South Korea Plans Defense AI Data Center

South Korea’s Defense Ministry has begun planning a Defense AI Data Center to consolidate artificial intelligence computing resources now spread across the Army, Navy, Air Force, and government agencies. The ministry recently released a preliminary specification for an information strategy plan (ISP) for the center and aims to complete the plan by the second half of next year. It describes the center as core infrastructure for the military’s AI transformation, providing computing capacity, a foundation for using defense data, and an environment to develop and operate AI models.

The ISP will design the infrastructure’s scale and construction approach before the center itself is built. It will assess AI needs across the military and agencies, consider which resources to integrate and where to locate the center, and set the total project cost and annual investment plan. The resulting plan will support budget requests and procurement for the later construction project.

The proposal is to combine currently distributed AI infrastructure and GPUs into cloud-based shared resources that meet security and network-separation requirements. The ministry is considering flexible allocation of computing capacity across networks based on demand, to reduce each agency’s burden of securing its own infrastructure. The defense network, internet network, battlefield network, weapons-system research and development network, and standalone networks currently operate separate data centers and AI infrastructure according to their purposes and security levels.

The ministry plans to collect and store data from military branches and agencies and manage its quality through a Defense AI Data Hub. The plan also calls for linking a secure zone for using restricted and classified data in protected environments with civilian Defense AX hubs, creating a data provision environment for military-civilian AI collaboration and an environment for developing defense-specific AI.

The ISP marks a move from an earlier project to secure and test GPUs for the Defense AI Data Center toward a unified blueprint for AI infrastructure across the military. The ministry is also pursuing a foundation for defense generative AI and an intelligent defense platform. Over the longer term, the infrastructure is intended to support AI use in next-generation command-and-control systems, including the Korea Command and Control System (KCCS). The plan includes computing resources for AI-based situation analysis and command decision support, as well as a foundation to collect and standardize military data for training.

A ministry official said the center is intended to serve as a training environment for large defense-specific AI models, including vision-language models (VLMs) and physical AI. The official said it is also expected to support development and testing of AI services across command and control, surveillance, reconnaissance, logistics, and training, and to act as a hub connecting infrastructure distributed across the military.

South Korea’s Defense Ministry has begun planning a Defense AI Data Center to consolidate artificial intelligence computing resources now spread across the Army, Navy, Air Force, and government agencies. The ministry recently released a preliminary specification for an information strategy plan (ISP) for the center and aims to complete the plan by the second half of next year. It describes the center as core infrastructure for the military’s AI transformation, providing computing capacity, a foundation for using defense data, and an environment to develop and operate AI models.

The ISP will design the infrastructure’s scale and construction approach before the center itself is built. It will assess AI needs across the military and agencies, consider which resources to integrate and where to locate the center, and set the total project cost and annual investment plan. The resulting plan will support budget requests and procurement for the later construction project.

The proposal is to combine currently distributed AI infrastructure and GPUs into cloud-based shared resources that meet security and network-separation requirements. The ministry is considering flexible allocation of computing capacity across networks based on demand, to reduce each agency’s burden of securing its own infrastructure. The defense network, internet network, battlefield network, weapons-system research and development network, and standalone networks currently operate separate data centers and AI infrastructure according to their purposes and security levels.

The ministry plans to collect and store data from military branches and agencies and manage its quality through a Defense AI Data Hub. The plan also calls for linking a secure zone for using restricted and classified data in protected environments with civilian Defense AX hubs, creating a data provision environment for military-civilian AI collaboration and an environment for developing defense-specific AI.

The ISP marks a move from an earlier project to secure and test GPUs for the Defense AI Data Center toward a unified blueprint for AI infrastructure across the military. The ministry is also pursuing a foundation for defense generative AI and an intelligent defense platform. Over the longer term, the infrastructure is intended to support AI use in next-generation command-and-control systems, including the Korea Command and Control System (KCCS). The plan includes computing resources for AI-based situation analysis and command decision support, as well as a foundation to collect and standardize military data for training.

A ministry official said the center is intended to serve as a training environment for large defense-specific AI models, including vision-language models (VLMs) and physical AI. The official said it is also expected to support development and testing of AI services across command and control, surveillance, reconnaissance, logistics, and training, and to act as a hub connecting infrastructure distributed across the military.