A big data center planned in South Korea could be built and run by AI

The investor group behind the project, Stock Farm Road, has partnered with Stanford University-backed AI developer Voltai to make AI the architect, manager and operator of the South Korea-based data center. That would mark the first time that AI is integrated into a data center’s entire system, the companies said.

Under the partnership, dubbed “Project Concord," AI will take charge of the data center’s design, construction and operation, from efficiently managing the use of resources like power and water to adapting quickly to different AI computing workloads. Humans will be involved, but only as supervisors, with AI acting as the decision-maker, the firms said.

The data center is being built in South Korea’s South Jeolla Province. Stock Farm Road is an investor group co-founded by Brian Koo, grandson of the founder of South Korean conglomerate LG, and Amin Badr-El-Din, founder and chief executive of BADR Investments, a firm based in London and Jordan.

If completed as envisioned by its backers, the data center is set to cost as much as $35 billion and pack up to 3 gigawatts of power. Globally, it is rare for a single site’s available power-which determines how many AI computing chips can be installed-to exceed 1 gigawatt. The facility, which was announced earlier this year, is scheduled for completion in 2028.

The data-center project comes as the South Korean government has been pushing to expand the country’s computing infrastructure. Last week, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said in a speech introducing next year’s budget bill that the government’s AI-related spending would triple this year.

Voltai is a Palo Alto-based company founded by two Stanford University alumni. Stanford University and prominent tech-industry figures including John Hennessy, the chairman of Google-parent Alphabet, are investors and advisors to the firm.

Write to Jiyoung Sohn at jiyoung.sohn@wsj.com