AI Data Center, Graduate School, and Other Core Infrastructures Gathered... Gwangju Becomes an Ecosystem Hub

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Jo] The government, having announced its national artificial intelligence (AI) strategy, is fostering Gwangju Metropolitan City as an AI ecosystem hub where core infrastructures such as AI data centers and graduate schools are concentrated.

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 4th that following the AI data center investment agreement and groundbreaking ceremony held in Gwangju Metropolitan City, it also held a plaque ceremony for the AI Graduate School at Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST).

At the groundbreaking ceremony, the government’s support plan for nurturing the AI ecosystem was announced, and an investment agreement between Gwangju City and the private company NHN was signed. Then, Minister Choi Ki-young and Mayor Lee Yong-seop of Gwangju Metropolitan City visited GIST, which plays a pivotal role in training advanced and specialized AI talent, to attend the AI Graduate School plaque ceremony. Minister Choi urged, “Through innovative challenges toward becoming an AI-centered city, Gwangju should take the lead in creating new industries and jobs and realizing human-centered artificial intelligence.”

The Gwangju AI Convergence Complex is a major project selected last year under the National Balanced Development Project. It is a project to create an ecosystem concentrated with resources and infrastructure necessary for AI, such as data, in the Advanced 3 District of Gwangju Metropolitan City. The total project cost is 393.9 billion KRW.

The core infrastructure of the convergence complex, the AI data center, will have a computing capacity of 88.5 PF (a unit measuring computing speed, capable of performing 100 trillion operations per second), and is planned to be developed as a technology hub that not only collects and accumulates large-scale data but also provides various development tools and an AI semiconductor testing environment.

Additionally, the AI Graduate School at GIST selects 50 students annually and operates a self-directed curriculum, entrepreneurship education, and internship programs through industry-academia cooperation to cultivate doctoral-level talent equipped with both theory and practical skills. In particular, it is focusing on convergence research in three specialized local industries: healthcare, automotive, and energy.

The AI Graduate School will play a key role in creating a virtuous cycle ecosystem of education, research, and entrepreneurship in the Gwangju region by linking with the high-performance data center infrastructure and startup support programs of the future Gwangju AI Convergence Complex.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Science and ICT plans to select two additional AI graduate schools this year.

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