Jurisdiction Index / South Korea
South Korea
JCI composite · as of · methodology v0
South Korea scores 49/100 on the Compute Institute Jurisdiction Competitiveness Index (Tier 3, Contested), ranking #30 of 30 rated jurisdictions with a stable outlook, as of June 15, 2026 under methodology v0. Its strongest dimension is Capital & Ecosystem Depth at 7.9/10; its weakest is Power Cost at 2.2/10. 20 of 22 sub-factors are scored on E1–E2 evidence (data confidence A). The stable outlook is driven by 2 forward-looking signals (+0.00 net points, E3–E4 evidence): observed construction velocity (E3) and incentive durability (E3).
Dimension breakdown
Seven dimensions, each 0–10, weighted per methodology v0. JCI = Σ(dimension × weight) × 10.
Power Availability & Deliverability
Power Cost
Speed to Build
Regulatory & AI Policy Environment
Fiscal & Incentives
Capital & Ecosystem Depth
Stability & Execution Risk
Outlook drivers — Stable (+0.00 net points)
Forward-looking E3–E4 signals. They move the outlook only — never the base score.
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Observed construction velocity +0.00 pts as of
“Internal project-database velocity for Korea is thin at this stage; market data indicate an additional ~450 MW of new DC capacity due online by end-2025 (mostly Jeollanam-do and Seoul) and ~1,960 MW operational stock in 2025, implying steady but not exceptional realized build-through, graded mid-anchor pending observed cycle-time evidence.”
Source: Cushman & Wakefield / Lexology, Dispersed Energy Act DC capacity pipeline (2025) (www.lexology.com)
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Incentive durability +0.00 pts as of
“Incentive durability is mixed: the headline 50% facility-levy discount sunsets in May 2026 and several supports are time-boxed, but the government's May 2026 'second SK hynix' regional package (corporate tax, property tax and electricity incentives) signals continued policy commitment to non-capital relocation, leaving medium-term durability moderate.”
Source: Seoul Economic Daily, Korea tax & electricity incentives for regional clusters (May 2026) (en.sedaily.com)
Sub-factor scores and sources
Every base-scored input below carries E1–E2 evidence: a justification, an evidence-level grade, and a link to the underlying source document.
Power Availability & Deliverability — 3.6/10 (weight 20%)
|
Sub-factor
|
Score
|
Justification
|
Evidence
|
Source
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grid headroom 40% of dimension | 3 /10 | Korea's data-centre IT load is set to expand from ~1,960 MW in 2025 to ~6,320 MW by 2030 (3.2x), concentrated near Seoul where the 154 kV grid is the most congested; ~60% of existing DCs and ~86% of new builds planned to 2029 sit in the capital region against a financially stress... as of | Cushman & Wakefield, South Korea Data Centre Industry / The Power Challenge (2025) www.cushmanwakefield.com | |
| Time-to-power 35% of dimension | 3 /10 | Developers face multi-year waits for 154 kV tie-ins in the Seoul metro (effectively constrained, no formal moratorium but de-facto saturation), placing capital-region time-to-power past the 3-4yr (5) anchor toward the >6yr band; non-capital zones such as Jeollanam-do are material... as of | Cushman & Wakefield, South Korea Data Centre Industry / The Power Challenge (2025) www.cushmanwakefield.com | |
| Energy mix & expandability 15% of dimension | 5.5 /10 | 2024 generation was ~30% nuclear, 30% coal, 28% gas, 9% renewables; the 11th Basic Plan (confirmed Feb 2025) targets a 2038 mix of 35.2% nuclear, 29.7% renewables and 70.7% carbon-free, but expandability is gated by transmission build-out and behind-the-meter limits, with nuclear... as of | IEEFA, South Korea's 11th power plan / 11th Basic Plan for Electricity Supply and Demand (2025) ieefa.org | |
| Water availability 10% of dimension | 5 /10 | WRI Aqueduct 4.0 classifies much of South Korea, including the densely industrial Seoul-Gyeonggi region, in the medium-to-high baseline water-stress band (withdrawal-to-supply ratio in the ~20-40% range driven by high population density and seasonal monsoon variability), a manage... as of | WRI Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas (Baseline Annual v4.0) www.wri.org |
Power Cost — 2.2/10 (weight 12.5%)
|
Sub-factor
|
Score
|
Justification
|
Evidence
|
Source
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Industrial electricity price 60% of dimension | 1.5 /10 | South Korea's business/industrial electricity price was KRW 173.98/kWh (~USD 0.132/kWh = ~$132/MWh) as of Sep 2025 after an Oct 2024 hike that lifted the large-industrial rate 10.2% to KRW 182.7/kWh; this sits near the >$140/MWh worst anchor (0), with KEPCO's historically below-c... as of | GlobalPetrolPrices.com, South Korea electricity prices (Sep 2025) www.globalpetrolprices.com | |
