South Gyeongsang Province, home to the country's largest concentration of defense industry, has attracted Korea's first 100-megawatt artificial intelligence (AI) data center (AIDC) dedicated to the defense sector. Defense companies, previously barred from using general cloud services due to security concerns, will now be able to pursue AI research and development with peace of mind on an independent security network.
The province signed an "investment agreement to build a defense industry-dedicated AI data center" with Changwon City, Dnotitia, Dnocore, and Shinhwa Steel at the provincial government building on the 27th. The total investment reaches 1.6555 trillion won.
The data center will be built on a 74,606-square-meter site around 23-3 and 23-5 Palyong-dong, Uichang-gu, Changwon City. It will consist of a data center with 100MW of power capacity (five floors above ground, one below) and a support building (four floors above ground, three below). More than 200 high-value-added information and communication technology (ICT) jobs are expected to be created during the construction and operation process.
Because the defense industry handles sensitive technical information such as blueprints, the use of general cloud services has been restricted under government security guidelines. The defense-only AIDC being established combines an independent security network with a high-performance AI computing foundation, providing an environment where defense companies can pursue AI research and development and data utilization without security concerns.
Investor companies Dnotitia and Dnocore will support the AI transformation (AX) of defense companies by linking their "Seahorse AI Storage," which stores and searches corporate data and supports AI use, along with the cloud-based service "Seahorse Cloud" and AI semiconductor technology, to the data center. Shinhwa Steel, as a joint participant in the development project, will contribute to connecting regional industry and building the operational foundation.
South Gyeongsang Province plans to use this attraction as a springboard to promote the AI transition across the region's main manufacturing industries, including shipbuilding, machinery, and aviation, as well as defense, and to leap forward as a hub for advanced manufacturing innovation. In particular, it expects an effect of preventing the outflow of local talent by creating jobs favored by young people, such as data center operations personnel, AI model developers, and cybersecurity experts.
South Gyeongsang Governor Park Wan-su said, "Building Korea's first 100MW defense-only AIDC is a very timely and essential project that can raise the competitiveness of K-defense to another level." He added, "We will spare no administrative support so that Gyeongnam can leap forward as a center for defense AI and advanced manufacturing innovation."
