<Translated with Google Translate.>

Launch of world-class national artificial intelligence (AI) data center service

- Within the high-tech district 3 artificial intelligence complex… High-performance computing resource support
- Domestic and foreign artificial intelligence (AI) companies move to Gwangju... Expected revitalization of industrial ecosystem
- Simultaneous promotion of domestic artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor development and data center verification


A world-class national artificial intelligence (AI) data center begins full-scale service.

Gwangju Metropolitan City (Mayor Kang Ki-jeong) announced on the 15th that it will launch the world-class national artificial intelligence (AI) data center service, a core facility within the high-tech district 3 artificial intelligence-centered industrial convergence complex (hereinafter referred to as AI complex).

The artificial intelligence data center supports services such as high-performance computing resources that can develop ultra-large artificial intelligence (AI) models.

As artificial intelligence (AI) models become increasingly complex and the amount of data required for development increases, the need for ultra-high-performance computing resources with increased memory capacity and data processing speed is increasing.

Gwangju City provides an infrastructure optimized for artificial intelligence (AI) research and development by being able to support learning, analysis, and utilization of vast amounts of data in a short period of time through high-performance computing resources such as NVIDIA's latest performance accelerator ‘H100’. This is expected to revitalize the artificial intelligence (AI) industrial convergence ecosystem by enabling early-stage companies (startups) to develop and research complex artificial intelligence (AI) services.

The National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Data Center is built using a combination of 20 petaflops (PF) of high-performance computing (HPC) and 68.5 petaflops (PF) of GPU cloud, with a total of 88.5 petaflops (PF) of computational resources and 107 petabytes. (PB) It is a world-class scale with storage space.

The data center is a two-story structure with a total floor area of 3,144 m2, and a 260-rack computer room for artificial intelligence development consumes 6 megawatts (MW) of power. It is a network-neutral data center that allows users to freely select and use a communication line provider, and provides the same network quality reliability and accessibility as the metropolitan area.

On October 23, Gwangju City completed resource construction and performance testing of 44.3 petaflops (PF) of computing resources and 53.5 petaflops (PF) of storage space, which is 50% of the total construction capacity. An additional 24 petaflops (PF) accelerator is scheduled to be built in December and a 20 petaflops (PF) high-performance computing (HPC) will be built in the first quarter of 2024.

Gwangju City expects to be able to support about 1,000 artificial intelligence (AI) companies through this. Companies will receive free high-cost computing resources, storage space, and development environments that are essential for developing artificial intelligence (AI), and development time will be shortened.

Accordingly, it is expected that an artificial intelligence industrial ecosystem will be established in Gwangju where domestic and foreign artificial intelligence (AI) companies gather, collaborate, and promote technology development and utilization.

Gwangju City held a contest last October to select resource-using organizations (businesses), and allocated 21 petaflops (PF) of accelerator and 8 petabytes (PB) of storage to 263 companies on October 27.
*1 petaflop (PF) means processing 1,000 trillion mathematical operations per second, and 1 petabyte (PB) is the capacity to store 174,000 6 gigabyte (GB) movies.

As part of the 'K-Cloud Project', which aims to strengthen domestic cloud competitiveness through the development of high-speed, low-power domestically produced artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors and application to data centers promoted by the government, an artificial intelligence (AI) capacity of 11 petaflops (PF) is installed in data centers. AI) Semiconductor (NPU) farm demonstration and construction will also be carried out in parallel.
* AI semiconductor (NPU Neural Processing Unit): A semiconductor that can efficiently calculate artificial neural network algorithms and can process calculations such as learning and inference for developing AI programs at high speed with low power.

Gwangju City is preparing preliminary feasibility services to sequentially proceed with the second phase of the artificial intelligence (AI) project with the goal of upgrading the first phase infrastructure and verifying the city scale.

Kim Yong-seung, head of the Artificial Intelligence Industry Department, said, “Gwangju City will create an artificial intelligence (AI) integrated complex infrastructure, including a data center, and a city-scale demonstration environment and provide them to companies, and companies will utilize the demonstration environment to develop artificial intelligence that is actually helpful to people’s lives. “We will create (AI) services,” he said. “Through this, we expect Gwangju, Korea’s representative city of artificial intelligence (AI), to grow into Korea’s Silicon Valley in name and reality.”

Meanwhile, Gwangju City plans to hold an opening event for the National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Data Center in the future after consultation with related organizations. <End>

(AI Semiconductor Department, 0626131230)