SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won on Thursday visited an artificial intelligence (AI) data center under construction in the southeastern city of Ulsan and SK Innovation Co.'s nearby petrochemical complex, calling for greater synergy between the group's AI infrastructure and manufacturing operations.
Chey visited the site of the SK AI Data Center Ulsan, being built in the city's national industrial complex, a day ahead of the 2026 Ulsan Forum. He was accompanied by chief executives of major SK affiliates, including SK Innovation, SK Telecom and SK Gas, according to the group.
The envisioned center is an AI-focused data center being jointly developed by SK Group and Amazon Web Services at an estimated cost of 7 trillion won ($5.2 billion).
During the visit, Chey described the envisioned data center as a key piece of South Korea's AI infrastructure, while pointing to SK Innovation's Ulsan Complex as a major testing ground for applying AI to real-world manufacturing operations.
The Ulsan CLX, SK Innovation's flagship refining and petrochemical production base, has been pushing an AI-driven transformation of its operations, providing a potential link between the group's expanding AI computing infrastructure and its traditional manufacturing businesses.
"SK's vision of becoming a full-stack AI provider can only be realized when the SK AI Data Center Ulsan, a symbol of AI infrastructure, is seamlessly connected with SK Innovation's Ulsan CLX, where AI is applied to actual production," Chey said, calling for greater synergy among SK Group affiliates.
Construction began with a groundbreaking ceremony in August last year, with the data center scheduled to begin operations in the second half of 2027.
The facility is designed to support high-performance computing based on graphics processing units and incorporates hybrid cooling systems to provide greater performance and efficiency than conventional data centers.
The group plans to use the Ulsan data center as a hub for attracting AI companies, creating jobs and driving manufacturing innovation as a new growth engine for the industrial city. (Yonhap)