SK partners with Vietnam to establish the first overseas foothold for the artificial intelligence industry

SK will partner with Vietnamese government agencies to build an AI industry ecosystem and data center infrastructure, thereby laying the groundwork for the first overseas expansion of the full-cycle AI business model being pursued domestically in South Korea.

On the 24th, at the Korea–Vietnam Business Forum held in Hanoi, Vietnam, SK signed business agreements with the Quang Ninh Provincial Government and the Vietnam National Innovation Center, respectively, announcing that it will participate in supporting Vietnam’s national AI strategy. The core of this cooperation is not simply investing in equipment; instead, it integrates and promotes into a single system AI data center construction, stable power supply, AI model development and verification, and customized services tailored to various industries. Of particular importance is that this is the first case in which a company combines semiconductor, power, communications, and service capabilities to formally push its business overseas in an approach often referred to as “full-stack AI.”

First, SK innovation and SK Telecom decided to jointly explore the feasibility of local AI data center and related infrastructure projects together with the Quang Ninh Provincial Government. Quang Ninh is located in north-central Vietnam; benefiting from port and logistics infrastructure, it has active development in manufacturing, energy, and high-tech industries. As an industry that requires stable large-scale power, the location selection and power supply capability of a data center directly determine whether the project succeeds or fails. SK innovation plans to study, in connection with the “Qiongli Liquefied Natural Gas Power Plant” project, which has recently been selected as the project operator, the possibility of supplying power for the data center and building dedicated power generation facilities. SK Telecom, building on this, will discuss data center development, construction, and operating plans, while also seeking ways to ensure future global demand.

The cooperation with the Vietnam National Innovation Center focuses more on building a broader institutional and ecosystem framework. SK Telecom and SK innovation signed comprehensive cooperation business agreements with the National Innovation Center, deciding to collaborate in areas including AI data center construction, energy infrastructure development, and establishing policy and institutional foundations for nurturing the AI industry. SK Telecom will be responsible for providing technical cooperation and support for attracting investment to develop the local AI ecosystem, while SK innovation will provide energy solutions required for data centers and related industries. The National Innovation Center will be responsible for institutional support and identifying local partners. Established in 2019, the National Innovation Center plays the role of an innovation hub in Vietnam, and SK provided funding of 30 million USD when the center was founded.

This cooperation fully demonstrates that for the AI industry to ultimately develop, it must have power, communications networks, data processing facilities, and application services at the same time. Especially in the Southeast Asia region, although demand for digital transformation is growing quickly, high-performance data centers and stable power infrastructure are still scarce in many places. Against this backdrop, Vietnam is seen as a market that combines manufacturing fundamentals, resources from a young population, and the government’s willingness to cultivate technology. Before the forum, SK Group Chairman Choi Tae-won said at an entrepreneurs’ roundtable that AI will play a core role in Vietnam’s sustained growth, and he stated that it will contribute to the development of Vietnam’s AI industry through a comprehensive set of capabilities ranging from energy to semiconductors, AI models, and application services.

In the future, whether actual data centers can be built, whether power infrastructure can be secured, and whether licensing approvals and institutional support can be efficiently connected will be key to whether the project succeeds. The Quang Ninh Provincial Government has also decided to help create implementation conditions, including providing licensing approvals, administrative procedures, coordination among relevant departments, and incentive measures, which significantly increases the likelihood that this cooperation will move into the concrete investment and commercialization stage. This trend could offer Korean companies a new model for exporting the AI industry that goes beyond simply supplying technology—by packaging power, infrastructure, and services into integrated solutions—and establish it as a new approach for overseas expansion.