SK Hyper, the AI data center unit of SK Telecom, is seeking about $350 billion to fund the first 5-gigawatt phase of a plan to build 15 gigawatts of data center capacity in South Korea by 2035. Chief executive Chung Suk-geun disclosed the figure in an interview broadcast on October 22, saying the company is in talks with large technology companies and financial investors about the money.
The $350 billion, roughly 463 trillion won, covers only that first 5GW phase, including equipment, according to Chung. SK Hyper aims to close its first round of outside capital between the end of 2026 and early 2027, then keep raising over the following three to four years.
“We are currently in talks with large technology companies and financial investors to secure the funding.”— Chung Suk-geun, CEO of SK Hyper
Chung said SK Hyper will not carry the full bill alone. The company plans to share costs with data center tenants and outside investors. It has not named its prospective investors, and no terms have been disclosed.
Key facts
- 01SK Hyper seeks about $350B (463 trillion won) for the first 5GW phase of a 15GW South Korea buildout due by 2035.
- 02CEO Chung Suk-geun says talks are underway with large technology companies and financial investors.
- 03The first outside funding round is targeted for late 2026 or early 2027, with more raises over three to four years.
- 04SK Telecom founded SK Hyper in July 2026 and plans to invest up to 750 billion won in it by 2030.
- 05Projects include a 900MW Ulsan site and a 100MW data center with AWS; the first facilities are due in 2029.
SK Telecom established SK Hyper in July 2026 as a subsidiary aimed at global technology companies that want to use South Korea as a base for AI operations across Asia. Its target markets include Japan and Taiwan as well as South Korea. SK Telecom has pledged to invest up to 750 billion won in the unit in stages through 2030, and Chung also heads SK Telecom's AI Company-in-Company division.
Demand is the central variable. Chung put South Korea's current data center market at about 1GW, which makes foreign customers essential to a 15GW buildout. He said power and sites for the first phase should not be hard to secure, and that the harder problems are lining up global demand and raising capital. SK Hyper is in discussions with hyperscalers about bringing AI inference hubs and training infrastructure to the country.
The site pipeline is already taking shape. SK Hyper is developing a 900-megawatt project in Ulsan and a 100-megawatt data center project with Amazon Web Services. It plans a cluster of more than 2GW in the Yeongnam region, starting with Ulsan, plus gigawatt-scale sites in Chungcheong and the southwest, and Chung said the company is negotiating with the government for additional sites.
The first SK Hyper data centers are scheduled for completion in 2029, though Chung said revenue could begin as early as next year. He framed the competition in cost terms: the edge in AI infrastructure now goes to whoever can generate tokens at the lowest cost.
SK Hyper is separate from SK Horizon, another SK vehicle that runs roughly 318 megawatts and has about $2.2 billion in backing from KKR and a consortium of IMM Investment and Stonebridge. SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won has discussed about 1,000 trillion won of AI data center investment by 2035, with 3 million GPUs.
The SK Hyper plan comes as investors question whether future demand for AI services will justify global spending on computing infrastructure. Chung said the company would adjust its investment pace to actual demand rather than commit to the entire program upfront, starting with the first external funding round it targets for late 2026 or early 2027.
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