President Lee Jae-myung is participating in a commemorative ceremony with attendees at the launching ceremony of the Ulsan Artificial Intelligence (AI) Data Center held at the Ulsan Exhibition and Convention Center on the 20th. From left: Ahn Duk-geun, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy; Chey Tae-won, Chairman of SK Group; President Lee; Prasad Kalyanraman, Chief Infrastructure Officer of Amazon Web Services (AWS); Yeou Sang-im, Minister of Science and ICT; and Kim Du-gyeom, Mayor of Ulsan Metropolitan City./Courtesy of Yonhap News.

The Ministry of Science and ICT listened to industry opinions on 'activating artificial intelligence (AI)' as part of the establishment of a data center that will be jointly built by SK Group and Amazon Web Services (AWS) with an investment of about 7 trillion won. As a large facility is being built that will consume the amount of electricity sufficient for about 34,000 households in one month, there are evaluations that Korea's AI infrastructure has been significantly strengthened.

The Ministry of Science and ICT attended an AI global cooperation meeting held at the Ulsan Exhibition Convention Center on the 20th. This meeting was organized in connection with the launch ceremony of the Ulsan AI data center. The Ulsan AI data center is a facility with a power capacity of 100 megawatts (MW) that SK Group and AWS are jointly establishing. It has been reported that AWS will invest about $4 billion (approximately 5.47 trillion won), which is more than half of the total project cost. Construction is set to begin in September, with a goal to first operate 41 MW by November 2027. The anticipated date for the full 103 MW facility to be operational is February 2029.

Major corporations, including SK, Kakao, Naver Cloud, LG AI Research Institute, and Samsung SDS, as well as startups such as Lunit and FuriosaAI, attended this meeting. Ministers from relevant ministries and lawmakers from both the ruling and opposition parties also gathered to discuss matters such as 'overseas market entry for AI' and 'securing global competitiveness.'

At this meeting, SK Group stated that for the growth of Korea's AI industry, it is necessary to ▲create demand in the AI sector ▲support the growth of AI startups ▲innovate education for cultivating national AI talent. Kakao introduced plans to expand 'AI services in daily life' through a strategic partnership with OpenAI, while Samsung SDS announced their efforts to enter the global market through corporate AI platforms and solutions. Lunit emphasized that 93% of its revenue last year was generated overseas, stating, "Practical government support is needed for securing overseas data." FuriosaAI shared the current status of attracting investment related to the mass production of domestic AI semiconductors.

Discussions were also held on the increasingly important 'Sovereign AI' enhancement strategy under the new government. LG AI Research Institute noted that to leap into being one of the top three AI powerhouses, policies strengthening ecosystem competitiveness centered on independent foundation models are needed. Naver Cloud also expressed agreement on the importance of active investment to secure sovereign AI.

During this event, domestic AI companies demonstrated their AI devices and product services. These included an 'ultra-large video understanding AI service' (Twelve Labs) that automatically analyzes large-scale video data and summarizes key contents, an 'AI commerce service' (Studio Lab) that creates detailed pages just by uploading product images, and domestic AI semiconductors (Rebellion) that implement generative AI services.

The Ministry of Science and ICT stated regarding the construction of the Ulsan AI data center, "It is expected that the expansion of AI computing resource supply, which is essential for AI development and utilization, will facilitate the creation of various AI services and promote a national turnaround in AI." They also noted that the government will actively support private efforts to revitalize the AI data center ecosystem, which serves as a highway for the AI era.

Institutional support is also expected. After the amendment of the Tax Special Cases Limitation Act in March, the expansion of tax credits for investments in AI data centers is under consideration in the process of amending subordinate regulations. Additionally, a bill supporting AI data centers (the Act on Promotion and Foundation Creation of Artificial Intelligence Data Centers) has also been proposed in the National Assembly.