| Price trajectory & exposure 25% of dimension | 2.5 /10 | KEPCO booked ~KRW 43 trillion ($31.2bn) of combined losses in 2021-2023, forcing repeated industrial-only tariff hikes (9.7% in Oct 2024) while household rates were frozen; the DC general-use rate rose from 128.5 won/kWh (Q1 2022) to 168.9 won/kWh (Q4 2024), giving high upward ex... as of | S&P Global / Korea Times, KEPCO industrial rate hikes (Oct 2024) www.spglobal.com | |
| Cost certainty / contractability 15% of dimension | 4.5 /10 | KEPCO controls ~95% of supply via the mandatory KPX pool under the Electricity Business Act, but the corporate PPA market is maturing fast (record ~1.5 GW signed in 2024) and a Jul 2025 Enforcement Decree amendment removed minimum-capacity thresholds for on-site PPAs, giving DCs... as of | King & Wood Mallesons, Powering data centres in South Korea: PPAs (2025) www.kwm.com |
Speed to Build — 5/10 (weight 17.5%)
|
Sub-factor
|
Score
|
Justification
|
Evidence
|
Source
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Permitting regime 40% of dimension | 3.5 /10 | The currently in-force regime is restrictive in the Seoul metro (local opposition halted a Seoul DC build in Jan 2025; capital-region power-allocation caps under the Dispersed Energy Act push projects out), well short of by-right; a May 2026 special law creating a one-stop approv... as of | MLex, South Korea passes special law to speed AI data-center expansion (May 2026) www.mlex.com | |
| Observed construction velocity 35% of dimension | — | Excluded — no E1–E2 evidence available; weaker evidence cannot enter a base score. | — | — |
| Labor & supply capacity 25% of dimension | 7.5 /10 | Korea has deep EPC and electrical-construction capacity plus a world-class semiconductor labor ecosystem (Samsung, SK hynix) adjacent to DC build needs; Samsung's planned Pyeongtaek-anchored facility (~100 MW scaling to ~1 GW) and chaebol mega-builds demonstrate domestic capacity... as of | Korea Tech Today / Reuters, Samsung 450tn won domestic AI & semiconductor program (2025) koreatechtoday.com |
Regulatory & AI Policy Environment — 5.8/10 (weight 12.5%)
|
Sub-factor
|
Score
|
Justification
|
Evidence
|
Source
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI-specific law in force 35% of dimension | 6.5 /10 | Korea's AI Basic Act took effect 22 Jan 2026 (the second comprehensive national AI framework after the EU), imposing transparency duties on generative/high-impact AI, impact assessments in sensitive domains, and risk-management for high-performance models (>=10^26 FLOPs); MSIT ru... as of | Cooley, South Korea's AI Basic Act Overview and Key Takeaways (27 Jan 2026) www.cooley.com | |
| DC-specific regulation 35% of dimension | 3.5 /10 | Korea operates a genuinely DC-specific restrictive regime: the Dispersed Energy Promotion Special Act (in force 14 Jun 2024) plus Seoul-metro power-allocation caps actively disperse DCs out of the capital region, with direct-supply allowed only inside designated dispersed-energy... as of | Cushman & Wakefield / Lexology, Dispersed Energy Act DC capacity pipeline (2025) www.lexology.com | |
| Regulatory predictability 30% of dimension | 7.5 /10 | World Bank WGI rates Korea's Regulatory Quality at +1.01 (2024) on the -2.5/+2.5 scale, a high and stable score reflecting a mature, rules-based regulatory environment, even as the broader political stability indicator softened to +0.64 in 2024 amid domestic turmoil. as of | World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators, Regulatory Quality Korea 2024 (+1.01) www.theglobaleconomy.com |
Fiscal & Incentives — 5/10 (weight 10%)
|
Sub-factor
|
Score
|
Justification
|
Evidence
|
Source
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enacted incentives 40% of dimension | 6 /10 | Enacted non-capital DC incentives include a 50% discount on the electric-facility levy for 22.9 kV regional DCs (until May 2026, saving ~$1.5m on average) and reserved-power-fee exemption for 154 kV regional DCs (2-6% of base rate); enhanced FDI rules offer cash grants up to 75%... as of | W.Media / InvestKOREA, Korea incentives for non-capital data centres (2025) w.media | |
| Headline tax burden 40% of dimension | 4 /10 | Korea's top marginal corporate income tax rate rises to 25% for fiscal years from 1 Jan 2026 (each bracket +1% under the 2025 reform), a mid-to-high headline burden before local surtax; Korea also enacts Pillar Two at the 15% minimum (GloBE/IIR from FY2024, DMTT from FY2026), cap... as of | PwC Tax Summaries / EY, Korea 2025 tax reform — 25% top CIT and Pillar Two (2026) taxsummaries.pwc.com | |
