SK Group Unveils Massive AI Investment Plans Aligned with Government Megaprojects
SK Group has announced a sweeping investment strategy to bolster South Korea's artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem, aligning with the government's recent "three megaprojects" initiative. The conglomerate said it plans to invest a combined 2,100 trillion won (US$1,361 billion) to enhance the nation's AI value chain, as reported by Yonhap News.
The announcement came after President Lee Jae Myung unveiled the government's initiative, a strategy aimed at strengthening South Korea's competitiveness in advanced technologies and transforming the country into an industrial powerhouse in the AI era. SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won spoke during a briefing to announce the initiative in Seoul on June 29, 2026.
As part of the plan, SK Group said it will invest 1,100 trillion won to establish what it calls an "AI memory production belt," connecting the semiconductor cluster in Yongin, south of Seoul, with the central city of Cheongju and the southwestern region. The group plans to establish a new SK hynix Inc. production base in the southwestern region, citing the government's efforts to expand infrastructure, including electricity and water supplies.
"The move will not only upgrade existing production bases but also gradually establish next-generation production hubs, helping address soaring global demand for AI memory chips and build a stable supply chain," SK Group added. SK hynix also aims to complete construction of the Yongin cluster by 2033, ahead of the original target of 2045.
SK Telecom Co., the mobile carrier unit of the conglomerate, will also undertake a 1,000 trillion-won project to build AI data centers with a combined power capacity of 15 gigawatts. "Given South Korea's stable power supply and its production capacity for AI chips, the country is considered an attractive location for AI data centers," the business group said.
In a separate development, SK hynix Inc. plans to newly invest 1,100 trillion won (US$713 billion) in building new semiconductor clusters, including 400 trillion won in South Korea's southwestern region, according to Chairman Chey Tae-won. He also said the group plans to invest 1,000 trillion won in AI data centers as part of its vision to transform South Korea from an "AI consumer" into an "intelligence exporter."
"We should not simply export AI products. We need to export intelligence itself while building a domestic market for AI-driven intelligence," Chey said. "To achieve that, we will rapidly build AI factories in the form of large-scale AI data centers."
SK Telecom Co. also announced a 140 trillion won (US$91.5 billion) investment to transform the southeastern region of Yeongnam into Asia's AI hub, with the construction of massive data centers there. CEO Jung Jai-hun outlined the plan during a public briefing presided over by President Lee Jae Myung in the southeastern city of Jinju, as part of the government's megaproject centered on attracting massive investment in AI and high-tech industries.
Under the plan, SKT will start work on a 100-megawatt hyperscale AI data center in the port city of Ulsan, with the goal to start operations by the fourth quarter of next year. It will later add 900 megawatts and an additional 1 gigawatt of AI data centers in the region outside of Ulsan.
"The massive AI data centers could transform the region into a hub for the verification and expansion of manufacturing AI, when combined with the manufacturing capabilities in the region," Jung said.
SKT plans to expand its total AI data center capacity to 5 gigawatts by 2029, which Jung said would mark the first step in the company's long-term goal of building 15 gigawatts of data centers across the country. The initial 5-gigawatt deployment would require some 2,500,000 square meters of land, some 3 million units of graphic processing units, 2.4 million units of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, and around 350 trillion won in investments, Jung added.