World's largest AI data center to be built in Korea

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World's largest AI data center to be built in Korea

Published: 19 Feb. 2025, 17:12 Updated: 20 Feb. 2025, 10:02

PARK EUN-JEE
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Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Brian Koo speaks on a screen during a press event about the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship on Feb. 19 in 2024 in central Seoul. [NEWS1]

One of the world’s largest AI data centers will be built in South Jeolla, the provincial government confirmed Wednesday, following the Wall Street Journal’s report on the project.

The province will make an announcement regarding the project next week, according to an official from the South Jeolla provincial government. An investment firm of the planned center, which was founded by Brian Koo, grandson of the founder of LG, also released a statement.

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that the data center will cost as much as $35 billion and feature up to 3 gigawatts of power, capacity is three times that of the ongoing Stargate project in the United States. The initiative was announced by President Donald Trump with backers including OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle.

Stock Farm Road, a new venture capital firm led by Koo and Amin Badr-El-Din, said in the statement that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with the province to initiate the construction this year and complete it by 2028.

“Initially, the project size is estimated at north of $10 billion with the potential to reach $35 billion,” it said. “Construction of the world's biggest AI data center by capacity, with an initial annual revenue of $3.5 billion is set to go ahead in 2025 in Korea.”

The founder, whose Korean name is Koo Bon-woong, has carved out his own career path in venture investment instead of taking over the family-run business.

Still, he has a mixed track record, and some of his projects have fallen through.

Koo co-founded an investment firm called Formation 8 in 2011 alongside Joe Lonsdale and Jim Kim, but the firm was disbanded due to disputes among the founders. The San Francisco-based firm, however, is known for making significant returns as an early investor in Oculus, a virtual reality headset maker now owned by Meta.

After establishing a new venture investment firm, Maum Capital Group, Koo signed an agreement in 2022 with Showbox to invest 140 billion won ($97.3 million) into the Korean film distributor. But the investment failed to generate the promised funds.

Koo is also the founder of Fir Hills, a Silicon Valley-based investment firm that made headlines for its failure to fulfill its payment obligations as a sponsor of an LPGA event. The tournament, the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship, was canceled last month.

BY PARK EUN-JEE [[email protected]]