Samsung's IT services unit, Samsung SDS, is said to be leading a bid to develop an AI computing center for the South Korean government.

Local press reports a consortium led by Samsung SDS is in the running to bid to develop and host South Korea’s National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Computing Center. Naver Cloud, KT, and Kakao are also reportedly involved in the consortium, which is said to be the sole bidder.

The 2.5 trillion won ($1.7bn) contract would see the winning bidder develop a facility to host 15,000 GPUs by 2028 and 50,000 by 2030.

This year has seen two RFPs issued for the AI center, but both reportedly failed due to stringent conditions, including project ownership structures and mandatory requirements regarding domestically produced AI chips. The latest request reportedly relaxes some of these requirements.

Samsung SDS has reportedly decided that if it wins the bid, the computing center will be developed in South Jeolla Province within the Solarseado Data Center Park in Haenam. OpenAI’s South Korean data center project is also set to come to the area.

Locations previously evaluated but decided against include Gwangju, Gyeongbuk, and North Jeolla Province.

The government is set to make a final decision in December after further review.

SK Telecom and LG CNS were said to have considered participating independently.

Founded as Samsung Data Systems in 1985, Samsung SDS is an IT service provider that offers consulting, technical, and outsourcing services. The company also does a lot of R&D in technologies, including AI, Blockchain, and the IoT.

Samsung SDS operates data centers in 18 locations. The company also operates five data centers in South Korea in Sangam, Suwon, Gumi, Chuncheon, and Dongtan. The company last year acquired a Samsung Electronics plant in Gumi-si with plans to convert it into a data center.