Minister Hoon Bae Visits Naver Gak on First Corporate Tour: "Securing 50,000 GPUs for Korea to Become a Top 3 AI Power"

Roundtable with Major Companies Including Naver Cloud, Kakao, and Samsung SDS
Discussions on Improving Data Center Regulations and Expanding Infrastructure

Science and ICT Minister Hoon Bae. Photo by Yonhap News

Science and ICT Minister Hoon Bae stated on July 24, "We will lay the foundation for Korea to become one of the world's top three AI powerhouses by building an 'AI expressway,' including securing 50,000 advanced graphics processing units (GPUs)." On this day, Minister Bae visited Naver's hyperscale AI data center "Gak" in Sejong Special Self-Governing City for his first on-site corporate visit since taking office, where he inspected the facility.

During a roundtable with key representatives from industry and academia, Minister Bae emphasized, "We will actively devise practical policy measures to promote private investment and resolve difficulties." In particular, industry representatives strongly urged the government to improve regulations related to data centers in order to expand AI infrastructure.

This visit is part of the government's ongoing policy to build an "AI expressway." The government has set a goal to secure global-level AI foundation models and drive the widespread adoption of AI across industries by expanding high-performance computing infrastructure, including the acquisition of 50,000 advanced GPUs. Minister Bae said, "Building the AI expressway, including AI data centers, is the starting point for Korea to become one of the top three AI powerhouses," and added, "It is important for both the public and private sectors to work together to expand AI infrastructure, stimulate demand, and vitalize the AI ecosystem."

Naver's "Gak Sejong" is a hyperscale facility located on a site of approximately 290,000 square meters (equivalent to 41 soccer fields) and can accommodate up to 600,000 server units. It is the second data center following Naver's "Gak Chuncheon," which opened in Chuncheon in 2013, and serves as a hub for cloud and generative AI services. The on-site roundtable was attended by major AI infrastructure companies such as Naver Cloud, Samsung SDS, SK Telecom, Kakao, KT Cloud, NHN Cloud, and LG Uplus, as well as the Korea Data Center Council, the National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA), and faculty members from Seoul National University and KAIST.

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