Around the time newly inaugurated Mayor Lee Jeong-hak took office, Donghae received a major boost: GS Group announced plans to invest 30 trillion to 120 trillion won ($77.2 billion) in AI infrastructure in the city under the Lee Jae Myung government's mega-project initiative. The city has since moved to establish a dedicated task force to manage the AI mega-project.
Mayor Lee expressed gratitude for GS Group's investment commitment, saying it "will change the future of Donghae," and has been moving quickly to advance related initiatives.
Donghae, in Gangwon Province, is taking preemptive steps to build an administrative support framework in response to the AI data center project tied to the government's AI mega-project push, including plans to form a dedicated task force.
Donghae has been identified as a candidate site during the government's review of the AI data center mega-project. The city is now considering establishing an "AI Data Center Support Task Force" led by the deputy mayor to systematically handle the administrative procedures and issues that may arise as the project moves forward.
The task force under review is expected to operate as a cross-departmental collaboration involving units covering the economy and industry, urban planning, architecture, environment, transportation, safety, water and sewage, taxation, and public relations.
The task force will comprehensively review project-specific issues — including permitting and approval support, industrial complex usage plans, water supply, infrastructure assessment, and tax revenue analysis — and will serve as an administrative support body to ensure the project proceeds smoothly.
The city also plans to strengthen cooperation with the government, GS Group, Korea Electric Power Corp., telecommunications companies and other relevant agencies, while developing stage-by-stage response plans to build a rapid administrative support foundation.
Donghae intends to prepare a comprehensive road map as project conditions evolve and, if necessary, will also consider expanding the dedicated organization and bringing in specialist personnel.
GS Group plans to build a 2.4-gigawatt AI data center campus at Bukpyeong Second Industrial Complex in Donghae.
The total investment is estimated at around 30 trillion won, and the overall project scale is expected to reach approximately 120 trillion won when AI computing equipment such as graphics processing units and HBM is included.
The plan calls for completing a 1.2-gigawatt data center by 2028, then adding another 1.2 gigawatts by the following year to finish the full 2.4-gigawatt AI data center campus.
abc@heraldcorp.com
