South Korea’s telecom sector is rapidly evolving into an AI infrastructure industry. KT this week announced plans to invest KRW 5 trillion ($3.7 billion) to build 1GW of AI data center capacity as part of a strategy to transform itself into an AI platform company. The carrier says the new facilities will support ultra-low-latency inference for emerging workloads such as physical AI and autonomous driving, while an additional KRW 1 trillion will be invested in high-capacity submarine cables to accommodate growing AI traffic.

The announcement comes just days after SK Telecom unveiled plans to develop up to 15GW of AI data center capacity, one of the largest AI infrastructure initiatives announced in Asia. The project will begin with 5GW scheduled to come online in phases from 2029 and is intended to position South Korea as a regional AI infrastructure hub. SK Telecom also said it plans to combine semiconductor, power and data center capabilities across SK Group while expanding its partnership with Nvidia on AI factory infrastructure.

Together, the announcements highlight how Korean operators are moving well beyond traditional telecom investments. Rather than focusing solely on network upgrades, both KT and SK Telecom are making large-scale commitments to AI computing infrastructure, reflecting a broader shift toward data centers, GPU capacity, and AI cloud platforms as strategic growth businesses. The investments also reinforce South Korea’s ambition to leverage its semiconductor ecosystem, stable power infrastructure, and advanced telecom sector to become a major regional hub for AI infrastructure.