이 누리집은 대한민국 공식 전자정부 누리집입니다.

한상넷

비즈니스 정보

Biz News Korea(Eng)

SKT to acquire Swiss quantum cryptographic leader IDQ

Collected: 2018.02.27

Distributed: 2018.02.28

Source: Go Direct

Park Jung-ho, CEO and President of SK Telecom, and Grégoire Ribordy, CEO of IDQ, are holding hands during a meeting to discuss SK Telecom’s investment. [Photo by SK Telecom]

South Korea’s SK Telecom announced Monday it has signed a deal to acquire a controlling stake in the world’s No. 1 quantum cryptographic company for around 70 billion won ($65.4 million).

IDQ headquartered in Switzerland was founded in 2001 and is ranked first in global sales except for China and in number of patents.

SKT said it will acquire a stake of over 50 percent in IDQ and the acquisition process will be completed by June.

Quantum cryptography is the science of exploiting quantum mechanical properties to perform cryptographic tasks. It is considered the most complex and secure data security technology as keys encrypted in quantum bits cannot be replicable by any existing hacking technologies, according to SKT. This technology is in the spotlight as an essential data security technology in the era of 5G network and Internet of Things.

The duo formed a partnership in 2016 when the Korean telco invested 2.5 billion won in IDQ to co-develop an ultra-small QRNG chip that was announced last year.

SKT said it will provide the most secure 5G network services to customers around the world, while expanding the supply of chips and modules equipped with the quantum cryptography technology to IoT devices, servers and mobile systems.

By Lee Sun-hee and Minu Kim

Read in Korean

List

Previous: Socius-led consortium named preferred bidder for Doosan Engine

Next: Latest regulatory filings (26/02/2018)