NeoAI Cloud Completes KRW 600 Billion Financing for Pohang AI Data Center

KRW 450 billion PF financing closed and KRW 150 billion in equity secured... Full-scale construction begins on 40 MW AI data center
NeoAI Cloud and SC Capital Partners participate as key investors... 260 MW Phase 2 expansion planned

Aerial rendering of Neo AI Cloud's Pohang data center (Source: Neo AI Cloud)

NeoAI Cloud, a company specializing in AI infrastructure, has completed KRW 600 billion in financing to develop a dedicated AI data center in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province.

The financing consists of a KRW 450 billion project financing (PF) loan and KRW 150 billion in equity. NeoAI Cloud closed the PF financing on October 7, securing the full project cost for Phase 1 of the Pohang AI Data Center and moving into full-scale construction and execution. Phase 1 has a total project cost of approximately KRW 600 billion and is being developed with a power receiving capacity of 40 MW and an IT load of 32 MW.

NeoAI Cloud, which is leading the project, and global investment manager SC Capital Partners are key investors in the KRW 150 billion equity component. Gyeongsangbuk-do Province, the Regional Revitalization Investment Fund, and domestic financial institutions are also participating, creating an investment structure that brings together the project sponsor, global private capital, policy funds, and domestic financial institutions.

Headquartered in Singapore, SC Capital Partners manages approximately $9.7 billion in assets under management (AUM) and has made more than 100 investments across the Asia-Pacific region, backed by more than 60 institutional investors worldwide. Through its investment in the Pohang AI Data Center, SC Capital Partners will expand its investment in Korea's digital infrastructure market.

The project was selected as the ninth project under the Regional Revitalization Investment Fund, established by the government to promote large-scale private investment in local regions. The investment structure brings together public and policy funds, including Gyeongsangbuk-do Province and the Regional Revitalization Investment Fund, with global private capital and domestic financial institutions. Korea Growth Investment Corporation manages the fund of funds for the Regional Revitalization Investment Fund.

The Pohang AI Data Center is a dedicated AI data center under construction at Gwangmyeong General Industrial Complex in Nam-gu, Pohang, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province. It has a power receiving capacity of 40 MW and an IT load of 32 MW. The facility incorporates high-density power delivery and liquid-cooling infrastructure to accommodate large-scale GPU clusters and next-generation AI workloads, and is designed to flexibly support next-generation GPUs as they are introduced.

The project has already completed key permitting procedures, including securing power and obtaining a building permit. Hyundai Engineering & Construction was selected as the contractor in June 2026, and construction has begun. Hyundai Engineering & Construction is responsible for completion, with construction underway toward a service launch in the fourth quarter of 2027.

The project has also secured early stability. NHN Cloud, a leading domestic cloud service provider, has committed to pre-lease 16 MW, equivalent to 50% of the total IT capacity of 32 MW, and is also expected to participate in data center operations. NeoAI Cloud is in discussions with domestic and international cloud and AI infrastructure providers regarding the remaining capacity.

Global IT companies are seeking new sites that can provide a stable supply of vast amounts of power while also allowing for large-scale expansion. The Pohang project is seen as directly addressing the demand for data center decentralization and larger-scale AI infrastructure.

Pohang has advantages in securing large amounts of power and providing room for future expansion, both key competitive factors for AI data centers. Nearby large-scale power generation infrastructure enables a stable power supply, while securing the power and land needed to expand large-scale data centers is easier than in the Seoul metropolitan area. Leveraging these locational advantages, NeoAI Cloud plans to develop Pohang into a large-scale AI computing hub for domestic and international AI companies.

NeoAI Cloud plans to expand the Pohang AI Data Center beyond a colocation facility that simply leases server space, developing it into an AI infrastructure platform that also offers GPUaaS (GPU-as-a-Service), GPU clusters, and AI platform services.

"Completing this KRW 600 billion financing is significant not merely because we secured PF for a single data center, but because it moves the large-scale AI infrastructure business NeoAI Cloud has planned into actual execution," said NeoAI Cloud CEO Cho Yongwan. "The fact that NeoAI Cloud and SC Capital Partners are participating as key investors, alongside Gyeongsangbuk-do Province, policy funds, and major domestic financial institutions, demonstrates the competitiveness of the Pohang project and the growth potential of Korea's AI infrastructure market."

Cho added, "In the AI era, a key competitive advantage is how quickly and at what scale companies can secure not only GPUs themselves but also the power, cooling, networks, and data center infrastructure needed to operate them reliably. While focusing on successfully completing the 40 MW Phase 1 project in Pohang, we will expand in stages to the 260 MW Phase 2 AI data center, which is currently in development, and grow Pohang into a world-class AI infrastructure hub."

Through Phase 2, NeoAI Cloud plans to expand the data center's scale while extending its business across the AI infrastructure value chain, including colocation, GPUaaS, and AI platforms. The company aims to actively attract not only domestic businesses but also global cloud and AI companies that need large-scale AI computing infrastructure in Korea and across Asia.

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