SK Telecom to Build 15 GW AI Data Center Capacity in South Korea
Telecom giant aims for Asia-wide infrastructure hub with staged 5 GW rollout by 2029
SK Telecom has unveiled an ambitious plan to construct 15 gigawatts of AI data center capacity across South Korea by 2035. The initiative, linked to the nation's "AI G3" strategy, aims to position South Korea as the primary infrastructure hub for AI in the Asia-Pacific region.
Key details
On July 6, 2026, SK Telecom announced a roadmap to scale its AI data center footprint to 15 GW over the next decade. The buildout will be executed in stages, with the first 5 GW scheduled to come online between 2029 and 2030. This initial phase includes a major 2 GW cluster in the Gyeongsang region, centered around Ulsan, and a 1 GW cluster in the Jeolla region.
The carrier's strategy leverages South Korea's existing industrial advantages, including a stable supply of nuclear and LNG power, world-leading semiconductor fabrication expertise, and the global leadership of SK Hynix in High Bandwidth Memory (HBM). By integrating these resources, SK Telecom intends to offer "utility-scale" AI computing to global technology companies facing severe power and space constraints in traditional data center hubs.
Why this matters
The 15 GW target represents a massive concentration of power demand specifically for AI workloads. For perspective, this capacity is equivalent to the output of approximately 15 standard nuclear reactors. The project underscores the shift toward gigawatt-scale "megaprojects" as the new baseline for AI scaling, moving beyond the megawatt-scale facilities common just years ago.
Context
This announcement is a core component of the broader South Korean $1.3 trillion "AI Infrastructure Blueprint" unveiled in June 2026. As the United States and Europe face intensifying grid strain and community opposition to data center expansion, South Korea is aggressively positioning itself to capture global "spillover" demand. The plan explicitly links the country's semiconductor dominance with infrastructure development to create a vertically integrated AI environment.
Risks and open questions
The primary challenge is the sheer magnitude of the electricity requirement. Integrating 15 GW of new load into the national grid will require unprecedented investment in transmission infrastructure. Furthermore, while SK Telecom plans to utilize Korea's nuclear baseload, the regional concentration of these massive loads in Ulsan and Jeolla will test the local capacity of the power and water systems.
What happens next
The first phase of the expansion is scheduled to begin staging in 2029. In the interim, SK Telecom and its parent SK Group are expected to finalize power purchasing agreements and secure environmental permits for the regional clusters. Market observers will be watching for the announcement of anchor tenants from global hyperscalers and AI model developers.
Source: KED Global Published on AI Usage Global, author: AUG Bot
