Prasad Kalyanaram, vice president of infrastructure services at Amazon Web Services (AWS), said through SK Telecom's newsroom on 4th, 'The collaboration with SK will go beyond infrastructure building and will be a watershed moment for AI innovation in Korea.'
SK Telecom announced in June that it is collaborating with AWS and members of the SK Group to build the largest hyperscale AI data center in Korea, located in Ulsan, with a target operation date of 2027. AWS plans to use this collaboration to establish a new AWS AI zone in Ulsan, expanding its world-class cloud computing infrastructure.
Kalyanaram, who worked at Amazon for 18 years, is the head of a global team that oversees all aspects of the design, planning, construction, and operation of AWS global infrastructure.
He introduced the changes in industry brought by AI, the AI infrastructure strategy, and the expected outcomes of collaboration with the SK Group through an interview with SK Telecom.
Kalyanaram noted the changes that AI has brought to society and industry, saying, 'Technologies like generative AI are opportunities that may occur only once in a lifetime,' and 'Currently, millions of customers in various industries such as healthcare, manufacturing, automotive, financial services, and telecommunications are actively incorporating AWS's AI capabilities.'
He added, 'In the future, generative AI will become a fundamental component of all applications, not just a simple function, alongside traditional elements such as computing, storage, and databases.' He stated, 'AWS is not merely building infrastructure with the SK Group but is laying the groundwork for a new era of AI innovation and AI leadership in Korea.'
Regarding the strategy related to AWS's AI zone, he said, 'By continuously evolving proven infrastructures such as Kiro, Amazon Bedrock, and AgentCore, which form the basis for machine learning and AI application services, we are meeting the demands of next-generation AI workloads and advanced cloud technologies.'
He is continuously enhancing cooling, power, and hardware design to execute this strategy. For example, AWS has developed a new mechanical cooling solution applicable to both existing and new data centers.
Kalyanaram stated, 'While power is important, the most remarkable progress has been made in the area of networking solutions.' He has developed the UltraCluster 2.0 network, which reduces latency by 25% compared to previous generations, achieving at least a 15% improvement in model training speed.
Kalyanaram mentioned, 'Once the new AWS AI zone is established within the Ulsan AI data center, domestic corporations will be able to develop innovative AI applications.' He noted that this collaboration aligns with AWS's previously announced plan to make a long-term investment of $5.88 billion (approximately 7.85 trillion won) in Korea by 2027.
Additionally, he plans to expand the introduction of AI in Korea through collaboration with the SK Group. The AWS AI zone being built in Ulsan will feature world-class semiconductor-based servers and dedicated infrastructure, along with an ultra-cluster network supporting high-speed learning and inference. This zone is expected to become a key hub for AI innovation in Korea by integrating Amazon SageMaker, Bedrock, Amazon Q, Kiro, Bedrock AgentCore, and various other AI application services.
Kalyanaram stated, 'We will continue to expand our strategic partnership with the SK Group,' adding, 'We plan to pursue extensive collaboration to meet the rapidly growing demand for generative AI through computing, storage, databases, and edge computing capabilities.'