Lee Jae-myung, a prominent presidential candidate from the Democratic Party of Korea, announced a policy proposal centered on an investment of 100 trillion won in artificial intelligence (AI). A data center, referred to as a 'power-hungry hippopotamus,' is essential for AI operation.
Candidate Lee's camp is reportedly reviewing an energy policy direction that moves away from the Moon Jae-in administration's 'nuclear phase-out' policy, pursuing both nuclear power and renewable energy as an 'energy mix.' This reflects the reality that relying solely on renewable energy, which the Democratic Party of Korea had previously focused on, cannot meet the power demand of the AI industry.
On the 18th, a Democratic Party of Korea official noted, 'While there is no change to the existing party stance that renewable energy should be expanded to 30%, there is an awareness within the party that nuclear power must be mixed in a balanced manner with renewable energy due to the intermittency issues associated with renewables. Discussions on extending the lifespan of nuclear power plants are also underway, based on safety considerations.'
The official said, 'During the Moon Jae-in administration, there was a push for the nuclear phase-out, and the Yoon Suk-yeol administration has focused on expanding nuclear power. However, now there is an opinion that we should pursue an energy mix. Discussions are also ongoing about fostering small modular reactors (SMRs) and modular multi-purpose reactors (MMRs) to utilize our technological capabilities.'
The Democratic Party of Korea's energy policy for the presidential election has not yet been finalized. If the 'energy mix' is adopted as the final pledge, the nuclear power industry may breathe a sigh of relief. When Lee Jae-myung ran in the 2022 presidential election, he proposed a reduction policy that required the decommissioning of nuclear power plants that had reached their design life.
Several officials from the energy public corporations expressed, 'Given that Lee Jae-myung has emphasized AI, it will be hard to abandon nuclear power, so I expect the policy direction will lean towards maintaining nuclear power.'
On the 14th, Lee Jae-myung announced a policy proposal titled 'AI basic society' that includes a 100 trillion won investment in AI, free access to a 'Korean-style ChatGPT' for all citizens, and the establishment of a national AI data cluster. He stated through social media that his first pledge is to 'open the era of 100 trillion won in AI investment and elevate Korea to become one of the top three AI powers in the world. We will secure more than 50,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) and actively support the development and verification of neural processing units (NPUs) to secure technological sovereignty.'
For the development of the AI industry, the construction of data centers must precede, and in order to operate these data centers, adequate power supply is essential in addition to GPUs. Data centers consume vast amounts of power, and significant energy is also needed to cool the heat generated within them.
Major global big tech corporations are also venturing into nuclear power development to secure power for data centers in the AI era. Companies like OpenAI, Google, Microsoft (MS), and Amazon are turning to nuclear power to ensure a stable power supply without increasing carbon emissions.
OpenAI has invested in the SMR developer Oklo, and MS decided last September to purchase power from Constellation Energy, the largest nuclear power owner in the U.S. Google signed a contract in October of last year to buy power from a reactor being built by the U.S. SMR company Kairos Power to secure the electricity needed for its AI data centers. Amazon's cloud subsidiary, Amazon Web Services (AWS), also signed a contract in October of last year with Dominion Energy, a utility company in Virginia, to advance SMR development.