[Gwangju = E-Daily Marketin Reporter Soyoung Park ] "A massive investment demand of more than $5 trillion (approximately 6,715 trillion won) is expected by 2031. To support this investment demand and operate data centers efficiently, major global players are forming alliances and partnerships across various sectors."

Kim Won-bin, Director of the Infrastructure Investment Division at the Korea Investment Corporation (KIC), delivered a presentation titled “Why Energy Deep Tech Now?” at the “Global Alternative Investment Conference in BIXPO (GAIC in BIXPO)” held on the 5th at the Kim Dae-jung Convention Center in Gwangju, South Jeolla Province. Director Kim Won-bin stated, “There is demand for data center capacity, as well as for the artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure needed to support it, including △power supply infrastructure △computing chips △GPUs △and data center cooling systems.”

With the recent AI boom, the proportion of investment in digital infrastructure and the energy sector that supports it is increasing rapidly. In this market environment, KIC is focusing its attention on three key issues.

Specifically: △Who will emerge as the winners and be able to shoulder the capital expenditures (CAPEX) required for AI infrastructure development? △Can AI revenue and monetization justify the massive levels of CAPEX? △From an infrastructure investment perspective, which sub-sectors offer the potential for investment while securing downside protection?

Kim Won-bin, a director at KIC, explained, “AI adoption is still in its early stages of growth,” adding, “This is because there is upside potential in terms of expanding the user base, the number of uses per user, and the scope of application, such as agentic AI.” In other words, there is ample room for the number of AI service users to continue growing.

Director Kim Won-bin went on to highlight investment opportunities and market trends stemming from the structural characteristics of energy supply and demand.

As demand for AI services rises, so does the demand for data centers that provide the necessary infrastructure. “Electricity” is the most critical factor in operating data centers. Director Kim explained that operating a 100-megawatt (MW) hyperscale data center requires an amount of electricity equivalent to the consumption of approximately 100,000 typical households.

In addition, electricity consumption is rising as various industries, such as the electric vehicle sector, undergo electrification. Director Kim believes that data centers will play a game-changing role in this context.

From a market supply perspective, data center developers and operators are striving to provide capacity to keep up with the explosively growing demand for AI infrastructure. However, due to structural challenges in connecting to the power grid and securing power, supply falls short of demand.

According to him, the biggest bottleneck on the supply side is “power shortages.” The actual development and construction of data centers takes a long time—18 months. On-site power generation solutions are emerging, where power plants are built where electricity is needed, and energy storage systems (ESS) are used to compensate for the intermittency of power generation.

So, which subsectors can provide downside protection? He cited the following as promising subsectors that KIC is focusing on: △hyperscale data centers, △onsite power generation, and △GPU chip financing. He emphasized, “We must focus on investment opportunities that offer downside protection through development based on proven demand and early principal recovery via long-term contracts with highly creditworthy hyperscalers,” adding, “Given the asymmetric risk-return structure—which allows for expectations of residual value and additional returns from contract renewals—now is the time to pay close attention to AI infrastructure investments.”