"Even an Oversupply of GPUs Is Useless Without Power"... Building the 'AI Main Artery' [Power Industry Transformation] ④

Power Infrastructure Determines the Success of AI
72.8 Trillion Won to Be Invested Over 15 Years
Transmission Lines to Increase by 71.9%, Substations by 43%

"The biggest problem we are facing right now is not an excess of computing power, but electricity. We lack the ability to build facilities quickly enough in locations close to power sources. Without that, even if we have warehouses full of chips, we can't actually plug them in and use them."

Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, appeared on the U.S. economic podcast BG2 earlier this month and responded to the question, "Could there be an oversupply of GPUs in the next two to three years?" by saying this. He explained that without sufficient electricity, GPUs would simply pile up as inventory because they couldn't be used.

With the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI), the power infrastructure has emerged as an urgent issue in South Korea as well. To quickly connect electricity produced at power plants to demand centers such as AI data centers, it is necessary to rapidly build large-scale transmission infrastructure. The transmission infrastructure can be considered the main artery for AI.

In South Korea, a total of 7.28 trillion won (approximately 72.8 trillion won) will be invested over the next 15 years to construct the transmission network. According to the 11th Long-Term Transmission and Transformation Facility Plan (2024-2038) finalized by Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) in May, the plan is to invest 72.8 trillion won by 2038 to build 61,183 circuit kilometers (C-km) of transmission lines and expand the number of substations to 1,297. Compared to the end of 2023, this represents a 71.9% increase in transmission lines and a 43.2% (391 substations) increase in substations.

The investment amount is 16.3 trillion won (about 28.8%) higher than the 10th plan established two years ago. This reflects expectations of a dramatic surge in electricity demand. Specifically, 28.2 trillion won will be invested in 345kV transmission lines, 26.4 trillion won in 154kV lines, and 18.2 trillion won in high-voltage direct current (HVDC) grid stabilization.

KEPCO explained that the 11th Long-Term Transmission and Transformation Facility Plan newly includes 12.2 trillion won in investment for new facilities. This includes 7.1 trillion won for underground transmission lines, 1.5 trillion won for overhead lines, and 3.6 trillion won for substations.

On October 1, the government held a National Backbone Power Grid Expansion Committee meeting chaired by the Prime Minister and designated 99 projects-including 70 transmission lines and 29 substations of 345kV or higher included in the long-term plan-as "national backbone power grid facilities." These facilities are primarily for supplying power to advanced industrial complexes, such as renewable energy integration and the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster.

This also includes four transmission lines that are part of the so-called "West Coast HVDC (Energy Expressway) Project." Once designated as national backbone power grid facilities, a pan-government cooperation system is established to support them, and various permits and approvals are fast-tracked for swift processing.