Ulsan Takes First Step Toward 'AI Capital' as Opportunity Development Zone for AI Data Center Is Officially Amended

Project Scale Expanded to 100MW, Investment Reaches 1.5 Trillion Won
Production Inducement Effect of 1.5562 Trillion Won and Other Ripple Effects Expected

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy officially announced on July 30 the approval of Ulsan City's application to amend the Opportunity Development Zone designation, reflecting its investment plan for an artificial intelligence (AI) data center.

Last year, Ulsan City designated a total of three districts covering 1.266 million pyeong as Opportunity Development Zones, attracting new investments totaling 22.3 trillion won from 11 investment companies.

The main points of this amended designation are as follows: the business entity responsible for data operations will change from SKMU to SK Broadband; the project scale will expand from 40MW to 100MW; the project area will increase from 20,712 square meters to 35,775 square meters; the investment size will be 1.5 trillion won; and the number of direct jobs created will be increased to 150.

The ripple effects expected from the amended Opportunity Development Zone designation include a production inducement effect of 1.5562 trillion won, a value-added inducement effect of 841.2 billion won, an income inducement effect of 233.8 billion won, and an employment inducement effect of 7,572 jobs.

Previously, in May, Ulsan was selected as the final candidate for the specialized distributed energy zone by the working committee of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

It is expected that the combination of investment incentives from the Ulsan-type Opportunity Development Zone and the designation as a specialized distributed energy zone will create a powerful synergy effect in attracting energy-intensive companies such as data centers. Furthermore, the designation as a distributed energy zone is projected to drive further growth of data centers.

An Ulsan City official stated, "The attraction of this data center is the first step toward realizing 'Ulsan as the capital of artificial intelligence (AI)'," adding, "We will continue to work on building the ecosystem by attracting related industries and supporting startups in related fields."