| Incentive durability 20% of dimension | — | Excluded — no E1–E2 evidence available; weaker evidence cannot enter a base score. | — | — |
Capital & Ecosystem Depth — 7.9/10 (weight 12.5%)
|
Sub-factor
|
Score
|
Justification
|
Evidence
|
Source
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Committed capital 40% of dimension | 8 /10 | Korea has exceptionally deep committed AI-infra capital: Samsung pledged 450 trillion won (~$310bn) over five years anchoring a Pyeongtaek facility scaling to ~1 GW, SK hynix is investing ~$74.5bn through 2028 (~3-4yr horizon, ~80% / ₩82tn earmarked for AI/HBM), and ~65 trillion... as of | The Register, SK hynix ₩103tn (~$74.5bn) investment through 2028 incl. ₩82tn AI/HBM (Jul 2024) www.theregister.com | |
| Ecosystem 30% of dimension | 8.5 /10 | Korea's ecosystem is world-class: ~1,960 MW existing DC stock (2025), dense fiber, top-tier domestic cloud (Naver, Kakao), and unrivaled chip-fab adjacency (Samsung, SK hynix supply the global HBM/memory market) plus US-ally GPU access — Korea secured >260,000 Nvidia GPUs in Oct... as of | DataCenterDynamics, Nvidia to deploy 250,000+ GPUs across South Korea (Oct 2025) www.datacenterdynamics.com | |
| Sovereign/anchor capital availability 30% of dimension | 7 /10 | Korea pairs strong sovereign-linked capital — Korea Investment Corporation (KIC) and the National Pension Service (one of the world's largest pension funds) — with direct state co-investment in the AI buildout, including a government allocation of 50,000 Nvidia Blackwell GPUs and... as of | DCD / Korea Herald, Korea secures 260,000 Nvidia GPUs incl. government allocation (Oct 2025) www.koreaherald.com |
Stability & Execution Risk — 5.6/10 (weight 15%)
|
Sub-factor
|
Score
|
Justification
|
Evidence
|
Source
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Political/policy continuity 40% of dimension | 5.5 /10 | Korea's WGI Political Stability score fell to +0.64 in 2024 from +0.93 in 2023 amid the Dec 2024 martial-law crisis and presidential impeachment, though Moody's, S&P and Fitch all affirmed that Korea's AA-tier ratings and economic fundamentals were unscathed by the turmoil — high... as of | World Bank WGI Political Stability Korea 2024 (+0.64) / KED Global ratings affirmation www.theglobaleconomy.com | |
| Currency, transfer & convertibility 35% of dimension | 6 /10 | The Korean won is only partially convertible and not fully internationalized — onshore-centric with residual capital-flow controls and FX reporting requirements — but Korea's AA (S&P, since Aug 2016) / Aa2 (Moody's, since Dec 2015) sovereign rating and deep reserves support relia... as of | KED Global, South Korea sovereign rating stable: S&P AA / Moody's Aa2 (Dec 2024) www.kedglobal.com | |
| Physical & geopolitical risk 25% of dimension | 5 /10 | Proximity to North Korea is a real, persistent physical-geopolitical risk (Seoul lies ~50 km from the DMZ, within conventional artillery range), a structural overhang on capital-region infrastructure even as Moody's/Fitch note geopolitical risks have had limited measured impact o... as of | KED Global, South Korea sovereign rating stable: S&P AA / Moody's Aa2 (Dec 2024) www.kedglobal.com |
Signals
Recent ingested source documents linked to this jurisdiction via extracted claims or triage mentions, newest first.
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· Data Center Dynamics · relevance 0.70
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South Korea concrete delivery halt threatens Samsung, SK Hynix chip plant work, media reports reu...
· Reuters · relevance 0.50
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· Reuters · relevance 0.30
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Exclusive: South Korea has cleared SpaceX-IPO-linked dollar demand of around $1.5 billion, source...
· Reuters · relevance 0.10
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· thenextweb.com · relevance 0.40
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· Bloomberg Technology · relevance 0.20
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· ET Home · relevance 0.20
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· Reuters · relevance 0.20
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· Quartz · relevance 0.50
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· Bloomberg Technology · relevance 0.10
Scores are reproducible from the frozen inputs snapshot recorded at computation time (2026-06-15T23:52:39+00:00). See the full methodology for rubrics, weights, and the evidence ladder.