LG Uplus (032640.KS) posted improved first-quarter earnings, driven by its artificial intelligence data center (AIDC) business.
LG Uplus announced Wednesday that its first-quarter operating profit on a consolidated basis rose 6.6% year-on-year to 272.3 billion won ($200 million). Revenue and net profit stood at 3.80 trillion won ($2.8 billion) and 176 billion won, up 1.5% and 8.4%, respectively.
Mobile segment revenue rose 3.2% to 1.65 trillion won, supported by subscriber growth. Total mobile subscriber lines increased 6.4% to about 30.93 million. Mobile network operator (MNO) lines reached 21.97 million and mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) lines reached 8.96 million, up 7.1% and 4.7%, respectively.
The growth trajectory of the AIDC business also drew attention. First-quarter revenue surged 31% year-on-year to 114.4 billion won. The increase stemmed from the expansion of design, build and operate (DBO) revenue, in addition to the existing colocation (commercial) business. Enterprise infrastructure revenue, which includes AIDC, solutions and corporate lines, rose 6.3% to 435.6 billion won. Solutions revenue, however, edged down 0.8% to 117.9 billion won.
LG Uplus plans to further strengthen its DBO business on the back of AIDC growth. The company also aims to secure mid- to long-term growth drivers by developing new AI businesses. In an earnings conference call the same day, LG Uplus said, "In the B2C area, we have fully implemented a personalized call assistant service optimized for each customer through 'ixi-O Pro,' and on the infrastructure side, we have commercialized AI across the entire network and secured both stability and efficiency with 'ixi Guardian 2.9.'"
Meanwhile, LG Uplus decided to fully cancel approximately 80 billion won worth of treasury shares it has been acquiring since last year, with the cancellation scheduled for the 15th. The company will continue to push forward its "Value-up Plan" to enhance corporate value. Any additional treasury share buybacks will be decided at a time when first-half earnings can be reviewed, taking into account financial targets and retained earnings flow.
