[Click eStock] "Samsung SDS Secures Investment Outline with Selection for National AI Center"

On March 12, KB Securities analyzed Samsung SDS, stating that "the outline of AI infrastructure investment has been confirmed as Samsung SDS was selected as the preferred negotiation partner for the National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Computing Center construction project."

KB Securities analyst Kim Junseop said, "On March 10, the Ministry of Science and ICT finalized the selection of the Samsung SDS consortium as the preferred negotiation partner for the National AI Computing Center construction project," adding, "Roughly five months after submitting a sole bid for the public offering in October last year, Samsung SDS passed both the technical and policy evaluations as well as the financial review, officially launching the project."

The center will be located at the Solaseado Data Center Park in Haenam, South Jeolla Province. Construction is scheduled to begin in the third quarter of this year, with plans to establish a facility equipped with 15,000 GPUs (Graphics Processing Units) by 2028. The total project cost is reported to be between 2.5 trillion and 2.9 trillion won, and it is expected to be pursued through a public-private joint special purpose company (SPC).

Analyst Kim stated, "Samsung SDS will serve as the key operator of the project as the largest shareholder with a stake in the 30% range," adding, "Notably, the government's stake was set at below 30%, eliminating the possibility of being designated as a public institution." He further explained, "Given the public-private joint venture structure, Samsung SDS's actual cash investment burden is expected to be significantly lower compared to the total project cost."

Investments in Samsung SDS's own data centers are also progressing smoothly. The company has decided to invest 427.3 billion won in the construction of the Gumi AI Data Center. When combined with the expansion of the existing Dongtan Data Center, total capital expenditures (CAPEX) related to its own centers are estimated to reach several hundred billion won.

The first site to begin contributing to sales will be the Dongtan Data Center. Kim stated, "The Dongtan center began operations in the first quarter of this year, and its contribution to sales will become full-fledged," adding, "As the location where investment will be completed first, profitability is expected to increase compared to depreciation expenses."

The Haenam National AI Computing Center and the Gumi Data Center are evaluated as medium- to long-term growth drivers. The Haenam center, which is scheduled to open in 2028, is expected to generate multiple streams of revenue such as AI cloud services and GPU operation profits. The Gumi center, targeted for operation in 2029, will serve as a key outpost for the GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) business and is expected to significantly expand the physical capacity for the Cloud Service Provider (CSP) business.

Kim added, "It is significant that the outlines of the three data center investment hubs have become more concrete," and said, "Profitability is expected to improve in stages as each comes online in sequence."

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