New micro knowledge heart services will depend on domestically developed AI chips to offer low-latency AI companies to SMEs, hospitals, and public establishments in South Korea.
In sum – what to know:
Native chips – the initiative helps the development of regional edge knowledge facilities utilizing home AI chips.
Regional AI – modular micro knowledge facilities might be situated in non-metro areas to ship low-cost AI to SMEs.
Actual references – challenge goals to assist the likes of Furiosa AI and Rebellions to construct real-world references.
South Korea’s authorities is transferring ahead with a KRW27.3 billion ($19.9 million) plan to construct micro knowledge facilities (MDCs) primarily based on domestically manufactured AI chips to serve small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), hospitals, and public establishments. The technique is to increase nationwide AI chip manufacturing, drive regional edge deployments of AI companies, and to help the nationwide SME sector.
The Ministry of Science and ICT will lead the initiative. The plan is to assemble small container-based knowledge facilities in non-metropolitan areas throughout South Korea. These services will depend on domestically developed AI chips and supply low-latency and cost-effective AI companies to SMEs, and native hospitals and public establishments. The challenge seeks to help home chipmakers like Furiosa AI and Rebellions, offering a platform to safe real-world deployments, and likewise to scale back depedence on US companies like international GPU chief Nvidia.
A ministry official mentioned the challenge’s aim is to determine a proof-of-concept surroundings the place home AI chips could be examined and utilized in actual knowledge heart settings – an space at the moment dominated by Nvidia. MDCs combine all core infrastructure (compute, storage, energy, cooling, and safety) into modular items that may be deployed near edge areas reminiscent of factories or clinics.
Presently, over 90% of business knowledge facilities in Korea are concentrated within the Seoul metro space, and are largely managed by international cloud suppliers like AWS and Microsoft Azure. These international CSPs set strict {hardware} and operational necessities, leaving little room for infrastructure experimentation by native companies.
Because of this, home AI chipmakers have confronted hurdles in commercializing their options. The brand new MDC challenge goals to handle this by mandating taking part firms to create a scalable, cloud-like structure that hyperlinks a number of MDCs throughout the nation. The challenge will run from 2025 by means of 2029. Areas reminiscent of Daegu and Gwangju are at the moment into account for preliminary deployments, based on the report.
South Korean conglomerate SK Group not too long ago confirmed it’s partnering with AWS with the primary purpose of constructing what it could be the biggest and strongest AI knowledge heart within the Asian nation. Native press mentioned that the development of the AI-driven facility will start in August in Ulsan’s Mipo Nationwide Industrial Advanced, the place the 103-megawatt knowledge heart will ultimately home 60,000 GPUs – the biggest GPU deployment ever in a Korean knowledge heart.
Studies additionally spotlight that the phased rollout will see 41 MW of capability come on-line by November 2027, increasing to the complete 103 MW by February 2029. The Korean conglomerate plans to additional scale the positioning to a gigawatt-class (1 GW) facility. Sources, variously cited, mentioned AWS will make investments $4 billion, whereas SK’s key subsidiaries – SK Telecom, SK Broadband, SK Gasoline and SK Hynix – will contribute substantial assets to the initiative. As a part of its broader AI technique, SK Telecom and SK Broadband plan to speculate 3.4 trillion received ($2.5 billion) in AI-related initiatives by 2028.
The info heart’s proximity to SK Gasoline’s LNG combined-cycle energy plant ensures secure energy supply, important for the AI infrastructure.
Chinese language firm Alibaba Cloud not too long ago mentioned it was opening a second knowledge heart in South Korea by the tip of final month, additional increasing its regional footprint to fulfill rising demand for cloud computing and synthetic intelligence (AI) companies. Alibaba Cloud initially entered the South Korean market with the launch of its first knowledge heart in March 2022, after asserting the challenge in late 2021, based on native press experiences.
