Korea's Largest AI-Dedicated Data Center Planned
100MW Capacity with 60,000 GPUs to Be Built
SK Chemical site within Ulsan Mipo Industrial Complex. (Image captured from SK Multi Utility website)
SK Group and Amazon Web Services (AWS), the world's leading global cloud provider, are partnering to build a 100MW (megawatt) artificial intelligence (AI)-dedicated data center in the Ulsan Mipo National Industrial Complex. This is a massive project involving multi-trillion-won investments, signaling that Korea is entering the global competition for AI technology supremacy in earnest.
According to industry sources on June 15, the two companies are constructing this data center on a 36,000-square-meter site in Hwangseong-dong, Nam-gu, Ulsan. The center will have a capacity of 103MW (megawatts) and will be equipped with approximately 60,000 GPUs (graphics processing units). This is an unprecedented scale in Korea.
The construction schedule will proceed in phases. After a launch ceremony this month, a groundbreaking ceremony will be held in August, and in the first phase, about 40MW will become operational by November 2027. The plan is to expand and complete the entire 103MW facility by February 2029.
This project is the realization of the vision announced by Yoo Youngsang, CEO of SK Telecom, at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2025 held in Barcelona, Spain, in March. At the time, CEO Yoo declared, "We will build a hyperscale AI data center with 60,000 GPUs through partnerships with global big tech companies."
Subsequently, SKT, together with its subsidiary SK Broadband, began to push forward with the project by acquiring the site from affiliate SK Chemical for 28.3 billion won.
The Ulsan Mipo Industrial Complex offers optimal conditions for operating an AI data center, particularly in terms of large-scale power supply and cooling facility infrastructure. The nearby LNG combined heat and power plant operated by SK Gas can reliably supply the massive amount of electricity required by the data center.
The collaboration between SK Group and AWS, two leading domestic and international companies, is significant as it is expected to bring composite benefits such as technology transfer, accumulation of know-how, and utilization of global networks. An industry official predicted, "If this project is successfully completed, it is expected to have a positive impact on follow-up investments and the creation of a related industrial ecosystem."
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