TLDR: SK Telecom has officially launched its ‘Haein Cluster,’ a new sovereign AI infrastructure providing GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) based on over 1,000 NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs. This platform, one of Korea’s largest GPU clusters, is a cornerstone of a national program aimed at developing advanced AI foundation models and significantly expanding South Korea’s AI capabilities and infrastructure nationwide.
SK Telecom (NYSE: SKM) announced on August 5, 2025, the official launch of its new sovereign AI Infrastructure, dubbed the ‘Haein Cluster.’ This cutting-edge platform is designed to provide GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS), leveraging the latest NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs to significantly bolster Korea’s artificial intelligence capabilities.
The ‘Haein Cluster’ stands out as one of Korea’s largest GPU clusters, integrating over 1,000 NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs into a single, cohesive unit. This represents a substantial advancement over the NVIDIA H100 Tensor Core GPU-based GPUaaS that SK Telecom launched in December 2024, promising state-of-the-art performance for AI development and deployment within the nation.
The cluster’s name, ‘Haein’ (해인, 海印), draws inspiration from Haeinsa Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage site renowned for housing the Tripitaka Koreana, a vast collection of Buddhist scriptures. This naming reflects SK Telecom’s ambition to establish the cluster as a foundational element of Korea’s sovereign AI infrastructure.
A key role for the ‘Haein Cluster’ is its selection as a provider for the Ministry of Science and ICT’s program aimed at enhancing AI computing resource utilization, specifically as part of the ‘Proprietary AI Foundation Model’ Project. Through this initiative, the cluster is set to actively contribute to the development of national AI foundation models, enhancing Korea’s global competitiveness in the AI arena and fostering the growth of the national AI ecosystem.
SK Telecom’s strategic vision includes developing its Gasan AI data center (AIDC) into a central hub for the burgeoning Korean AI industry. To realize this sovereign AI infrastructure, the company has forged strategic global partnerships, including collaborations with Penguin Solutions for integrated AIDC solutions and Supermicro for the procurement of globally sourced AI servers.
Furthermore, SK Telecom is integrating its proprietary technologies into the ‘Haein Cluster.’ This includes ‘Petasus AI Cloud,’ an in-house virtualization solution that enables instant partitioning and reconfiguration of the GPU cluster to meet diverse customer needs, thereby maximizing utilization. Additionally, the ‘AI Cloud Manager,’ an AIOps (AI for IT Operations) platform, is provided to efficiently manage the entire AI service lifecycle, from development and training to deployment, enhancing user work efficiency and development convenience.
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Kim Myoung Gook, head of GPUaaS Business Office at SK Telecom, emphasized the cluster’s impact, stating, “Haein Cluster’s GPUaaS will serve as a catalyst for enhancing both customer and national AI competitiveness. As an AI infrastructure provider, we are committed to building the nation’s AI superhighway.” This launch follows the opening of Lambda’s Korea region in December 2024, marking another significant milestone in SK Telecom’s ongoing expansion of its GPUaaS business to provide robust infrastructure support for Korea’s AI industry on the global stage.
