en.Wedoany.com Reported - South Korea's Saemangeum National Industrial Complex will build a submarine cable landing station as a key step in its transformation into an artificial intelligence data center hub. The landing station will serve the 8,900-kilometer Asia United Gateway East (AUG East) system. Last week, the Saemangeum Development and Investment Agency, Jeonbuk Special Self-Governing Province, Gunsan City, Korea Rural Community Corporation, and South Korean telecom company Dreamline jointly signed a related investment agreement. Dreamline chose Saemangeum due to its convenient land and sea transportation and existing industrial foundation.
The project extends communication infrastructure to South Korea's west coast, helping to enhance the redundancy of the national network. Currently, the vast majority of South Korea's digital infrastructure is concentrated in the southeastern cities of Busan and Geoje. The addition of the landing station will provide extra resilience to the network. The facility will be located in Block 2 of the industrial complex, with construction scheduled to begin in January 2027 and full telecommunications service operations expected by 2029. The Saemangeum Development and Investment Agency did not disclose the specific investment amount.
The submarine cable landing station is expected to attract a series of major investments, including Hyundai Motor Group's planned AI data center with an investment of 9 trillion won (approximately $6.3 billion), which will also be located in the Saemangeum National Industrial Complex. For latency-sensitive AI workloads, proximity to international communication landing points is a core advantage. Moon Sung-yo, head of the Saemangeum Development and Investment Agency, stated that the agreement elevates Saemangeum beyond its traditional role as a manufacturing park, transforming it into a global digital communication gateway. This will lay the foundation for a new industrial ecosystem based on AI and data centers, creating synergies with advanced enterprises such as Hyundai Motor Group.
Dreamline CEO Han Yun-jae confirmed that the company will provide high-speed, low-latency infrastructure optimized for AI and data center operations, helping Saemangeum become a leading digital hub in South Korea. The AUG East system plans to connect eight countries, including Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan. The project is led by a consortium of 11 companies, with NEC as the supplier, utilizing a high-fiber-pair system to provide ample bandwidth capacity.
