Aiming for Completion in 2028
Agreement Signed with Jeollanam-do for Securing Water Resources
Brian Koo, grandson of the LG founder, and others are reportedly pushing for the construction of the world's largest artificial intelligence (AI) data center in South Korea, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 18th (local time).
The scale of this data center is 3GW, with an investment expected to reach up to $35 billion (approximately 50 trillion KRW). This scale is about three times larger than the data center being built in Texas as part of the 'Stargate Project' led by OpenAI and SoftBank in the United States.
The project is reportedly led by an investment group called 'Stock Farm Road.' WSJ explained that the co-founders of this investment group are Brian Koo, grandson of the LG founder, and Amin Badr Eldin, founder and CEO of BADR Investment, an investment firm based in London and Jordan.
WSJ did not specify the exact location of the data center but reported that it is being pursued in the "southwestern region far from Seoul," with construction starting earlier this year and aiming for completion in 2028. It also added that investors have signed an agreement with Jeollanam-do Province to receive support for securing power and water resources.
However, the report noted that issues such as power supply chain problems for the data center construction and ongoing shortages of NVIDIA AI chips could delay global data center projects, meaning this project might also be postponed until after 2028.
'Stock Farm Road' plans to invest $10 billion initially and up to $35 billion in the long term. Brian Koo stated, "Currently, data centers in South Korea mainly meet domestic demand, but South Korea has the right conditions to operate large-scale data centers targeting the global market."
WSJ explained that South Korea's large-scale data center construction demonstrates the explosive global increase in AI demand despite concerns about the sustainability of the AI boom. While data center projects are actively underway in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East, in Asia, data center complexes are rapidly increasing not only in South Korea but also in Malaysia, Thailand, and India, leveraging affordable land and labor costs.
Jingwen Ong, Asia-Pacific research manager at DC Byte, a data center research firm, evaluated, "If costs can be reduced and construction can be completed quickly, South Korean data centers could have sufficient competitiveness."
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