December 21, 2024

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[ET NEWS] Google is considering setting up a data center in Korea as part of efforts to extend its cloud services, industry sources said on Feb. 9.

Instead of building its own facility, the US internet giant is expected to lease data center space from a local telecom carrier, possibly LG Uplus, the No. 3 telecom company here.

“Google started talks with LG Uplus late last year,” an industry source said on condition of anonymity. “The center is expected to open within this year.” 

A Google data center

If the deal is signed, Google will lease capacity of LG Uplus’ data center and operate the space using its own equipment like server and storage, the source said.

With the new opening, Google, the world’s third-largest cloud service firm, is likely to ramp up marketing efforts to push deeper into the Korean cloud market where its bigger rivals Amazon Web Services and Microsoft have already operated their own data centers for their key clients like Samsun and LG.

Amazon and Microsoft are expected to post 500 billion won (US$458 million) and 50 billion won, respectively, in Korean sales this year.

Both Google Korea and LG Uplus declined to confirm the plans.

By Kim Ji-sun, Park Ji-sung and Oh Dae-seok
(river@etnews.com) (jisung@etnews.com) (ods@etnews.com) (jylee@heraldcorp.com)
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