SK Telecom Establishes SK Hyper to Build 15GW AI Data Center Capacity
SK Telecom has established a new wholly-owned subsidiary, SK Hyper, with a plan to invest 750 billion KRW by 2030. The new entity aims to build 5GW of AI data center capacity by 2029 and expand it to 15GW by 2035. This massive investment underscores the escalating energy and infrastructure demands required to support next-generation AI workloads. By targeting gigawatt-scale capacity, SK Telecom is positioning itself to compete with global hyperscalers in the rapidly growing AI infrastructure market. SK Hyper will focus on AI data centers, operating substations, and commercialization businesses, with initial infrastructure clusters planned for Ulsan and the Chungcheong region. Funding will be provided through equity investments by SK Telecom until 2030.
## BACKGROUND
AI data centers require significantly more power and specialized cooling compared to traditional data centers due to the high-density compute demands of training and running large AI models. Gigawatt-scale data centers represent a massive leap in scale, requiring extensive power infrastructure, grid integration, and dedicated substations to prevent local power grid overload.