Hyundai Motor Group is to develop a data center in South Korea.

The company this week announced it was “accelerating its investment” in the 9 trillion won ($6.74bn) Saemangeum AI Valley project, having officially decided to develop an AI data center there.

Hyundai said that its group companies, including Hyundai Motor, Kia, Hyundai Mobis, Hyundai E&C, and Hyundai AutoEver, have made a final decision to participate in the investment for the construction of an AI data center and the promotion of the business “after a thorough review.”

The companies are forming a special purpose corporation (SPC) dedicated to the construction of hyperscale data centers and infrastructure, and another GPU services corporation to secure high-performance GPUs and provide related services. Hyundai AutoEver, the group's affiliate specializing in IT and software, has confirmed its participation in the GPU services corporation.

Construction on the data center in the Saemangeum region of North Jeolla Province could start in March 2027 and launch official services in early 2030.

Full details of the planned facility haven’t been shared, but the company has previously said it aims to invest 5.8 trillion won ($4.3bn) in developing data centers at Saemangeum AI Valley that could host 50,000 GPUs.

“The establishment of the AI ​​data center SPC signals that investment in the Saemangeum AI Valley has entered full swing,” said a Hyundai Motor Group (HMG) official. “We will proceed without setbacks with not only the AI ​​data center but also related businesses, centering on the HMG Saemangeum office.”

The new facility in Saemangeum will serve as a supercomputing hub to help the group advance its research and development and develop capabilities in fields such as physical AI, including autonomous driving, robotics, and manufacturing AI.

Hyundai Motor Group is a South Korean chaebol (conglomerate) based in Seoul. The firm can trace its roots back to the 1940s. The group’s Hyundai Engineering unit has previously won contracts to develop data centers in Pohang, Gunsan, Incheon, and Gumi for other companies.

The 1.1 million sqm (11.8m sq ft) Saemangeum AI Valley, currently being developed by Hyundai Motor Group, is a large-scale project designed to be a “self-sustaining, circular future industrial ecosystem.”

The site will combine AI data centers, a robot manufacturing cluster, gigawatts of solar power generation, a water electrolysis plant producing clean hydrogen, and an “AI Hydrogen City.”

Hyundai said it is actively coordinating financial support measures for the data center, based on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the Korea Development Bank, Export-Import Bank of Korea, Industrial Bank of Korea, Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, and others this year to fund the wider development of the Saemangeum AI Valley project.