서울 데이터센터 공실률은 말레이시아 조호르바루에 이어 아시아 두 번째로 낮으며, AI 컴퓨팅 허브의 제한된 지역 용량을 반영합니다.

Seoul's data center market is approaching saturation, with a vacancy rate of just 1.1 percent in the first half of 2026—the second-lowest in Asia-Pacific, behind only Johor Bahru, Malaysia at 0.7 percent, according to Andrew Green, Asia-Pacific head of data centers at Cushman & Wakefield. This scarcity persists despite Seoul's heavily supply-constrained market, as major infrastructure is already concentrated in the capital. Only Johor Bahru, which borders Singapore and functions as its overflow market, has tighter conditions across the region.

The tightness reflects Seoul's competitive position but also its limitations. Operational capacity stands at 663 megawatts—significantly lower than Tokyo's 1,397 megawatts or Singapore's 1,068 megawatts. Yet investors view Korea as strategically important not for scale alone, but for the combination of strong demand, low vacancy, and premium rental rates. This drives developer interest toward renting space rather than building their own facilities, particularly as hyperscalers face rising costs.

"South Korea's investment proposition is not purely a scale story," Green said. "While markets such as Chinese Mainland, India, Australia and Malaysia benefit from significantly larger development pipelines and larger future revenue pools, Korea stands out for its combination of strong demand fundamentals, low vacancy, premium rental and limited supply."

Cushman & Wakefield's maturity index ranks Seoul in the established tier alongside Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Bangkok, and Melbourne. This positioning means developers are increasingly seeking expansion opportunities in secondary cities rather than the capital. The primary driver is not proximity but access to power. Green emphasized that global developers now prioritize "powered land," and will consider secondary locations—such as Busan, Ulsan, and Gangwon province—if they can secure substantial power capacity and maintain acceptable network performance.

Korea remains expensive to develop, with the third-highest per-megawatt construction cost in Asia-Pacific outside Singapore and Japan. However, it attracts significant investment due to its yield-on-cost, which Green estimated at 9 to 10 percent. He characterized the market as "a lower-risk destination capable of generating consistent long-term returns rather than a market pursuing the largest scale of capacity expansion."

The Lee Jae Myung administration has launched three megaprojects as part of its national AI strategy, committing more than 1 quadrillion won ($743.9 billion) to data center expansion, targeting 18.4 gigawatts of capacity by 2035 and deliberately shifting infrastructure away from Seoul. SK, GS, and Naver will lead this effort, while Samsung Electronics and SK hynix have pledged 800 trillion won to build chip clusters in the southwestern Honam region.

A buildout at this pace is unprecedented. Securing adequate land, power, and water have become critical factors, with power being decidedly more important. "Power directly determines whether a project can proceed and when it can be delivered," Green said. "Compared with power, water is generally a localized constraint rather than a nationwide bottleneck." There is no universal substitute for grid power at hyperscale; successful projects ultimately depend on securing sufficient utility power and related infrastructure early in development.

Globally, data center capacity is projected to more than double by 2030. Asia-Pacific's development pipeline reached a record 26,455 megawatts in the first half of 2026, with 4,764 megawatts under construction and 21,691 megawatts in the planning phase. Investors now treat data centers as infrastructure assets rather than traditional real estate. Lenders typically require at least 65 percent of a facility's capacity to be contracted before committing funds, with grid allocation secured and utility agreements finalized. "Sites with secured power generally command significantly higher valuations than sites with land alone but uncertain power access," Green noted.