Shinsegae, U.S. Reflection AI to build Korea's largest 250 MW AI data center
Shinsegae Group of South Korea is expanding into artificial intelligence by joining forces with Reflection AI, a U.S. AI company, to build what is described as Korea’s largest AI data center. The announcement was made in San Francisco on the 16th, at a ceremony titled a strategic partnership agreeing to establish a “Korean Sovereign AI Factory.” Attendees included Shinsegae Chairman Chung Yong-jin, Reflection AI CEO Misha Raskin, and Howard Lutnick, cited as a U.S. Department of Commerce official, who pledged active support for the project.
The planned AI data center in Korea is set to have a capacity of 250 megawatts, positioning it as the country’s largest. The GPUs powering the center are to be supplied by NVIDIA via Reflection AI. A Shinsegae official noted that Reflection AI’s fundraising last year, reportedly totaling about $8 billion from NVIDIA and other investors, should help ensure a robust supply of high-end GPUs for the project.
This collaboration marks the first technology partnership under the U.S. government’s AI export program introduced in July of the previous year. The U.S. Commerce Department aims to develop AI ecosystems that extend beyond data centers to include broader AI services. The attendance of Lutnick at the ceremony underscores the political and policy dimensions of the agreement.
Shinsegae Group and Reflection AI plan to form a joint venture this year and begin site selection for the data center. They envision a “full-stack AI factory” that will provide cloud services and customized AI solutions, leveraging Reflection AI’s capability in open-weight AI model development. Open-weight models allow users to modify a model’s structure to suit specific purposes and manage information more independently.
Reflection AI’s CEO, Misha Raskin, praised Korea’s IT strength and its alliance with the United States, saying the partnership will help Korea build AI infrastructure that it can shape and control. The company intends to use Shinsegae’s extensive data and retail infrastructure to pursue differentiated AI commerce, including an AI agent concept that handles product recommendations, payments, and delivery within an online shopping experience.
In a broader sense, the venture situates Korea as a testbed for AI-enabled retail and cloud services, while deepening U.S.-Korean cooperation in advanced compute and AI governance. For U.S. readers, the project signals potential shifts in global AI infrastructure, the role of American chipmakers and software platforms in overseas data centers, and the way big retailers may deploy AI to optimize inventory, logistics, and customer experiences at scale. The venture could also influence supply chains and competition in AI-powered commerce, with implications for global markets, security considerations, and policy frameworks surrounding AI exports and data sovereignty.