SEOUL, June 23 (AJP) - SK Group is investing in a hyperscale data center that seeks to reduce the nation’s reliance on foreign technology providers in a move aimed at advancing South Korea’s pursuit of sovereign artificial intelligence capabilities.
Through a strategic partnership with Amazon Web Services, SK plans to build a 100-megawatt AI-specialized facility in the southern industrial city of Ulsan. Slated to begin operations in 2027, the project marks one of the country’s first significant steps toward establishing a self-reliant AI infrastructure.
The facility is designed to support AI model training, inference, and deployment, offering a domestic backbone for emerging technologies that have so far depended heavily on overseas platforms.
“This is more than just a data center,” President Lee Jae-myung said during a recent visit to Ulsan. “It is a milestone for regional innovation and a symbol of our commitment to decentralizing advanced technology beyond Seoul.”
SK Group’s involvement goes far beyond financial investment.
The conglomerate is overseeing site development, semiconductor system integration, and energy provisioning for the facility. To meet the immense power demands of AI workloads, the data center will be supplied by an on-site liquefied natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas hybrid power plant, operated by SK Gas. The gigawatt-scale plant is expected to ensure both energy security and sustainability.
Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, emphasized the broader implications for national policy.
“Sovereign AI isn’t possible without long-term public-private collaboration,” he said. “The government must play a dual role — as both a policy driver and a leading consumer of homegrown AI technologies.”
The Ulsan data center is part of a growing effort by South Korea to localize the critical infrastructure behind artificial intelligence — from compute and chips to power and storage.
The initiative reflects increasing global interest in AI sovereignty, as governments and corporations seek to safeguard sensitive technologies from geopolitical disruptions.
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