercial product, marking the beginning of its full-fledged activities,” said Ha Min-yong, Chief Digital Officer (CDO) of SKT’s Global Solutions Office. “Together with our member companies, we will continue to introduce unprecedented new quantum products and solutions so that ‘XQuantum’ can become a name that represents the quantum ecosystem in Korea.”