SKT, Lambda to open AI data center in Seoul
SK Telecom, South Korea's largest wireless carrier by membership, announced on Wednesday its plans to open an artificial intelligence data center in Seoul in December in collaboration with US-based graphics processing units-as-a-service provider Lambda.
The partnership aims to establish a large-scale Nvidia GPU cluster to support AI cloud business opportunities in South Korea. Lambda, known for offering AI cloud services using the latest GPUs from Nvidia, counts big tech firms like Intel and Microsoft among its clients.
Partnership Details
SK Telecom and Lambda will deploy Nvidia GPU clusters in the Gasan data center of SK Broadband, SK Group’s internet service providing unit, located in western Seoul by the end of the year. These clusters, based on Lambda’s cloud computing platform accelerated by Nvidia, will support the expansion of AI cloud expertise in the region.
Technical Advancements
SK Broadband has implemented a power density of 44 kilowatts per rack, the highest in Korea, to ensure stable GPU server operation. This power density is approximately nine times higher than the average power density per rack in domestic data centers, indicating a significant advancement in technical infrastructure.
With the launch of the AI data center, Lambda's Korean region will debut in the Asia-Pacific region, emphasizing the importance of the Korean market in AI development. Data from domestic companies utilizing Lambda's GPU-based AI cloud services will be securely stored in Korea.
Future Plans
SK Telecom also announced its intention to introduce a GPU-as-a-service (GPUaaS) cloud-based service, granting users access to GPUs for computation and rendering purposes through Lambda's GPU resources. The global GPUaaS market is estimated to witness substantial growth, with projections indicating a rise from $4.31 billion in 2024 to $49.84 billion by 2032, as per Fortune Business Insight.
