[비즈한국] Shinsegae004170 Group is moving beyond the retail industry and jumping directly into the artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure business. On the 16th (local time) in San Francisco, Shinsegae Group signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with U.S. AI company Reflection AI for a 'Strategic Partnership to Build a Korean Sovereign AI Factory,' announcing plans to construct a 250MW capacity AI data center in South Korea. The two companies plan to establish a joint venture (JV) within this year to push the project forward. Shinsegae explained that this cooperation is the first major example of the U.S. government's AI export program in action.
This announcement is noteworthy as it signifies that Shinsegae is going beyond merely adopting AI in retail settings; it is establishing infrastructure—encompassing data centers, cloud services, and AI solutions—as a new pillar for the group. Shinsegae stated its intent to build a 'full-stack AI factory' that provides cloud services and user-customized AI solutions based on its data center. Shinsegae Group Chairman Chung Yong-jin also stated that this collaboration will serve as a foundation for Shinsegae's future growth while contributing to the advancement of the domestic AI ecosystem.
Looking at Chairman Chung's recent moves, this business is less of a sudden, isolated project and more the culmination of the growth strategy he has emphasized since the beginning of this year. Chairman Chung met with Misha Laskin, founder of Reflection AI, in the U.S. last December to discuss cooperation, and they also reviewed ways to incorporate Reflection AI’s technology into Shinsegae’s key businesses. Following this, in his New Year’s address, he declared 2026 a 'year of renewed growth' and emphasized a 'paradigm shift' capable of resetting market rules. The trajectory flows from the local meetings in the U.S. at the end of last year to the early-year message, and now to this AI data center project.
The background for why Reflection AI chose Shinsegae as a partner can also be seen in the business structure. Reflection AI provides technology based on its Nvidia GPU supply chain and competitive edge in open-weight AI models, while Shinsegae handles the infrastructure foundation required to run the business in Korea. Shinsegae has accumulated customer touchpoints and data through its long history in retail, and it announced plans to leverage this to pursue AI commerce and retail AI full-stack services. Since they are envisioning everything from AI agents that recommend personalized products and handle payments and delivery in online malls, to improving inventory efficiency and upgrading logistics, this deal allows Reflection AI to simultaneously secure a local client and a business base. CEO Laskin assessed South Korea as both a global IT powerhouse and a strong ally of the United States.
A capacity of 250MW is certainly large compared to major AI/hyperscale data centers recently unveiled in Korea. The Gumi AI data center announced by Samsung SDS018260 in January of this year is 60MW, and the Ansan data center announced by Macquarie Asset Management and Gabia079940 earlier this month is 40MW. The Yongin Jukjeon Pacific Sunny data center, completed last year, has an IT load of 64MW and a power reception capacity of 100MW. However, looking at data centers across the country, Naver's 'Gak Sejong' is planned for 270MW after phased expansions. Based on this, the Shinsegae project can be considered one of the largest among AI data centers recently announced in Korea.
The fact that the group already has a base for AI and cloud internally also adds to the feasibility of this project. Shinsegae I&C launched its subscription-based private cloud service 'Sparos One' last month, targeting demand for AI platform construction, and last year, it announced plans for an employee work support platform called 'AI Hub' based on multi-Large Language Models (LLMs). This is why the data center project can be seen as an extension of the existing IT subsidiary's cloud and AI capabilities, rather than a one-off investment in an entirely new field.
The background for Shinsegae’s move to make AI infrastructure a future growth pillar also stems from the stagnation of its core business. E-mart's139480 consolidated net revenue for 2025 was 28.9704 trillion won, down 0.2% from the previous year, while operating profit increased by 584.8% to 322.5 billion won. While profitability has recovered, top-line growth has plateaued. In this situation, with Chairman Chung emphasizing 'renewed growth' and 'paradigm shift' since the start of the year, it is notable that the expansion path chosen by Shinsegae has moved beyond offline store innovation toward AI data centers and cloud infrastructure.
The ultimate success of the business will depend on variables yet to be determined. The reality of the business will likely emerge as site selection, power procurement, licensing, and investment financing structures are fleshed out after the JV is established. However, this announcement is read as a signal that the growth strategy put forward by Chairman Chung since the beginning of the year is not limited to streamlining core retail operations, but is expanding into a new business domain called AI infrastructure. A key point to watch will be how much Shinsegae will emphasize its identity as an 'AI cloud and infrastructure provider' over a 'retail company' going forward.