SK will move to help build Vietnam's artificial intelligence (AI) industry ecosystem and to cooperate on establishing key AI infrastructure.
On the 24th, SK said it signed separate memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with the Nghe An provincial government and the National Innovation Center (NIC) of Vietnam to build an AI ecosystem at the Korea-Vietnam Business Forum held in Hanoi the day before.
Minister Kim Jung-kwan of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources and Vietnam Finance Minister Ngo Van Tuan attended the signing. From SK, Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group and the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Choo Hyeong-wook, CEO of SK Innovation, and Jung Jai-hun, CEO of SK Telecom, were present. From Vietnam, Nguyen Khac Thanh, party secretary of Nghe An Province, Vo Trong Hai, chairman of the Nghe An People's Committee, and Vu Quoc Huy, head of the National Innovation Center (NIC), attended.
Through this cooperation, SK plans to support Vietnam's national AI strategy as a key partner for future growth. Based on building an AI data center and a stable power supply, it expects to lay the groundwork for the first overseas expansion of the "Korean-style AI full-stack" model that links AI model development and validation to the spread of industry-specific AI services.
SK Innovation and SK Telecom signed an MOU with the Nghe An provincial government to jointly explore building an AI data center (DC) and related infrastructure projects in the region. Nghe An is a key hub in north-central Vietnam, a growing area where manufacturing, energy and high-tech industries are being actively fostered based on port and logistics infrastructure.
SK Innovation will explore cooperation opportunities in energy solutions, including supplying power to data centers and building dedicated generation sources, in connection with the recently selected "Quynh Lap LNG power project." Based on this, SK Telecom will review plans for developing, building and operating the AI DC and seek ways to secure global demand. The Nghe An provincial government agreed to discuss support measures such as creating the necessary environment for permits, administrative procedures, consultations with relevant ministries and incentive offerings.
In Feb., SK Innovation was selected as a developer for the Nghe An "Quynh Lap LNG power project" together with PV Power, a power generation subsidiary under the state-run PetroVietnam (PVN), and local company NASU. The project is a large-scale energy infrastructure initiative to build a 1,500-megawatt (MW) combined-cycle gas power plant along with an LNG terminal and a dedicated port. Groundbreaking is planned for 2027 with completion targeted for 2030.
At the forum, the Nghe An provincial government awarded the "Quynh Lap power project investor registration certificate (IRC)" to the SK Innovation consortium. Choo Hyeong-wook, CEO, then gave a presentation titled "Vietnam's economic leap through AI+energy innovation," saying, "Based on SK's capabilities in operating large-scale power generation and a range of energy solution businesses, we will flawlessly complete the build-out of the local power infrastructure."
SK Telecom and SK Innovation jointly signed a comprehensive cooperation MOU with the National Innovation Center (NIC) to build an AI ecosystem in Vietnam. NIC is an agency established by the Vietnamese government in 2019 to foster high-tech industries and startups.
Chey Tae-won said at a meeting of corporations held ahead of the Korea-Vietnam Business Forum, "AI will play a key role in Vietnam's sustainable growth," adding, "SK has portfolio capabilities across the entire AI ecosystem, from energy to semiconductors to AI models and application services, and based on this, we will make substantive contributions to the development of Vietnam's AI industry."