The government and major domestic information technology (IT), power and cooling corporations will launch a cooperation system to build 18.4 gigawatts (GW) of artificial intelligence data centers (AIDC) and to support related industries' expansion overseas.
The Ministry of Science and ICT said on the 29th it held a launch ceremony for the "AI Data Center Alliance" at Lotte Hotel Seoul with more than 400 participants from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources, the Financial Services Commission, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and industry, academia and research.
The alliance was prepared to implement the plan the government released last month to make "AI data centers a national strategic industry." In addition to large-scale AIDC construction, it will push to foster upstream and downstream industries such as power, cooling and information and communications equipment, create clusters and test beds, and expand exports overseas.
The organization will be operated under a co-chair system by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the private sector. The first private co-chair is Jung Jai-hun, CEO of SK Telecom and head of the Korea Information & Communication Promotion Association. Twelve corporations, including Naver Cloud, Samsung SDS, SK Telecom, NHN Cloud, LG Electronics, LG Uplus, KT, Kakao, LS Electric and FuriosaAI, will join the chair group.
The alliance will consist of three divisions—demand, supply and foundation—and a task force (TF) for export industrialization. The demand division led by Naver Cloud will draw up verification and commercialization plans for domestic cloud and AIDC solutions, centered on corporations that build and operate data centers. It will also use large-scale test beds to help domestic corporations secure delivery records and references needed to expand overseas.
The supply division, headed by LG Electronics, will promote localization of core technologies such as information technology equipment, power and cooling systems, and materials, parts and equipment. A major task is to build compatibility and standardization systems so that each corporation's technologies and solutions can be used together in data centers.
The foundation division led by Kakao will handle legal and institutional improvements and the training of professionals. Related associations, universities and law firms will participate to identify on-site bottlenecks such as permits, locations and power supply, and to present policy improvement plans.
The export industrialization TF will develop strategies for domestic corporations to form consortia and enter the AI training data center market and the inference infrastructure market dominated by global Big Tech. It will also promote package-type projects that bundle design, construction, equipment supply and operation services for export to overseas demand countries such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The Financial Services Commission is reviewing supplying funds via the Public Growth Fund for large-scale data center investments, and the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) plans to support technology development, verification and market development for the AIDC materials, parts and equipment ecosystem, including power and cooling.
Vice Prime Minister and Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT Bae Kyung-hoon said, "We will make sure data center investment does not stop at expanding buildings and servers but is consolidated into industry fostering that raises competitiveness across design, construction, operation and cloud technologies."