SK Group Chairman Choi Tae-won has announced plans to build an “AI Factory,” a next-generation AI data center, in Japan.
According to a Nikkei report on June 11, Choi said the conglomerate plans to develop the AI infrastructure by combining SK hynix's high-bandwidth memory (HBM) with Nvidia GPUs.
An AI Factory is a specialized infrastructure designed to generate tokens for AI training and inference. SK Group plans to launch its first such facility in South Korea next year, then expand to Japan in 2028 or 2029. Discussions with Japanese companies are already under way.
Choi said the proposed Japanese project would be a gigawatt-scale AI data center, and that the company is currently evaluating potential sites. He did not disclose the investment size or final scope of the project.
In earlier remarks, Choi also said SK Group is open to considering semiconductor fabs outside South Korea if additional manufacturing capacity becomes necessary. Regarding Japan, he said the country has a strong semiconductor ecosystem, including power infrastructure and materials supply, making it a strong candidate. He added, however, that the timing and location remain difficult to determine.
SK Group later clarified that the chairman's remarks about a new fabrication facility were made during a local Q&A session to highlight long-term regional potential, and that the company is not currently reviewing any concrete plan to build a semiconductor plant in Japan.
