en.Wedoany.com Reported - SK Telecom is pushing forward with the construction of an AI data center of up to 15GW, aiming to position South Korea as an AI infrastructure hub in Asia.

Global demand for data centers is growing rapidly, but supply capacity is insufficient. According to McKinsey data, global data center demand is increasing by 19% to 22% annually, and by 2030, the United States alone could face a supply gap of approximately 15GW. Amazon announced a massive capital expenditure plan of about $200 billion this year, aiming to expand AI resource supply as quickly as possible. Against this backdrop, South Korea has become a popular destination for global big tech companies' AI data center investments, leveraging its competitiveness in core AI components such as high-bandwidth memory, stable power supply conditions based on nuclear power and liquefied natural gas, and GW-scale infrastructure operation capabilities accumulated through operating semiconductor production facilities.

Starting with the No. 1 AI data center under construction in Ulsan, SK Telecom plans to build a cluster exceeding 2GW in the Yeongnam region, serving as a base to attract AI infrastructure demand from global big tech companies. Additionally, it includes an extra 1GW in the southwestern region, with plans to open 5GW of AI data centers in South Korea in phases starting from 2029. To reduce the initial investment burden and business risks, the company will gradually proceed with the sequential completion of a 15GW AI data center by 2035, based on demand and investment conditions.

Typically, building a 1GW AI data center requires an investment of approximately 70 trillion Korean won. In addition to its own investment, SK Telecom will raise funds through strategic partner investments, long-term customer contracts, and project financing. Each affiliate of the SK Group already possesses core capabilities required for AI data center infrastructure, and in this construction project, these companies will participate by pooling the group's full-stack AI infrastructure capabilities.

SK Telecom will play the core coordinating role in the design, construction, and operation of the AI data center, continuing collaboration with global big tech companies such as NVIDIA and Amazon Web Services. Currently, targeting the second half of 2027 for operation, it is jointly building a hyperscale AI data center with Amazon Web Services in Ulsan, where cooling and power systems optimized for AI data centers are being established. At the SK AI Summit 2025 last November, SK Telecom CEO Jeong Jae-heon unveiled the AI infrastructure construction roadmap, and recently, together with NVIDIA, announced an AI factory operation plan, known as the next-generation AI data center, which will begin operations in 2027 and gradually expand to GW scale.