South Korea is set to become home to the country’s largest artificial intelligence data center, thanks to a collaboration between SK Group and Amazon Web Services (AWS). This high-profile initiative, based in Ulsan at the Mipo National Industrial Complex, marks a significant step in AI infrastructure development in Asia.
The construction is scheduled to start in August, with the goal of achieving 60,000 GPU deployments, making it the largest such deployment within a Korean data center. The phased rollout includes an initial 41 MW of capacity expected by November 2027, ultimately reaching the full capacity of 103 MW by February 2029. Plans are to further expand the facility to gigawatt-class capacity, underscoring the ambitious nature of this project.
AWS will spearhead the financial input with a $4 billion investment. Meanwhile, SK Group subsidiaries—specifically SK Telecom, SK Broadband, SK Gas, and SK Hynix—will play crucial roles in supplying resources. Further, SK Telecom and SK Broadband will invest around 3.4 trillion won ($2.5 billion) in AI-based initiatives by 2028. With its proximity to SK Gas’s LNG power plant, the data center guarantees reliable power delivery, essential for sustaining any AI infrastructure at this scale.
This venture enhances AWS’s existing presence in South Korea, which includes facilities in Seoul and development activity in Incheon. Complementing this venture is SK Telecom’s AI initiatives. SK’s “AI Infrastructure Superhighway” encapsulates their dedicated pursuit of AI data centers, GPU-as-a-Service offerings, and edge AI. Hyperscale AI data centers exceeding 100 megawatts are integral to handling domestic and international AI workloads.
As part of democratizing access to computing power, SK has launched a cloud-based GPU service. This platform caters to businesses’ and developers’ AI needs without substantial initial hardware expenses. Additionally, SK is intensifying its edge computing capability to support low-latency processing for mobile and IoT applications, enhancing real-time analysis and decision-making.
