Bae Kyung-hoon: "550 Trillion Won Investment in AIDC by 2029… Exceeding 1 Quadrillion Won by 2035"

Bae Kyung-hoon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT, announced today (the 29th) a plan to invest 550 trillion won in Artificial Intelligence (AI) Data Centers (AIDC) by 2029 and to increase the total investment scale to over 1 quadrillion won by 2035.

At the National Report Meeting on the Three Mega Projects for South Korea's Great Leap Forward held at the Presidential Office today, Deputy Prime Minister Bae stated, "The global investment planned for AI data centers over the next five years amounts to 5.5 trillion dollars, or approximately 8,400 trillion won in our currency," adding, "Jensen Huang also said that the largest infrastructure investment in human history is underway."

Deputy Prime Minister Bae said, "We will promote an AI data center investment of 550 trillion won, equivalent to 8.4 gigawatts (GW), by 2029," and added, "We will move away from concentration in the capital region, build data centers by region, and contribute to regional revitalization."

He did not stop there, presenting a blueprint to build an additional 10GW of AI data centers by 2035, attracting a total investment of over 1 quadrillion won.

He also emphasized that since the localization of each component and solution is an important task for AI data centers, it is necessary to apply AI to all solutions, advance and scale up equipment for AIDC, and package each facility and piece of equipment.

Accordingly, the government plans to actively support the AI data center industry through the construction of a cluster ecosystem, the creation of ultra-large test labs, human resources development, tax credits, and linkage with the National Growth Fund.

Cooperation between solution companies and demand companies through the AI Data Center Alliance will also be pursued.

Deputy Prime Minister Bae identified cloud technology and AI semiconductors as key elements for the industrialization of AI data center exports.

In particular, he noted the trend of the AI market rapidly expanding from the existing learning-centered focus to the inference market.

He mentioned, "The inference market is an open ecosystem, which presents an opportunity for South Korea," and added, "As domestic Neural Processing Unit (NPU) companies are producing commercialized AI chips after 7 to 8 years of research and development, I ask many companies to take interest and adopt them."

Deputy Prime Minister Bae defined AI data centers as more than just infrastructure, calling them a "token factory."

He emphasized, "Per 1GW, 40 trillion to 400 trillion tokens can be produced, and based on these tokens, physical AI and agentic AI will operate," adding, "We must create a token economy that assigns economic value to tokens."

He said, "Through 'AI for All' based on the token economy, South Korea must become a country where every citizen can utilize AI without cost burdens, and the country that builds a basic AI society faster than anywhere else in the world."

(Photo: Presidential Press Corps, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.