South Korea plans to invest in Honam’s AI infrastructure
The South Korean government plans to invest in artificial intelligence infrastructure in the Honam region to create a new industrial hub outside the Seoul metropolitan area. The strategy involves combining data centers with advanced manufacturing and industries tailored to the needs of individual regions, The Korea Herald reports.
Lee Min-woo, head of the Industrial Growth Office at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, said regional investment is part of the government’s response to slowing potential economic growth and the rapid restructuring of global industry around AI. According to him, the authorities consider regional development important for the country’s future industrial competitiveness.
Data centers and computing capacity
The government strategy combines three major areas: semiconductors, physical artificial intelligence and AI data centers, as well as regional growth industries. Honam is expected to receive significant investment in computing infrastructure.
According to the official, SK plans to invest 70 trillion won in a 1-gigawatt AI data center. Samsung SDS, in turn, is planning a 210-megawatt facility with investments of about 17 trillion won.
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Equipment and growth industries
Lee Min-woo noted that South Korea aims to build data centers in the country so that local companies can train and run artificial intelligence models. Around this infrastructure, the government also wants to develop an AI business ecosystem.
The official stressed that the development of data centers should create demand for power supply equipment, cooling systems and other related solutions, while adjacent industries need to be localized. Honam’s identified growth areas also include future energy systems, advanced semiconductor manufacturing, AI and autonomous driving, next-generation vaccines and precision medicine.
Lee Min-woo called the development of South Jeolla Province and Gwangju an important test of the country’s ability to emerge from a period of low growth and strengthen its position in the AI transformation.
