Outrage Over Possibility of 40 New Data Centers in the Seoul Metropolitan Area
Opposition Citing "Further Deepening of Digital Infrastructure Imbalance"
Kim Youngrok, Governor of Jeonnam Province, stated, "No additional data centers should be built in the Seoul metropolitan area."
On July 4, through his Facebook page, Governor Kim emphasized, "A recent private sector report projects that 40 additional data centers will be constructed in the Seoul metropolitan area by 2028. This claim is completely inconsistent with the government's regional balance policy direction and is entirely unrealistic given the current conditions for electricity supply."
He continued, "The Lee Jaemyung administration has declared balanced national development, moving away from concentration in the metropolitan area, for the sustainable growth of Korea. The government also announced active support for the creation of the Solaseado AI Supercluster, the world's largest data center with a capacity of 3GW, currently being promoted in Jeonnam Province."
He added, "Currently, 90% of domestic data centers are concentrated in the Seoul metropolitan area. In this situation, building additional data centers in the metropolitan area will further deepen the imbalance of digital infrastructure."
Finally, Governor Kim stated, "Jeonnam is capable of supplying 5.4GW of renewable energy. We are currently promoting data centers in Solaseado Corporate City, Suncheon, Gwangyang, Jangseong, and Muan. If 40 additional data centers with a total capacity of 2,200MW are built in the metropolitan area, the provinces will be left far behind for generations."
Meanwhile, global real estate services company Savills Korea predicted in its "2025 Korea Data Center Market Report" released on July 3 that by 2028, 40 more data centers will be established in the Seoul metropolitan area, and the total available power capacity will increase to 4.1GW (gigawatts).
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