A legal foundation to support the smooth establishment of artificial intelligence (AI) data centres has been 마련됐다. With the AI data centre special act clearing the National Assembly, the rollout of AI infrastructure is expected to accelerate.

On May 7, the "Special Act on Promoting the AI Data Center Industry" passed the National Assembly plenary session. The law centres on creating an institutional basis for the central government or local governments to support building and operating AI data centres.

With passage of the act, special zones for AI data centres can be designated outside the Seoul metropolitan area. If an area is designated as a special zone, the central and local governments can give priority support for costs of installing infrastructure such as power supply facilities, water supply facilities, renewable energy equipment and generation facilities, parks and utility tunnels.

Site and power-related special provisions were also 마련됐다 for AI data centres outside the Seoul metropolitan area. If an AI data centre is newly built outside the capital region, or an existing data centre is converted into an AI data centre, it will be exempt from a power grid impact assessment within a range of power capacity set by presidential decree.

A consolidated processing system, including bundled permits and approvals, will also be introduced to ease administrative bottlenecks in building AI data centres. This will allow key procedures to be handled in a single process, including a power grid impact assessment, consultations on energy use plans, reviews of traffic, landscape and building, building permits and fire safety consent. The law also includes a provision deeming permits granted if relevant agencies do not issue a refusal notice within a set period, which is expected to improve predictability and speed in the process of building AI data centres.

However, an exemption allowing liquefied natural gas (LNG) power direct purchase agreements (PPA) for AI data centres outside the capital region, which had been included in the original draft from the National Assembly's Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee, was removed during review by the Legislation and Judiciary Committee.

Hwang Jung-a (황정아), a Democratic Party lawmaker who sponsored the bill, said, "AI data centres are a national strategic social overhead capital that supports future high-tech industries and an essential infrastructure for South Korea's growth." She added, "With the passage of this special act, we can move into a speed race to build AI data centres and an AI highway."