LG CNS has secured customers for its 100 billion won-scale artificial intelligence (AI) data center in Indonesia before the project's completion. With Phase 1 fully sold out, the company has begun designing additional Phase 2 and 3 data centers on adjacent land.
Cho Heon-hyuk, Executive Vice President for Data Center Business at LG CNS (photo), recently met with Money Today and stated regarding the Indonesia data center project, "Phase 1 is already fully sold out. There is a large plot of land next door, so we are also proceeding with designs for Phases 2 and 3."
Last year, LG CNS won a contract worth approximately 100 billion won to build AI data center infrastructure in Indonesia, commissioned by KMG, a joint venture established by Sinar Mas Group and Korea Investment Real Estate Management. LG CNS participated in the project through "LG Sinar Mas Technology Solutions," a joint venture formed with Sinar Mas Group. The company plans to build a data center with a power capacity of 30 megawatts (MW) in the Kuningan area of Jakarta, scheduled for completion by the end of 2026.
At the time of the project commissioning, KMG announced a plan to expand the total power capacity to 220 MW after Phase 1. This long-term expansion plan has now moved into the actual follow-up design stage. The fact that the Phase 1 data center's capacity was fully sold out before completion has given momentum to the next phase.
Along with additional projects in Indonesia, LG CNS is expanding its data center business to other Asian regions. Cho said, "We currently have ongoing deals in Malaysia, Thailand, and Japan," adding, "Once the outlines are clear, we expect some of these to be commercialized next year."
The share of overseas revenue is expected to increase further. Cho stated, "In the long term, data center business overseas revenue could exceed domestic revenue," noting, "Southeast Asia has a much larger market, population, and generated traffic than Korea." He specifically cited Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand as promising markets. He added, "The US and Europe are already occupied by global top players, resulting in high barriers to entry," while stating, "Korean companies have only just started development, so there are many opportunities in Southeast Asia, where the door is open to foreign companies."
The market LG CNS ultimately envisions goes beyond data centers. It is drawing up an "AI Factory" that connects everything from power and cooling to graphics processing units (GPUs), AI platforms and models, and actual artificial intelligence transformation (AX) services. Cho said, "We can no longer view data centers and information technology (IT) equipment separately."
The explanation is that the size of a data center or the number of servers will become less important than how many AI results are produced from the power input. He stated, "Ultimately, it is a matter of how many tokens or IT services can be generated per kilowatt-hour (kWh)," adding, "Optimizing the entire layer—from power generation to chips, data centers, platforms, and AI services—is the direction of the AI Factory." He continued, "Customers do not want to choose centers, servers, and models individually; they want to obtain desired results," concluding, "Becoming a provider that fills in all the technology needed to produce those results will be the future competitiveness."
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