SK Telecom said that SK Hyper will oversee the full development process for its AIDC business, including securing land, constructing and operating substations, attracting customers, and commercializing new facilities
In sum – what to know:
Dedicated execution – SK Telecom established SK Hyper to lead development, commercialization, and operation of a planned 15GW AI data center portfolio.
Long-term investment – The company approved up to $540 billion in investment through 2030 to secure sites, build substations, and establish the foundations for expansion.
National AI ambition – SK Hyper will support SK Telecom’s goal of building GW-scale AI data center clusters across South Korea as part of its vision to position the country as an AI infrastructure hub.
Korean carrier SK Telecom has established a dedicated subsidiary to accelerate the development of hyperscale AI data center infrastructure, creating a new company focused on building up to 15GW of AI data center capacity across South Korea over the coming decade.
The company’s board approved the creation of SK Hyper, alongside an investment commitment of up to KRW 750 billion ( $540 million) through 2030 to support site acquisition, substation construction, and other infrastructure required for future AI campuses.
According to SK Telecom, SK Hyper will oversee the full development process for its AI data center business, including securing land, constructing and operating substations, attracting customers, and commercializing new facilities. The telecom operator will retain full ownership of the subsidiary and provide phased capital contributions through 2030 within the approved investment framework.
The company said SK Hyper will pursue the development of 15GW of AI data center capacity over the medium to long term. The first phase targets the opening of 5GW of capacity beginning in 2029, with additional expansion planned toward a total of 15GW by 2035, subject to market demand and other factors.
SK Telecom said the new subsidiary is expected to accelerate construction of AI data centers supporting South Korea’s broader AI infrastructure ambitions. The company plans to develop GW-scale AI data center clusters beginning in Ulsan, followed by additional campuses in the Chungcheong and Honam regions.
The announcement follows the recent creation of SK Telecom’s AI data center integrated development division, which reports directly to the company’s CEO and is intended to coordinate AI infrastructure development across the broader SK Group.
“SK Hyper’s role is to turn SK Group’s blueprint for Asia’s AI Infrastructure Hub into reality,” SK Hyper’s CEO Chung Suk-geun said. “Through systematic and rapid execution, we will secure core infrastructure and customers, and contribute to Korea’s advancement to AI G3.”
In June, SK Telecom and Nvidia had revealed plans to develop a gigawatt-scale AI Cloud in South Korea based on Nvidia’s DSX AI factory architecture. The first AI factory is scheduled to begin operations in 2027.
According to the companies, the AI Cloud will provide GPU-based infrastructure for AI model training, inference, and agentic AI, supporting sovereign AI initiatives as well as enterprise and industrial applications. SK Telecom also said the platform is intended to expand beyond South Korea to serve other Asian markets over time.
Beyond deploying infrastructure, Nvidia and SK Group announced plans to jointly research next-generation AI factory architectures, focusing on areas including accelerated computing, memory technologies, and data center operations to improve the scalability and efficiency of future AI infrastructure.
