With the spread of artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud services, a forecast says Korea's data center market will require about $13.6 billion (about 20 trillion won) in investment by 2030.
According to the "2026 Asia-Pacific data center investment landscape" report released on the 4th by global real estate consulting corporations Cushman & Wakefield, annual lease revenue for domestic colocation data centers is expected to reach about $4.1 billion in 2030. Colocation is a service in which a provider rents out data center space and power and telecommunications facilities it has built to multiple corporations.
As of the first half of this year, pre-leased capacity at domestic data centers totaled about 255 megawatts (MW). This means capacity for facilities that are not yet completed has already been contracted, indicating continued demand for new data-processing infrastructure.
The data center market in the Asia-Pacific region, including Korea, is also expected to grow rapidly. The asset value of data centers in operation in the region is projected to surpass $950 billion by 2030. Total capacity is expected to increase to 2.7 times the current level, buoyed by development plans exceeding 26,000 MW. Annual colocation revenue is estimated to top $66 billion.
However, domestic data center development expense, including land, is about $13 million per MW, a high level even within the Asia-Pacific. Securing grid power, site selection, and building high-density facilities are cited as factors driving up project costs. Even so, the expected yield on cost (YOC) for domestic data centers is about 9%–10%, similar to the regional average and higher than some mature markets.
Choi Yong-jun, executive managing director overseeing the Office division at Cushman & Wakefield Korea, said, "As demand for AI computing and cloud grows, investors' interest is shifting toward high-quality data center asset with long-term scalability and stable power infrastructure."