Alibaba Adds Second Data Center in South Korea to Boost AI

- Launch scheduled for late June 2025. - Part of Alibaba's $52.9 billion AI and cloud infrastructure investment. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. announced it will open its second data center in South Korea by the end of June 2025. On June 19, 2025, Cryptopolitan reported this announcement. Investing.com, also on June 19, confirmed the plan, and AASTOCKS Financial News similarly reported on Alibaba's expansion on the same day. This development is a critical part of Alibaba’s large-scale investment in artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud infrastructure, which totals a substantial 380 billion yuan (approximately $52.9 billion). These sources reported Alibaba aims to meet the increasing demand for advanced cloud and AI solutions from South Korean enterprises. Alibaba Cloud, the company’s cloud computing arm, first entered the South Korean market in 2016 and inaugurated its initial data center in Seoul in 2022. The new facility, also located in Seoul, will enhance Alibaba's network to 88 global availability zones across 29 regions. In February 2025, CEO Eddie Wu stated that AI is a "top priority." The company subsequently introduced new large language models, including the Qwen3 series. This expansion aligns with a noticeable trend among tech giants to strengthen their AI infrastructure within the Asia-Pacific region. For example, SK Telecom Co. and Amazon Web Services Inc. are collaborating on a significant 103-megawatt AI data center in Ulsan, South Korea, with construction for this center set to begin in August 2025. In addition, OpenAI has been exploring expansions in the Asia-Pacific. Reports from late May 2025 indicated OpenAI's Chief Strategy Officer, Jason Kwon, was scheduled to visit several countries, including Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, and Singapore. These visits are part of OpenAI's "OpenAI for Countries" initiative, which helps governments build sovereign AI capabilities. Recently, under this initiative, OpenAI cooperated with the United Arab Emirates on a large data center project in Abu Dhabi. The Asia-Pacific region houses a significant concentration of the world's data centers, and major companies like Alphabet Inc., Microsoft Corp., and Meta Platforms Inc. also plan similar expansions. On May 19, 2025, CoinMarketCap reported that as of 12:00 UTC on that date, Ethereum (ETH) was trading at $3,214, and its 24-hour trading volume had increased by 2.3%.