Samsung SDS starts building 120MW Gumi AI data center in South Korea

Samsung SDS has broken ground on a 120MW AI data center in Gumi, South Korea, with the first 60MW phase set for completion in late 2028.

The facility, named the Gumi AI Data Center, sits on a 498,165 sq ft (46,281 sqm) site in Gongdan-dong, Gumi-Si. Construction is now underway. The company will develop the site in phases, starting at 60MW and ultimately doubling capacity to 120MW.

The project anchors a much larger regional bet. Samsung has committed 60 trillion won ($44.671 billion) to establish the Yeongnam region as a "Global Physical AI Innovation Cluster." Last January, Samsung SDS announced it would invest 427.3 billion won ($318 million) in the Gumi data center itself. It signed a memorandum of understanding with North Gyeongsang Province and Gumi City to advance the build.

Beyond the data center, the same investment program covers manufacturing and robot automation, all-solid-state batteries, package substrates for AI servers, and multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs).

How will the facility cool high-density GPU racks?

The Gumi site will use a hybrid cooling design. Air cooling will serve general server areas for networking and storage. Liquid cooling will handle the high-density GPU server zones, where heat loads exceed what air alone can remove efficiently.

What does the site offer customers?

The business model has two tracks. The data center will host in-house GPUs that Samsung SDS can offer as compute to customers. It will also run a colocation business, housing other companies' hardware on the same floor space.

Lee Jun-hee, president and CEO of Samsung SDS, framed the project as infrastructure for industrial AI adoption. "AI is transforming the way companies work and the competitiveness of industries," he said. "For these changes to translate into tangible results, a robust foundation capable of processing vast amounts of data and operating AI stably is required, and the Gumi AI Data Center will fulfill that role."

Lee added: "Samsung SDS will combine its accumulated experience in data center construction and operation with its cloud and AI technology capabilities to create an AI infrastructure that customers can trust and utilize."

Where does Gumi fit in Samsung SDS's footprint?

Samsung SDS is the IT and cloud arm of the Samsung group. The company claims to operate 18 data centers offering cloud services worldwide. With Gumi added, five of those will sit in South Korea.

The company's track record includes the Dongtan IDC, which opened in March 2023. That facility spans six floors with four server rooms and reaches a PUE of 1.12 through natural air cooling. In August 2026, Samsung SDS announced it would launch an NPU-as-a-Service (NPUaaS) offering in South Korea using FuriosaAI's RNGD NPUs, with deployment at Dongtan.

For customers weighing Korean AI capacity, the takeaway is straightforward. Gumi adds significant GPU-ready capacity with liquid cooling, but delivery stretches to late 2028, and the first phase stops at 60MW.