The government will simplify approval and permitting procedures to speed up construction of AI data centres (DCs). It will ease facility-related regulations and push a domestic technology development and demonstration programme worth about 200 billion won next year.

The Ministry of Science and ICT on Thursday announced an "AIDC ecosystem support plan" at the second Regulatory Rationalisation Committee chaired by the president, held at the state guest house of Cheong Wa Dae.

The ministry prepared regulatory improvements and industry support measures focusing on 3 areas: AIDC builders, materials-parts-equipment and solution companies, and regions where AIDCs are built.

To reduce the burden on AIDC builders, it will push to draft subordinate regulations under the "Special Act on the Promotion of the Artificial Intelligence Data Center Industry" enacted in June. AIDC operators currently must go through multiple approval and permitting procedures, including a power grid impact assessment as well as building permits, landscape reviews and traffic impact assessments. The ministry plans to minimise steps such as pre-reviews and requests for supplementation during one-stop processing. It also plans to set up a dedicated help desk to address operators' inconvenience.

It will also push to ease facility regulations. Unlike general buildings, AIDCs have low resident and floating populations. Reflecting this, the ministry will exclude unmanned facilities such as computer rooms and cooling and power facilities from building-size calculations that apply to standards for installing parking and charging facilities.

Support to secure competitiveness in domestic AIDC technology will also be expanded. The ministry plans to push a new programme worth about 200 billion won in 2027 to support technology development for domestic materials, parts, equipment and solutions. It will also create a demonstration testbed to verify the stability of domestic technologies and establish a large-scale cluster that includes commercial AIDCs.

The government will also introduce systems for coexistence with local residents. It will designate AIDC special zones in the first half of 2027 and include a "regional coexistence plan" in the mandatory requirements for operators to receive fee-reduction benefits. It will also work with local governments to draw in residents' views during the AIDC buildout process and prepare guidelines to support communication between operators and residents.

Ryu Je-myeong (류제명), the ministry's second vice minister, said it plans to push a legislative notice by the end of this month for an enforcement decree that includes specific directions for promoting the AIDC industry and easing regulations. He said the ministry will faithfully play its role in supporting AIDCs, a key foundation for becoming one of the world's top 3 AI powers.