Amazon Web Services (AWS) will invest at least $5 billion in South Korea by 2031 to build new artificial intelligence data centers, the South Korean presidential office announced on Wednesday.
The investment marks the escalating global race among major technology companies to build the infrastructure needed to sustain the next wave of AI development.
The announcement came during a meeting between AWS Chief Executive Officer Matt Garman and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Gyeongju. President Lee said the investment will help “accelerate the growth of an ecosystem for the AI industry in South Korea,” reaffirming the government’s ambition to transform the country into one of the world’s top three AI powers.
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Garman said the project forms part of AWS’s broader global expansion plan, which includes $40 billion in additional investments across 14 non-U.S. APEC countries by 2028.
“That $40 billion actually drives an additional $45 billion in U.S. GDP and downstream benefit, benefiting all of the APEC economy,” Garman said during a business event on the sidelines of the summit.
AWS plans to construct the new data centers on the outskirts of Seoul. Once completed, the facilities are expected to bolster South Korea’s AI infrastructure, providing data-processing capabilities for domestic tech startups and multinational corporations alike. The investment will also support Seoul’s national strategy to become a regional leader in cloud computing and advanced digital services.
The move follows AWS’s $4 billion investment announced in June to collaborate with South Korea’s SK Group in building the country’s largest data center in Ulsan. It also mirrors a global pattern among major tech firms racing to secure the computing infrastructure essential for AI model training and deployment.
The acceleration of artificial intelligence has pushed companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI to rapidly expand data center construction both inside and outside the United States. The surge in demand for AI computing power has also transformed data center development into one of the most capital-intensive sectors of the global technology industry.
In India, AWS announced a $12.7 billion investment earlier this year to expand its cloud infrastructure by 2030, with major data hubs planned in Telangana and Maharashtra. Microsoft has likewise committed to expanding its Indian data centers in Hyderabad, while Google has accelerated its own AI-focused expansion in the country to serve its growing base of enterprise customers.
Beyond Asia, AWS has announced multi-billion-dollar data center projects in Australia, Japan, and Singapore, all aimed at supporting local AI research and enterprise adoption. In Japan, the company is investing $15 billion to expand its cloud footprint through 2027, while in Australia, it plans to inject over $9 billion to build facilities powering AI, cybersecurity, and energy-efficient computing.
The global rush reflects a new phase in the AI infrastructure arms race, driven by unprecedented demand for high-performance chips, cloud storage, and energy-efficient data processing. With AI models like ChatGPT and Gemini requiring enormous computational capacity, hyperscalers such as AWS and Microsoft Azure are positioning themselves as the backbone of the emerging AI economy.
South Korea, with its powerful semiconductor industry and growing AI ecosystem, has become a focal point in this race. Earlier this month, the country’s presidential office confirmed that OpenAI plans to establish joint ventures with Samsung and SK Group to build two data centers—dubbed a “Korean-style Stargate”—with an initial 20-megawatt capacity. OpenAI has also signed initial chip-supply deals with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.
Taken together, the recent commitments from AWS and OpenAI highlight South Korea’s emergence as a key node in the global AI infrastructure network. The wave of foreign investment marks not just a technological milestone for Seoul, but a strategic moment in its ambition to redefine its global economic identity—shifting from a manufacturing powerhouse to a digital innovation hub at the forefront of the AI revolution.