Why it matters. The AI boom is sparking a global race to build power-hungry data centers, and South Korea — home to chipmakers Samsung and SK Hynix — is now staking out a role as a regional AI hub.
Background. LG U+ is one of South Korea's three dominant mobile carriers (with SK Telecom and KT) and part of the LG conglomerate, which lets it co-develop hardware like cooling systems with affiliate LG Electronics. Paju sits in the greater Seoul metropolitan area, where most of the country's population and economic activity is concentrated, making large land parcels and grid power scarce and valuable.
What to watch next. Watch whether LG U+ can secure enough electricity and cooling capacity to deploy Nvidia's newest chips on schedule as the first building opens in mid-2027.
South Korean telecom carrier LG U+ announced on June 5 that it is constructing the largest AI data center in the greater Seoul area, in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, as it targets a cumulative 5 trillion won (about $3.6 billion) in AI data center orders by 2030.
The company unveiled its next-generation AI infrastructure strategy at a press briefing held directly at the construction site in Wollong-myeon, Paju, a city just south of the border with North Korea.
A Hyperscale Facility the Size of 21 Football Fields
The Paju center spans a gross floor area of 150,000 square meters — roughly 21 times the size of a football pitch. LG U+ says it is the only 200-megawatt “hyperscale” facility in the greater Seoul region, the densely populated metropolitan area surrounding the South Korean capital.
To convey the scale, the company offered two benchmarks. The site can house 70,000 of Nvidia’s GB200 “Blackwell” graphics processing units (GPUs) — the chips at the heart of the global AI boom — and, in theory, has enough computing power for the entire greater Seoul population to run generative AI models simultaneously.
Built for Speed, Power and Cooling
LG U+ is positioning construction speed, electrical capacity and cooling efficiency as its key advantages. Traditional data centers take three to four years to build — a problem when cutting-edge GPUs change specifications within months. To close that gap, LG U+ is using a “standardized modular” method, prefabricating major equipment off-site and assembling it on location to cut build times to a matter of months.
The facility’s power capacity, among the highest in the region, is designed to accommodate Nvidia’s next-generation “Vera Rubin” AI accelerator, due in the second half of this year. For cooling, the center combines air and liquid systems. A liquid-cooling technology co-developed with sister company LG Electronics improves energy efficiency by 24 percent over conventional air cooling.
Five Trillion Won by 2030
LG U+ aims to reach a cumulative 5 trillion won in AI data center orders by 2030. The complex will have four buildings; the first, a 51MW unit due for completion in June next year, has already been fully contracted for operation.
“As the company that pioneered the country’s first internet data center business, we will expand the foundation of South Korea’s AI industry on the strength of the capabilities we have built,” said Ahn Hyung-gyun, head of LG U+’s Enterprise AI business group.
LG U+ is one of South Korea’s three major mobile carriers, alongside SK Telecom and KT.
