Bae Kyunghoon: "AI Data Centers Are Core Infrastructure... Mega Projects Will Proceed Without Disruption"

Operation of Inter-Ministerial Comprehensive Support Task Force
Full Support for Land, Power Supply, and Permitting

Yonhap News Agency

The government has announced plans to establish a Future Response Fund, leveraging the largest-ever tax revenues anticipated in 2027, and to concentrate fiscal resources on three major mega-projects: semiconductors, AI data centers (AIDC), and physical AI. Additionally, the government pledged robust support, including the activation of an inter-ministerial comprehensive support task force (TF) to expedite the construction of AIDCs.

On July 13, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT, Bae Kyunghoon, stated at the 2026 National Fiscal Strategy Meeting held at the State Guest House and presided over by President Lee Jaemyung, "We will fully activate three major public-private cooperation systems—a cross-ministerial TF, the AI Data Center Alliance, and a dedicated support team to resolve corporate obstacles—to ensure that the government and private sector work as one team to execute these mega projects without disruption."

Previously, the Ministry of Science and ICT announced at the national briefing for the three mega-projects that it aims to secure investments for 8.4 gigawatts (GW) of AIDC by 2029 and 18.4 GW by 2035.

Regarding AIDC, Deputy Prime Minister Bae emphasized, "Although these are facilities integrating AI semiconductors, power, and cooling solutions, their essence is that they are spaces where AI models operate." He added, "They are key infrastructure for generating production tokens that enhance the performance of AI services."

Deputy Prime Minister Bae explained, "Building a 1 GW AI data center requires at least 990,000 square meters (300,000 pyeong) of land, which is equivalent to the size of 140 soccer fields," and added, "It is also crucial to ensure that power facilities are well established to reliably supply electricity near the site." He continued, "We will operate an inter-ministerial comprehensive support TF to provide full support for securing land and power supply, as well as for permitting and licensing, so that private investment can proceed rapidly."

He further stated, "Once AI data centers are built, we will be able to secure core technologies such as AI semiconductors, cloud, and cooling strategy solutions. We will localize these key technologies and industrialize them." He added, "To support this, we will establish the AI Data Center Alliance, create large-scale demonstration test beds and clusters, and provide a package of support including manpower, tax incentives, and funds."

Additionally, Deputy Prime Minister Bae stressed the importance of physical AI, saying, "As the competition to secure universal physical AI platforms intensifies, now is the golden time to pool our national capabilities."

He noted, "According to Morgan Stanley, the potential market for physical AI is 60 trillion dollars—about 8 quintillion won—which is roughly half of the current global GDP," and forecasted, "The country that secures a universal platform will lead the future industrial competitiveness."

Deputy Prime Minister Bae declared, "We will pool the capabilities of our domestic ecosystem to independently complete a Korean full-stack physical AI platform spanning data, infrastructure, brain, and body." He continued, "The core of the platform is ultimately data, and this year we have begun developing the 'world model,' the essential base technology for creating large-scale data." He concluded, "We will complete a world-class universal physical AI foundation model that will draw global attention."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.