[E-Daily Reporter Yun Junghoon ]KTCorporation(030200)plans to invest 5 trillion won over the next five years to build AI data center (AIDC) infrastructure, securing a total capacity of 1 GW (gigawatt). The company aims to transform South Korea into an “Asian AX (Artificial Intelligence Transformation) connectivity hub” by combining “Edge AI” utilizing 3,500 local offices nationwide with submarine cable collaborations with global big tech companies.

Park Yoon-young, CEO of KTCorporation, announced this “AX Platform Company” growth strategy at his first press conference following his appointment, held on the 6th at the Pullman Ambassador Seoul Eastpol Hotel in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul.

The AIDC infrastructure strategy, a core pillar of this announcement, is driven strictly by “actual demand.” Rather than being swept up in the vague investment competition among big tech companies, the strategy aims to secure a leading position in the market by leveraging the acquisition of actual tenants and expertise in operating highly efficient data centers.

CEO Park Yoon-young: “5 Trillion Won Investment Based on Actual Demand… Preparing for the Era of Physical AI with ‘Edge AI’ at 3,500 Nationwide Branches”

CEO Park Yoon-young presented a firm stance in response to concerns about the investment gap with Big Tech companies. “We do not compare our investment scale with others,” CEO Park emphasized. “Instead, we proceed strictly on a ‘demand-driven’ basis within the scope of what our company can manage,” adding, “We have formulated our investment plan within a concrete and achievable framework.”

KTCorporation plans to invest in approximately 25 AIDCs nationwide in the future. CEO Park stated, “When the Physical AI and autonomous driving markets experience explosive growth in the near future, the role of AIDCs deployed on the front lines will become crucial,” adding, “To this end, we will deploy ‘AI Edge’ to our 3,500 local offices nationwide to proactively prepare an ultra-low-latency, real-time inference environment without delay.”

The issue of a surge in international traffic resulting from the expansion of AIDCs will be addressed through collaboration with global Big Tech companies on submarine cables.

CEO Park explained, “As international data traffic capacity is expected to surge eightfold, we will increase our undersea cable capacity to over 128 Tbps,” adding, “Since this requires massive investment, we are planning to secure capital through collaboration with major global tech companies that are heavy users of these services.”

Kim Bong-kyun, CEO of KT Cloud: “A dual-track strategy: focusing on securing tenant companies in non-metropolitan areas and actively pursuing expansion in the Seoul metropolitan area” KT Cloud

, the group’s infrastructure-specialized subsidiary, is taking the lead on the front lines of this large-scale 1GW-class AIDC project. Kim Bong-kyun, CEO (Executive Vice President) of KT Cloud, who attended the press conference, expressed confidence in KTCorporation’s overwhelming competitive edge in terms of expanding supply and securing customers.

“In terms of supply, we are adopting a dual-track strategy that distinguishes between the Seoul metropolitan area and non-metropolitan regions,” said CEO Kim. “We will focus on non-metropolitan regions where we can secure tenant companies based on demand, while aggressively expanding supply in the Seoul metropolitan area where development issues have already been resolved.”

In particular, CEO Kim highlighted that KTCorporation possesses unrivaled strengths in “power efficiency and cooling technology,” which are central to data center operations. He explained that KTCorporation’s differentiating factor lies in its technology for controlling the immense heat generated by AIDCs, which are densely packed with high-performance GPUs (graphics processing units) and NPUs (neural processing units).

CEO Kim stated, “We have accumulated decades of experience and know-how through our direct operation of data centers,” adding, “While data centers in the past focused on maintaining constant temperature and humidity, future AIDCs will require advanced cooling technology. KT Cloud was the first in Korea to commercialize ‘liquid cooling’ technology and is currently operating it directly.”

He continued, “Cooling technology goes beyond simply introducing equipment; the key lies in operational capabilities—understanding how much hydraulic pressure to apply and how to control it to lower temperatures,” adding, “KTCorporation is the only company that possesses all of these capabilities—including accumulated data, submarine cable landing stations, wired and wireless networks, and data center interconnect (DCI) capabilities.”