Gwangju City, National AI Data Center on Track for Completion Within the Year

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] As of the 12th, the construction progress rate of the National AI Data Center, which Gwangju Metropolitan City is promoting to build an AI (Artificial Intelligence) hub city, is smoothly progressing at 29%.

The National AI Data Center, which provides high-performance computing resources necessary for AI product and service development, is the largest AI infrastructure in Korea. It is expected to be completed as a world-class data center with 88.5PF (petaflops) of computing resources and 107PB of storage capacity.

Construction began last November at the Gwangju Advanced Industrial Complex, and currently, underground structural work and embankment operations are underway. The plan is to complete the data center construction by the end of this year, finish commissioning of foundational facilities such as electrical and air conditioning systems, and from January next year, install computing equipment including AI accelerators. After six months of trial operation, official services will be provided starting July 2023.

The National AI Data Center will be built using a hybrid method of high-performance computing (HPC) and GPU cloud. Of the total 88.5PF computing resources, 20PF will be dedicated exclusively to HPC, which will be provided to small and medium-sized enterprises and mid-sized companies to support the development of various business models utilizing super-large AI.

This secures the foundation to establish a new AI industry ecosystem centered on HPC, which was practically inaccessible except to some large corporations due to enormous construction costs and high operating expenses.

The remaining 68.5PF GPU cloud will provide an integrated computing resource and development environment optimized for AI development, including various development environments, big data platforms, and software solutions (SaaS). This will be offered free of charge to the private sector to develop new technologies, products, and services, thereby reducing the time and cost required for initial infrastructure construction.

Until the National AI Data Center is completed, 8.85PF of computing resources, which is 10% of the planned capacity, are leased from NHN Cloud to provide services.

In the first year of service support in 2021, 125 projects from companies and institutions were selected, providing a cumulative total of 10.74PF of computing resources. A total of 580 AI learning models and 28 commercialization models were developed, achieving economic outcomes such as 24 billion KRW in sales and 304 new jobs.

This year, through efficient use of computing resources and expansion of customized services, 9.95PF of computing resources are being provided to 127 projects, which is more than last year, and visible corporate support results are expected.

In particular, starting this year, services needed by companies will continue to be discovered and provided, such as a storage-only service that shares processed data and stores large volumes of data required for AI development, and commercialization services that allow testing by multiple users before official service after AI development.

Additionally, demonstration test environments and demonstration data support for Gwangju’s key industries?automotive, energy, and healthcare?will be fully activated. Following the introduction of 63 types of AI demonstration equipment by last year, 14 more types will be added this year, providing a total of 77 types of demonstration test environments, along with data collection necessary for AI development.

The collected data and high-quality training data are expected to greatly assist in developing new AI products using data in each field and creating related services.

Once the National AI Data Center is fully operational, companies will be able to conveniently apply for and utilize resources within the data center such as computing resources, demonstration equipment, and training data through the ‘AI Integrated Support Service Platform’ to develop various AI models.

Son Kyung-jong, Director of the AI Industry Bureau, said, “By 2024, the first phase of the project period, we plan to successfully complete the infrastructure construction such as the AI Data Center and demonstration equipment currently underway, and create an AI convergence ecosystem where AI companies relocated to Gwangju can utilize this infrastructure to develop business models and generate profits.”

He added, “We will prepare the second phase project (2025?2029) strategy, which involves an investment of 2 trillion KRW in national and city funds, without delay to advance the Gwangju AI cluster into a national AI innovation hub.”

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