South Korea's telecom CEOs and deputy prime minister pledge AI data center expansion

Deputy Prime Minister and Science and ICT Minister Baek Yoon-sup met with the CEOs of SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus in Seoul to coordinate a nationwide rollout of AI‑driven data centre (AIDC) infrastructure. The government has earmarked 550 trillion won for the first gigawatt‑scale AIDC build‑out, with a further 450 trillion won planned through 2035, targeting a total of 10 GW of capacity.

SK Telecom will lead with a 5 GW cluster that includes a 1 GW site in Ulsan and additional sites across the country, expanding to 15 GW by 2035. KT plans to invest 5 trillion won to install 1 GW of capacity across more than 20 locations, while LG Uplus is constructing a 200 MW “mega‑AIDC” in the Paju industrial complex, the first of its kind in the Seoul metropolitan area. Analysts expect AIDC‑related operating profit to exceed 20 % of the telecoms’ total earnings by 2030.