South Korea's Largest AI Data Centre On The Anvil

(MENAFN- IANS) Seoul, June 16 (IANS) SK Group, a South Korean chip-to-construction conglomerate, said on Monday it plans to build the country's largest artificial intelligence (AI) data centre in partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS).

The two companies are expected to launch the project later this month and hold a groundbreaking ceremony in August, according to industry sources.

"They have been working on the project, but the exact timeline and other details have yet to be finalised," an SK Group spokesperson said, reports Yonhap news agency.

The facility will be located in the Mipo industrial complex in Ulsan, 305 kilometers southeast of Seoul. It will house 60,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) and have a power capacity of 100 megawatts, making it the country's first AI infrastructure of such scale, the sources said.

Ryu Young-sang, chief executive officer (CEO) of SK Telecom Co., had announced the company's plan to build a hyperscale AI data centre equipped with 60,000 GPUs in collaboration with a global tech partner, during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2025 held in Spain in March.

SK Telecom plans to invest 3.4 trillion won (US$2.49 billion) in AI infrastructure by 2028, with a significant portion expected to be allocated to the data centre project.

AWS, a subsidiary of Amazon, provides on-demand cloud computing platforms and application programming interfaces (APIs) to individuals, businesses and governments on a pay-per-use basis.

Meanwhile, LG Energy Solution, South Korea's leading battery manufacturer, said on Monday it has secured a deal with China's Chery Automobile Co. to supply cylindrical electric vehicle (EV) batteries.

Under the deal, LG Energy Solution will supply a combined 8 gigawatt-hours of its next-generation 46-series cylindrical batteries to Chery Automobile over the next six years. The volume is enough to power approximately 120,000 EVs, according to the company.

The value of the contract was not disclosed but industry observers estimate it to stand at around 1 trillion won (US$730 million).

The supply is scheduled to begin early next year, with the batteries to be installed in Chery's flagship EV models.

The 46-series cylindrical batteries offer over five times the energy capacity and output of conventional cylindrical cells, and are known for their high production efficiency.

LG Energy Solution said the deal has proven the excellence of its proprietary nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM)-based 46-series battery, which outperforms lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries in cold temperatures and charging efficiency while also delivering superior energy density.

The two companies plan to expand their partnership to include additional EV models across the Chery Group.

-IANS

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