SK Telecom announced its strategic shift to become an artificial intelligence data center (AIDC) developer, expanding into global markets. The company’s new CEO, Jung Jaihun, unveiled the vision during his keynote speech at the SK AI Summit 2025 in Seoul.
Building Korea’s AI Infrastructure Backbone
SK Telecom plans to establish AIDC hubs across three major regions of South Korea — the Seoul metropolitan area (Gasan), the southern region (Ulsan), and the southwest region — creating a nationwide AI infrastructure network. The company will expand its Ulsan AIDC to a 1 GW-scale capacity and replicate this model to attract global capital and position South Korea as Asia’s largest AI hub.
In October 2025, SK Group signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop an AIDC in Korea’s southwestern region, further strengthening the national AI backbone. “Global enterprises have begun to take notice of SK Telecom’s AIDC development capabilities,” said CEO Jung. “We are laying the foundation for South Korea to become Asia’s AI infrastructure hub.”
Expansion into Southeast Asia
SK Telecom also announced plans to enter the Southeast Asian market using energy-specialized AIDC solutions developed with SK Group affiliates. In Vietnam, the company will partner with SK Innovation to build an AIDC powered by a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant, using cold energy for advanced data center cooling systems.
Driving AI Innovation with AWS and NVIDIA
To advance Edge AI and intelligent telecom solutions such as AI-RAN, SK Telecom has formed a long-term R&D partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS). This collaboration combines AWS’s global cloud capabilities with SK Telecom’s AI infrastructure expertise.
The company is also working with NVIDIA and partners in government and academia to demonstrate AI-RAN technology, embedding AI into network design to enhance Korea’s manufacturing and telecom competitiveness. SK Telecom will deploy over 2,000 NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell GPUs to build a Manufacturing AI Cloud supporting digital twins and robotics AI within SK Group companies such as SK hynix.
Evolving into a Comprehensive AIDC Developer
SK Telecom is evolving into a full-scale AIDC developer overseeing design, construction, and operations. The company will commercialize its AIDC solution package integrating four key AI infrastructure technologies:
Out-rack solution – Managing external server facilities such as cooling, power, and security
Clustering solution – Optimizing server interconnection
In-rack solution – Enhancing server-level efficiency
Energy solution – Boosting efficiency in power and thermal management
Over the past year, SK Telecom has achieved several milestones, including signing an MoU with AWS for the Ulsan AIDC, establishing Korea’s largest GPU cluster ‘Haein,’ and being selected by the Ministry of Science and ICT for the Proprietary AI Foundation Model Project.
