Korean electronics giant SK Telecom will construct an AI data center with a scale of up to 15 GW in a bid to become an AI infrastructure hub in Asia.
The company said the move to pre-emptively build domestic AI computing infrastructure to meet demand for AI model training and inference. The move will also help to build national competitiveness.
The move is part of South Korea’s “AI G3” strategy to help it becoming one of the world’s three leading AI powers alongside the U.S. and China. The strategy is a balanced regional development with core infrastructure elements such as power, siting and operations for an AI data center.
SK Telecom pointed to a forecast from McKinsey & Company that predicts global data center demand will grow 19% to 22% annually while supply fails to keep pace. This will result in an estimated shortfall of about 15 GW in the U.S. along by 2030, according to the market research firm.
The investment in data centers comes as the U.S. and China rea expanding investment and SK Telecom said Korea is drawing attention as the next destination for big tech companies’ AI data centers. SK Telecom said this is due to:
- Korea’s high-bandwidth memory portfolio
- Stable power supply conditions based on nuclear and natural gas
- GW-class infrastructure operations
Data center construction
SK Telecom said it will start with the AI data center under construction in Ulsan, Korea, and will build a cluster of more than 2 GW across the southeastern Gyeongsang region. It also plans to build an additional 1 GW in the southwestern Jeolla region.
This will bring its domestic AI data center capacity to a total of 5 GW in stages starting in 2029.
Additional data centers will be construction based on factors like site selection, power supply and secure key anchor tenants.
The construction of 15 GW-scale AI data centers is expected to be a springboard for Korea to become an AI infrastructure hub in Asia
“This AI data center project is aimed at preemptively preparing the computing infrastructure that the global AI ecosystem needs," said Jung Jai-hun, president and CEO of SKT. "We will work closely with the government, industry, and local communities to help Korea grow into Asia’s core AI infrastructure hub.”
