Tech & AI
SK Hyper puts a $350 billion price tag on the first phase of South Korea's 15-gigawatt AI data-centre plan
The SK Telecom unit is talking to big tech companies and financial investors about sharing the cost, with a first outside funding round due by late 2026 or early 2027.
HedgeWeekly Tech & AI Desk ·
SK Hyper, the data-centre arm of South Korea's SK Group, estimates that the first 5 gigawatts of a planned 15-gigawatt domestic build-out will cost about 464 trillion won, or roughly $350 billion including equipment. Chief executive Chung Suk-geun gave the figure in an interview with Bloomberg Television. The company wants to reach the full 15 gigawatts by 2035.
SK does not plan to carry that bill alone. Chung said the group is in talks with several strategic and financial partners, including big tech firms, and that tenants and outside investors would share the cost. A first external funding round is expected by the end of 2026 or early 2027, followed by further raises over the next three to four years. He added that spending would be paced to actual demand rather than committed in full upfront.
SK Hyper was set up in July as a subsidiary of SK Telecom, which plans to put up to 750 billion won (about $567 million) into it by 2030. Its pipeline includes a project in Ulsan on the south-east coast and a previously announced 100-megawatt facility for Amazon Web Services, and it is negotiating with the government over further gigawatt-scale sites. The first centres are due to open in stages from 2029, while revenue could start as early as next year. SK is pitching South Korea as a hub for AI training that can also serve Japan and Taiwan, and plans to offer computing capacity and AI models as a package to governments in Asia and the Middle East.
Why it matters: the price tag shows how much capital the AI build-out still needs at a time when investors are questioning whether AI revenue can justify it, and Chung's pledge to pace spending to demand reflects that caution. For SK Telecom shareholders the direct commitment is limited to the 750 billion won pledge, so most of the burden would fall on outside partners; who those backers are, and whether a large cloud provider signs on as an anchor tenant, is the key signal to watch. SK is also counting on its chip, energy and telecoms affiliates to improve computing efficiency and offset South Korea's relatively high power costs.