Gyeonggi Province Attracts 400 Billion Won Kakao Data Center and University-Industry Collaboration Facility

[Suwon Ilbo=Park No-hun] Gyeonggi Province, Ansan City, and Hanyang University have successfully attracted a 400 billion won-scale Kakao Data Center and university-industry collaboration facility.

Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung, Ansan Mayor Yoon Hwa-seop, Kakao Corp. Co-CEO Yeo Min-su, and Hanyang University President Kim Woo-seung signed a 'Basic Agreement on Kakao Data Center and University-Industry Collaboration Facility Attraction' at the Gyeonggi Province Government Situation Room on the 7th, and agreed to establish the Kakao Data Center at the Hanyang University ERICA Campus Innovation Park.

Governor Lee Jae-myung said at the signing ceremony, "COVID-19 is hastening the transition to a digital economy through remote work and online classes," and added, "With the attraction of the Kakao Data Center and university-industry collaboration facility, Gyeonggi Province has now established itself as a hub region leading the nation's information and communications industry. I hope this attraction becomes the beginning of a happy digital economic transition for Ansan citizens and residents of the province."

According to the agreement, Kakao Corp. plans to invest 400 billion won to build a data center and university-industry collaboration facility on a 18,383 square meter site within Hanyang University's ERICA Campus in Ansan City, Gyeonggi Province.
Kakao Corp. plans to complete architectural design in the second half of this year, go through administrative procedures such as building permits, and aims for land lease contract and construction commencement in 2021 and completion in 2023. The company plans to hire research personnel and data center server management staff, resulting in significant job creation effects.
The Kakao Data Center will operate as a hyperscale-sized mega data center capable of operating over 100,000 servers, with a total capacity to store 120,000 servers in the computer building. The storable data capacity reaches 6EB (exabytes; one exabyte is approximately one billion gigabytes). A data center is an integrated management facility that provides servers, networks, storage, and network equipment, serving as critical infrastructure for collecting and operating data.

Gyeonggi Province and Ansan City will provide administrative support, including permits and approvals, to ensure swift progress of the data center and university-industry collaboration facility to contribute to local economic revitalization. Hanyang University plans to provide land within the ERICA Campus Innovation Park and implement talent development by conducting separate on-site education for students in collaboration with Kakao Corp.

Near the Hanyang University ERICA Campus Innovation Park where the data center will be located, the Ansan Science Valley (ASV), which was designated as a strong small and medium-sized research and development special district by the Ministry of Science and ICT last year, is situated. Accordingly, the province expects that the attraction of the Kakao Data Center will influence the attraction of companies in various fields based on Kakao's brand power, thereby playing a major role in local economic revitalization and the development of Gyeonggi Province's information and communications industry.