Why it matters
The strategic read
Moves Korea from individual NVIDIA DSX company announcements into a government-backed national AI data-center buildout lane. The receipt ties SK, GS and NAVER to multi-gigawatt regional AI factory capacity, power and water support, GPUaaS ambitions, and a GS Donghae site large enough to matter to power generation, construction, cooling, memory, networking and cloud-capacity supply chains.
Source-supported terms
What was disclosed
- 01
Seoul Economic Daily reported that South Korea disclosed the plan at a June 29, 2026 national mega-project briefing with government and corporate leaders.
- 02
The first phase targets 8.4 GW of AI data-center infrastructure by 2029 across SK Group, GS Group and NAVER.
- 03
Reporting says the three companies, including attracted investment, are expected to put about KRW 550T into the first-phase AIDC plan.
- 04
SK Group is associated with 5 GW of AIDC capacity, including 1 GW in Ulsan and additional regions under review.
- 05
GS Group is associated with a 2.4 GW AIDC project in Donghae, Gangwon Province, with Seoul Economic Daily describing North Pyeong Industrial Complex as the site.
- 06
Seoul Economic Daily reported GS expects about KRW 30T of total project investment for Donghae, rising toward roughly KRW 120T when GPUs and memory are included.
- 07
NAVER is associated with roughly 1 GW of AIDC capacity centered on Sejong.
- 08
The plan describes government support for power, land, water and permitting while private companies handle AIDC buildout, operations and global capital attraction.
- 09
The second phase would expand SK-led AIDC capacity by another 10 GW by 2035, taking the total domestic AI data-center infrastructure target to 18.4 GW.
- 10
The reporting connects the buildout to high-density power, liquid-cooling needs, GPU clusters, GPUaaS and Korea positioning itself as an Asia-Pacific AI infrastructure hub.
- 11
Existing Deal Room entries already cover the primary-source NVIDIA / SK Telecom and NVIDIA / NAVER DSX announcements; this entry captures the broader same-day Korean national AIDC plan and the previously untracked GS 2.4 GW Donghae lane.
Disclosure boundary
What is known—and what is not
Near-primary Korean market reporting from a government mega-project briefing, corroborated in Google News source trails by Yonhap Infomax, Electronic Times and other Korean outlets. Public reporting discloses the government briefing context, named companies, regional targets, first-phase 8.4 GW scale, SK / GS / NAVER capacity allocations, GS Donghae site framing and long-range 18.4 GW path. Treat as a strategic government-company AI-infrastructure plan rather than a fully executed construction, power, financing or customer contract: public materials do not yet disclose full agreements, final permits, utility service agreements, PPAs, financing syndicates, EPC awards, GPU purchase orders, data-center lease terms, tenant/offtake contracts, exact phase schedules, capex responsibility by party, or binding remedies if milestones slip.