SK Consortium to Invest 2 Trillion Won in Saemangeum... Selected as Preferred Negotiator for 'Industrial Investment-Type Power Project'

Establishment of Startup Cluster and Data Center Attraction Contest
SK Consortium Selected with 2 Trillion Won Investment Proposal
20,000 Jobs Created... 8 Trillion Won Economic Impact Over 20 Years

Saemangeum Data Center Bird's-eye View (Photo by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport)

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Jiwon] The Saemangeum Development Agency announced on the 16th that it has selected the SK Consortium, which proposed an investment of approximately 2 trillion KRW, as the preferred negotiator in the public offering for the 'Industrial Investment-type Development Project' aimed at establishing a startup cluster and attracting a data center.

The Saemangeum Agency comprehensively evaluated the feasibility, concreteness, and promotion of internal development within Saemangeum in the business proposals and selected the SK Consortium as the preferred negotiator. The agency plans to proceed with the business agreement and designation procedures in earnest by November after negotiations.

The Industrial Investment-type Development Project is a business model that provides an incentive of 200MW (megawatts) of floating solar power generation rights to companies investing more than 600 billion KRW in total, including a 'startup cluster' for fostering advanced venture companies and a 'data center' targeting global information technology (IT) companies.

The purpose is to strategically utilize Saemangeum's vast land and sunlight conditions to attract advanced industrial companies by using solar power generation projects as a catalyst and to promote Saemangeum's development.

The SK Consortium proposed a direct investment and investment attraction plan worth approximately 2 trillion KRW to the Saemangeum Development Agency in this Industrial Investment-type Development Project public offering.

First, they plan to create a startup cluster of 33,000㎡ in total by establishing a complex library serving as a community role in Industrial Complex Section 2, along with convergence-type production and support spaces. Through this, they proposed to attract and nurture about 300 companies cumulatively during the 20-year project period. Customized support will be provided to startup and attracted companies considering their goals, current status, and growth stages.

They also proposed attracting investment for a data center. Based on Saemangeum's abundant renewable energy, they plan to build a large-scale data center with world-class systems in Industrial Complex Section 5 by 2029 and attract related investments to make it an Asian data center hub.

To this end, power infrastructure optimized for the data center will be installed, and four data center buildings will be completed as the first phase by 2024, expanding to 16 buildings by 2029. Additionally, to address the previously pointed out lack of ICT infrastructure, which has been an obstacle to attracting advanced companies to Saemangeum, the construction of submarine cables and optical communication networks will also be pursued.

The Saemangeum Agency expects that if the SK Consortium is designated as the business operator, it will provide a significant boost to the local economy, which has been stagnant due to the withdrawal of Hyundai Heavy Industries and GM Daewoo.

Through the establishment of the startup cluster and data center, the attraction of about 300 companies and the creation of cumulative employment for 20,000 people are expected. An economic ripple effect of approximately 8 trillion KRW over 20 years is anticipated.

The SK Consortium explained that it will cooperate with the Saemangeum Agency to discover and nurture ventures in advanced fields and aims to produce at least one unicorn company (a company valued at over 1 trillion KRW) representing South Korea within 10 years.

Yang Chung-mo, head of the Saemangeum Development Agency, said, "The investment attraction by the SK Consortium will be an opportunity to completely reverse the previously stagnant local atmosphere," adding, "We expect this to lead to full-scale investments by large corporations."

Saemangeum Startup Cluster Bird's-eye View (Photo by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport)

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.