Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) is due to open a second data center in South Korea by the end of June, according to a Bloomberg report.
The new facility is part of a 380B yuan ($52.9B) investment in AI and cloud infrastructure announced earlier this year, the report added, citing an Alibaba spokesperson. The new facility under Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) unit of the Chinese conglomerate, comes amid a growing appetite for generative AI across the globe.
“Through the launch of this second data centre, Alibaba Cloud will provide customers with more resilient and adaptable cloud environments, ultimately fostering AI innovation across various sectors and expanding the digital ecosystem,” said Yoon Yong-joon, Alibaba Cloud’s country manager, as per South China Morning Post, which is owned by Alibaba.
Alibaba Cloud’s expansion in South Korea follows similar moves by other global cloud leaders. SK Telecom and Amazon Web Services have partnered to develop a 103-megawatt AI data center in the southern city of Ulsan, Bloomberg said citing local media reports.
Construction is set to begin in August on a facility housing 60,000 graphics processing units, with plans to eventually expand it into South Korea’s largest AI-focused data center, the report added.