South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT said on Monday it selected a Samsung SDS-led consortium as the preferred negotiating partner for the National AI Computing Center construction project.

The selection comes about 4 months after the tender process began. In October last year, Samsung SDS formed a consortium with Naver Cloud, Samsung C&T, Kakao, Samsung Electronics, Clush, KT, South Jeolla province and Seonamhaean Enterprise City Development, and submitted the sole bid.

After the tender, the ministry conducted a technical and policy evaluation to assess eligibility, including the business plan. It was followed by a financial review in which policy lenders such as the Korea Development Bank and the Industrial Bank of Korea examined the feasibility of funding through equity investment and loans.

The Samsung SDS consortium proposed the Solasido data center park in Haenam, South Jeolla province, as the project site. It set a core target of securing 15,000 advanced AI semiconductors such as graphics processing units by 2028. Based on that, it plans to carry out policy tasks including support for AI research and development and services for industry and research, boosting local AI chips, and expanding cooperation with global companies, to support growth of South Korea's AI ecosystem.

The ministry, policy lenders and the consortium will specify detailed requirements, including the composition and operating plan of the board of a public-private special purpose company and the rights and obligations between the public and private sectors. They will then sign an implementation agreement after final approval procedures for equity investments by the Korea Development Bank and the Industrial Bank of Korea, and confirm the final project operator.

Choi Dong-won (최동원), director general for AI Infrastructure Policy at the ministry, said the construction of the National AI Computing Center, which he described as key infrastructure for an "AI highway" and a platform for growth of the AI ecosystem, would proceed in earnest. He said the ministry would communicate closely with Samsung SDS and related organisations to ensure the project proceeds quickly so the center can be completed by 2028.