South Korea’s Audacious $35 Billion AI Data Centre Bet
How South Korea is 'not-so-quietly' racing to the top-spot in AI revolution
South Korea is set to build the world’s largest artificial intelligence data centre, a 3-gigawatt behemoth in Jeollanam-do, scheduled for completion in 2028. Backed by a $35 billion public-private partnership led by Stock Farm Road, this ambitious project aims to catapult South Korea into the epicentre of the AI revolution. As the global tech landscape heats up, executives and policymakers worldwide should take note—this isn’t just infrastructure; it’s a blueprint for economic dominance in an AI-driven future.
South Korea Is Going All-In. This move is rooted in its National AI Strategy (established in 2019), which earmarks significant AI infrastructure spending, including 10,000 cutting-edge GPUs in 2025 alone. The goal: transform the nation into a global AI hub, leveraging its semiconductor giants like Samsung and SK Hynix, which control a significant proportion of global chip exports. The data centre, with advanced cooling and high-speed fibre, will power next-generation AI, from sovereign large language models to chip commercialization.
Former acting President Choi Sang-mok framed AI competition as “nation vs. nation,” not just company vs. company. With China’s aggressive AI push—$15 trillion in projected GDP contribution by 2030—and the U.S. leading in software and chip design, South Korea sees AI infrastructure as its prime opportunity to claim a spot at the top.
Globally, AI could add $15.7 trillion to GDP by 2030 (according to a PwC analysis), but benefits are skewed toward AI-ready nations like the U.S. and China. South Korea’s project promises economic spillover: 10,000 new jobs, $10 billion in regional investment, and a 3.6% digital economy boost for every one point increase in computing power index (according to the 2022-2023 Global Computing Power Index Assessment Report). The data centre is projected to drive $20 billion in AI-related exports by 2030. Globally, it positions South Korea as an AI service hub, attracting hyperscalers like Google and AWS.
For Europe, lagging in homegrown AI platforms, and Africa, where AI could add $1.5 trillion by 2030 (according to Google West Africa Director) but adoption trails rest of the world, South Korea’s model shows how infrastructure can bridge gaps.
National Policy is a key enabler. South Korea’s AI Basic Act and National AI Committee prioritize infrastructure, private investment, and ethical standards. Unlike China’s centralized AI governance, South Korea blends public-private agility, offering tax breaks in some cases. This contrasts with America’s fragmented approach, where hundreds of billions of dollars in private AI investment faces data centre bottlenecks. South Korea’s decentralized strategy—spreading facilities beyond Seoul—also mitigates urban overload, a lesson for Europe’s Nordic hubs.
Other countries can learn from South Korea’s unfolding example. Governments must act fast or risk falling behind. African nations, with agriculture-heavy economies, can adopt South Korea’s playbook by investing in AI-ready data centres to boost quick-win sectors like agro-tech, as seen in Tanzania’s AI crop apps. Europe should emulate South Korea’s public-private model to scale its green-energy data hubs, leveraging Nordic climates but spreading the load across the continent. China’s heavy-handed AI regulation offers less flexibility, suggesting others prioritize agile governance over control.
For executives, this point in the AI revolution and South Korea’s example is a call to invest in AI ecosystems; for officials, it’s a warning to build infrastructure or lose relevance. South Korea’s gamble will inspire a wave of digital industrial revolutions—and seal laggards’ fate.