South Korea broke ground on a National AI Computing Center in Haenam, a government-led domestic GPU compute infrastructure initiative.

South Korea's National AI Computing Center held its groundbreaking ceremony on August 3 at the Solar City Data Center Park in Haenam, Jeonnam-Gwangju. The facility will be completed by 2028 and will house 15,000 AI learning and computing semiconductors to serve as core infrastructure for an "AI Highway," providing large-scale AI computing resources to industry, academia, and research institutions.

Deputy Prime Minister Bae Kyung-hoon, who also serves as Minister of Science and ICT, presided over the ceremony alongside lawmakers Park Ji-won, Han Jun-ho, and Ahn Do-geol; Jeonnam-Gwangju Special Metropolitan City Mayor Min Hyung-bae; Samsung SDS CEO Lee June-hee; and Naver Cloud CEO Kim Yu-won.

The Solar City Data Center Park is being developed as a 1-gigawatt data center complex with approximately 10 trillion Korean won in total investment. The park features renewable energy and comprehensive power and water infrastructure. The government designated semiconductors, physical AI, and AI data centers as "three major mega projects" in June and has accelerated development of the region as a high-tech industrial belt.

The project was selected through public competition, with a consortium led by Samsung SDS and comprising Naver Cloud, Kakao, and KT as participants. Operations will be managed by KOACC, a public-private joint corporation established in June through joint investments by the Ministry of Science and ICT, the National Growth Fund, and the consortium members.

KOACC has completed electricity usage applications with Korea Electric Power Corporation and is preparing infrastructure, including water pipeline construction. The center is on track for completion by 2028 through concurrent construction and AI server facility installation. Beginning in 2027, Samsung SDS will provide early AI computing resources from its data center to address immediate demand from industry, academia, and research institutions.

Upon completion, the center will offer AI computing infrastructure to users at reasonable prices. An integrated research and development zone will support the design and prototyping of domestically produced AI semiconductors, with verified products deployed in commercial services to foster the domestic AI semiconductor industry.