- Construction is targeted to begin in early 2027, with services planned to start in early 2030
- HMG Saemangeum Office opens as part of AI data center project, providing a hub for collaborating with local stakeholders and advancing project execution
- The data center is expected to support AI development for autonomous driving, robotics and vehicle engineering
SEOUL, October 30, 2026 – Hyundai Motor Group (the Group) has opened a new office as part of plans for an AI data center in Saemangeum, a key project in its approximately KRW 9 trillion investment plan for the Saemangeum AI Valley in Gunsan, Korea.
To support coordination with local governments and relevant agencies and help advance project execution on the ground, the Group opened the HMG Saemangeum Office at the Jeonbuk Institute of Automotive Convergence Technology’s Future Mobility Tech Center in Gunsan. The office will serve as a practical on-site base for staff supporting permitting, construction preparation and communication with local partners as the broader AI Valley project moves forward.
"Hyundai Motor Group plans to begin construction of an AI data center in Saemangeum to support large-scale data accumulation and training and advance its capabilities in autonomous driving and Physical AI. The HMG Saemangeum Office represents the Group’s commitment to moving the project forward." - Seung Kyu Shin, Executive Vice President and Head of RH PMO, Hyundai Motor Group
How Will the AI Data Center Project Be Organized?
In September, the Group established a special-purpose company (SPC) for Phase 1 of a 200-megawatt renewable solar power project to supply electricity to the AI data center, a key step in advancing the project.
The Group also plans to establish two additional SPCs in November in cooperation with Hyundai Motor, Kia, Hyundai Mobis, Hyundai Engineering & Construction and Hyundai AutoEver. One SPC will oversee data center construction and infrastructure, while the other will secure high-performance graphics processing units (GPUs) and provide GPU services.
In addition, the Group is discussing technical cooperation with external partners and potential financial support for the planned investment. Specific arrangements remain subject to further review and discussion.
After the SPCs are established, the Group plans to proceed with detailed design and permitting. Construction is targeted to begin in March 2027, with services planned to start in early 2030.
Building the Saemangeum AI Ecosystem and Advancing On-Site Execution
Hyundai Motor Group’s Saemangeum AI Valley plans bring together an AI data center, a robotics manufacturing cluster, a water electrolysis plant to produce clean hydrogen, solar power generation and an AI hydrogen city. The Group aims to coordinate these projects as part of an integrated industrial ecosystem.
The HMG Saemangeum Office will support coordination among project stakeholders and communication with local governments and relevant agencies.
The Group held a ceremony to mark the establishment of the office. Attendees included Jeonbuk State Gov. Won-taek Lee, Saemangeum Development and Investment Agency Administrator Seong-yo Moon, Gunsan Mayor Jae-jun Kim, and Seung Kyu Shin, Executive Vice President of Hyundai Motor Group, among others.
How Will the Data Center Support the Group’s Physical AI Capabilities?
The AI data center is intended to support the development of core technologies through data accumulation, repeated training and validation. Planned applications include:
● Autonomous driving: Level 4 or higher autonomy requires continuous AI training on tens of millions of real-world road data points, as well as synthetic data from simulations of extreme conditions such as severe weather and unusual terrain. The data center is expected to serve as a supercomputing hub for 24/7 training and validation of autonomous driving algorithms.
● Robotics: Advanced robot behavior models will be trained in digital twin environments powered by the data center. These include systems that let robots perceive visual and linguistic inputs and autonomously perform physical actions; services and mobile robotics that flexibly respond to unstructured environments; and multi-axis control technologies for precision work in smart manufacturing.
● Vehicle research and development (R&D): High-performance AI can be applied across engineering processes, from design conceptualization to crash testing, aerodynamic analysis and battery thermal management. This will improve development efficiency and quality while shortening development timelines.
