Hyundai Motor Group's Five Affiliates Lock in $ 6.74 Billion AI Data Center at Saemangeum, South Korea

The Saemangeum AI data center project moved into execution mode this week after Hyundai Motor Group confirmed that all five of its participating affiliates have finalized their involvement in the roughly USD 6.74 billion undertaking in North Jeolla Province.

Hyundai Motor Group's Five Affiliates

Hyundai Motor, Kia, Hyundai Mobis, Hyundai Engineering & Construction, and Hyundai AutoEver are now formally on board, the group announced on the 30th. Groundbreaking is scheduled for March next year, with operations targeted for early 2030.

The group has chosen to build the AI data center first, ahead of other components of the broader Saemangeum AI valley, on the grounds that the facility is needed to support future technologies including Autonomous Driving and robotics.

The Saemangeum AI valley itself is a sprawling project that combines an AI data center, a robot manufacturing cluster, solar power facilities, a water electrolysis plant for clean hydrogen production, and an AI hydrogen city.

Dual SPC Structure Splits Building from Computing

To run the project, the group will create two special-purpose companies with distinct mandates. A data center SPC will handle construction and infrastructure, while a separate GPU service SPC will secure high-performance graphics processing units and deliver compute services. The arrangement deliberately separates facility construction from compute service operations.

Hyundai AutoEver, the group's IT and software arm, confirmed its role in the GPU service SPC through a board resolution. The company intends to draw on its high-performance compute resource management and platform technologies to support the group's wider AI transformation.

Virtual Training for Level 4 Autonomy and Robots

The data center will underpin Hyundai Motor Group's development of Autonomous Driving, robotics, and manufacturing AI. On the autonomy side, AI systems will undergo repeated training using driving data gathered from real roads alongside virtual data that models dangerous scenarios such as severe weather and sudden obstacles. The company aims through this training and validation process to reach Level 4 and above Autonomous Driving technologies.

For robotics, the group will deploy Digital Twin technology to reproduce real work environments in virtual space, allowing robots to learn perception and autonomous decision-making inside simulated settings before facing physical conditions.

AI will also be applied across research and development workflows, including vehicle design, crash testing, aerodynamic analysis, and battery thermal management, in a bid to raise development efficiency.

Solar Plans and Partnership Talks Progress

Work on supporting infrastructure is already underway. In September, the group began procedures to establish a 200-megawatt solar power SPC while reviewing construction plans for the AI data center.

It is negotiating technology cooperation with global corporations on data center construction and large-scale cloud integration, and is coordinating financial support measures with institutions including the Korea Development Bank.

Dedicated Gunsan Office Takes Charge of Delivery

To drive the project forward on the ground, Hyundai Motor Group opened the HMG Saemangeum Office at the Future Mobility Tech Center of the Jeonbuk Institute of Automotive Convergence Technology in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, with a ceremony held the same day as its announcement. Staff stationed there will manage site permits, groundbreaking preparations, project issue management, and coordination with related agencies.

The office will also track progress on related projects, including the robot manufacturing cluster, alongside the AI data center. Unveiling the office plaque were Gunsan mayor Kim Jae-jun, Saemangeum Development and Investment Agency chief Moon Seong-yo, Hyundai Motor Group executive vice president Shin Seung-gyu, who heads the RH PMO, and Jeonbuk State governor Lee Won-taeg.

Shin said the group plans to break ground first in Saemangeum on an AI data center capable of large-scale data accumulation and training, in order to internalize Autonomous Driving and physical AI technologies and strengthen its capabilities.

He described the new office as a symbol of the group's commitment to push the project forward without wavering. The investment plan for Saemangeum's future strategic projects was first presented in February by Hyundai Motor Group vice chairman Chang Jae-hoon at the Saemangeum Robot·Hydrogen·AI City investment agreement ceremony, held at the Saemangeum Convention Center in Gunsan.