Summary:
1. DigitalBridge partners with KT Corporation in South Korea to develop large-scale, AI-focused digital infrastructure.
2. South Korea is emerging as a strategic location for AI and digital infrastructure in Asia.
3. The collaboration aims to build data centers for generative AI workloads and cloud migration in the region.
Article:
DigitalBridge is expanding its footprint in Asia’s data center market by forming a strategic alliance with KT Corporation in South Korea. The Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two companies marks the first partnership between DigitalBridge, a global digital infrastructure investor, and a major Korean telecommunications provider. Together, they plan to assess and co-develop next-generation data centers focused on AI and cloud workloads, including AI factory facilities that could potentially scale to gigawatt-level campuses with multi-billion-dollar capital commitments.
South Korea is positioning itself as a key hub for AI and digital infrastructure in Asia, with strong domestic connectivity, mature cloud adoption, and a growing ecosystem of AI developers and hyperscale platforms. This has made the country an attractive location for high-density, GPU-rich capacity that can serve both domestic and regional demand. Marc Ganzi, CEO of DigitalBridge, highlighted the agreement as part of a broader global strategy to build and operate infrastructure for the AI era, emphasizing the need for next-generation data centers to adapt to the surge in generative AI workloads, cloud migration, and increasing data consumption.
DigitalBridge currently manages over $108 billion in digital infrastructure assets worldwide and operates a diverse platform encompassing data centers, fiber, towers, and edge infrastructure. The partnership with KT follows the successful close of DigitalBridge Partners III, its third value-add fund, which raised $11.7 billion, including $4.5 billion in co-investment commitments from limited partners. The new fund is expected to allocate significant capital in developed Asian markets, with South Korea being a key target geography.
The collaboration between DigitalBridge and KT builds on a wave of capital deployment across DigitalBridge’s portfolio, with investments in North America exceeding $40 billion in AI and cloud campuses. In the Asia-Pacific region, the firm’s portfolio companies have secured approximately $1.6 billion for regional expansion, including a hyperscale campus in Johor, Malaysia exceeding 300MW. These projects demonstrate the rapid scaling of infrastructure needed to support AI, with facilities requiring advanced cooling, power architectures, and energy-efficiency measures.
For KT, the partnership with DigitalBridge aligns with its strategic goal to enhance Korea’s AI data center capabilities and expand its role beyond connectivity into higher-value infrastructure and platform services. The company’s focus on high-performance GPU infrastructure, energy-efficient design, and sustainable operations reflects its commitment to meeting the growing demand for AI and cloud services. Woojin Jung, Head of Strategy and Business Consulting Group at KT, indicated that the operator is exploring various approaches to secure resilient, scalable AI data center capacity, both domestically and internationally, in collaboration with DigitalBridge.
The partnership between DigitalBridge and KT in South Korea also aligns with a broader trend towards closer cooperation in building resilient, secure, and sustainable AI infrastructure. At the APEC 2025 Summit, participants emphasized the need for cross-border investment frameworks and partnerships to support the rapid growth of AI workloads and associated energy and connectivity requirements. While the MOU does not represent a binding investment commitment, it sets the stage for detailed assessments of potential data center sites and deployment models, with a focus on meeting near-term AI and cloud needs while planning for future expansion.
Overall, the collaboration between DigitalBridge and KT signals the growing importance of Korea in the regional infrastructure landscape, particularly in supporting AI workloads closer to end users and data sources. As regulatory environments emphasize data residency and resiliency, localized yet globally integrated infrastructure investments are expected to become more common, with South Korea playing a key role in meeting the evolving demands of the AI era.
