Work is underway to expand SK Telecom’s data infrastructure both domestically and internationally. According to reports from Data Centre Dynamics, SK Telecom plans a major expansion of its Ulsan campus in South Korea and intends to build a new facility in Vietnam.
At SK’s AI Summit on November 3, executives announced that the Ulsan expansion is being planned to support up to 1GW of capacity — more than ten times the site’s original 103MW target. The enlargement follows a memorandum of understanding between SK Telecom and Ulsan Metropolitan City.
The Ulsan data centre occupies land formerly used by an SK Group chemicals subsidiary and is part of a partnership with Amazon Web Services. A construction agreement was finalized in June and groundworks began in early September. Earlier timelines indicated that about 41MW would be available by November 2027, with full completion expected by February 2029; it remains unclear whether those dates will change under the new, larger plan.
The total cost of the upgrade has not been confirmed, although South Korea’s Ministry of Science previously indicated a budget of 7 trillion won (approximately $5.11 billion) for the site.
SK Telecom, together with SK Innovation, the group’s energy division, is also developing another data centre project in Vietnam that will be powered by LNG. The company has not disclosed the facility’s size or exact location.
Several South Korean firms have shown growing interest in building data centres in Vietnam. In late August, Samsung signed an MoU with Vietnamese carrier CMC, and LG entered a similar agreement with the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group. In May, Korea Telecom (KT) and Viettel agreed on a $94.6 million partnership to promote KT’s AI products in Vietnam and support a new data centre.
SK Telecom’s newly appointed CEO, Jung Jaihun, said the company is exploring further growth opportunities in Malaysia and Singapore. Jung took over the role last week, replacing Ryu Young-sang, who stepped down following criticism over the company’s handling of a cyberattack in April. Ryu now chairs the SK Supex Council AI Committee, which sets the group’s AI strategy.
The expansion announcements came alongside SK Telecom’s third-quarter financial results, which showed declines in revenue and operating income of 12.2% and 90.9%, respectively, and a net loss of KRW 206.6 billion (about $143 million). Management attributed the weak performance in part to the cyberattack, which prompted more than 300,000 customers to switch providers.
On a brighter note, SK Telecom’s AI business posted stronger performance, with quarter-on-quarter growth of 32.2%. That segment covers data centre operations, enterprise solutions, and AI cloud services.
The surge in AI investment is reshaping South Korea’s broader technology landscape. Memory chipmaker SK Hynix has seen a dramatic rise in its share price this year, and interest in AI-related businesses has driven speculative gains across other sectors. Demand for AI computing power has also triggered a flurry of new data centre projects nationwide.
Recent related moves include Naver’s announcement to expand its Sejong data centre, and Amazon Web Services increasing its commitment to South Korean infrastructure by an additional $5 billion on top of an existing $4 billion pledge. Nvidia has also committed to supplying more than 250,000 GPUs for hyperscale and government deployments, supporting growing capacity needs.
Interested in how IoT is transforming telecoms and connectivity? The IoT Tech Expo runs events in Amsterdam, California, and London and covers developments in 5G, edge computing, and IoT that are shaping the future of networks and services. The expo is part of TechEx and is co-located with other technology conferences.
Telecoms News is produced by TechForge Media, which also lists upcoming enterprise technology events and webinars.