Lawmaker Hwang Jung-ah of the Democratic Party of Korea argued that “the on-site (On-site) demonstration of PPA (Power Purchase Agreement) for SMR (Small Modular Reactor) must be realized” in order to respond to the increasing power demand of AIDC (Artificial Intelligence Data Centers). Some leading countries are building generation facilities at AIDCs and stably supplying the electricity essential for data center operations through long-term power purchase agreements, but our country’s system is failing to keep up. Baek Kyung-hoon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, replied, “I will take direct charge.”
At the National Audit of the Ministry of Science and ICT et al., held on the 6th at the Seoul Yeouido National Assembly, Hwang Jeong-a (Rep.) inquired about the status of AI infrastructure construction projects. Hwang (Rep.) stated, “We must secure AI full-stack (integration of the entire AI ecosystem) hegemony and export competitiveness, from on-site generation demonstrations using LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) and SMRs to power supply and the construction and operation of AI factories,” adding, “What is absolutely necessary is the Special Act on Distributed Energy and PPA.”
Hwang (Rep.) pointed out, “(The regulations) are written as if a 500MW (megawatt)-class SMR PPA is possible, but the actual capacity limit is 40MW,” adding, “We must supply power to a 1GW (gigawatt) AI factory, but LNG is only allowed up to 500MW through cogeneration.” This is an argument that the electrical capacity available for securing power purchase agreements is grossly insufficient compared to the required power demand of data centers or semiconductor factories needed to realize AI.
Regarding the budget for physical AI projects, Hwang (Rep.) emphasized, “Next year’s physical AI budget is 462.2 billion won, which is about 10 times that of two years ago, but it is only one-tenth of the frontier AI budget,” adding, “We must also link frontier AI and physical AI to expand the budget and drive private investment.”
Deputy Prime Minister Baek answered, “Regarding on-site generation for AI DCs, we are continuously discussing with the Ministry of Climate, and we are promoting a monthly inspection meeting on the three major mega-projects under the President’s chairmanship,” adding, “We will discuss closely between ministries to derive the optimal method.”
in TECH
