Redazione RHC : 2 November 2025 17:46
The APEC summit in Gyeongju , which concluded on January 1, marked a major step forward for South Korea in the field of artificial intelligence. Major international technology companies confirmed significant investments in the construction of AI data centers and other strategic infrastructure.
These computing centers, equipped with tens or hundreds of thousands of GPUs, are essential for training and processing next-generation artificial intelligence models. Until recently, Korea had been unable to attract such projects due to a shortage of GPUs and a lack of suitable land.
The situation has changed thanks to a strategic partnership with Nvidia , which guaranteed the supply of 260,000 GPUs to the country, and the renewed interest of Amazon Web Services (AWS) and other giants in the sector, ready to invest billions of dollars in AI infrastructure.
During the summit, Chairman Lee Jae-myung met with AWS CEO Matt Garman at the Gyeongju Arts Center. There, the U.S. company announced a $5 billion (approximately 7 trillion won) investment plan by 2031 to strengthen the country’s data center network and computing capacity.
Among the key projects is the “Ulsan AI Zone,” a 100 MW center dedicated exclusively to artificial intelligence, developed in collaboration with SK Group and funded with approximately $4 billion . AWS also plans to build two additional AI data centers in the Incheon and Gyeonggi areas.
As of 2023, the company has already completed a 100 MW data center in the Gajwa-dong industrial complex (Incheon) and is evaluating the construction of a new 80 MW plant in Goyang-si , Gyeonggi-do Province.
The agreement reached with Nvidia represents another pillar of the national strategy. The 260,000 GPUs that will be supplied to the Korean government and companies are more than five times the number currently in operation in the country.
Of these, 50,000 GPUs will be used to build the “National AI Computing Center,” a vast data center that will serve as the foundation for the entire national artificial intelligence infrastructure. The project will likely be entrusted to the Samsung SDS consortium and will be located in Solaseedo , Haenam County (South Jeolla Province).
Thanks to this initiative, local universities, research centers, and startups will be able to access computing resources previously out of reach. Beneficiaries include Naver , LG AI Research Center , SK Telecom , NC AI, and Upstage , all of which are racing to create the so-called “national artificial intelligence.”
OpenAI , the US-based developer of ChatGPT , has also decided to strengthen its presence in South Korea. The company is collaborating with Samsung and SK Group to build two AI data centers, each with an initial capacity of 20 MW , located in Pohang and South Jeolla Province respectively, with room for expansion.
Both Korean companies are also participating in OpenAI’s massive $500 billion “Stargate” project, which aims to build a global AI infrastructure. As part of this agreement, OpenAI has requested monthly supplies of 900,000 high-performance DRAM modules from Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix .
SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman formalized the partnership by signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) and letter of intent (LOI) for memory provision at a ceremony held on January 1 at the SK Seorin building in Seoul.
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