SK chairman says AI era will require a nuclear push

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won highlighted Big Tech's reliance on nuclear energy for AI data centers at the 2024 Icheon Forum.

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won speaks during the 2024 Icheon Forum. [SK GROUP]

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won stressed Big Tech is expecting to rely on nuclear energy in the future as its AI data centers gobble up enormous amount of electricity.

“Big Tech [companies] commonly are thinking that nuclear energy should be in use in the future because their AI data centers require a significant amount of energy,” Chey said during the 2024 Icheon Forum where executives across its affiliates gather once a year to discuss business opportunities and risks of the future.

“If that leads to a shift in energy mix, that would give us a new opportunity.”

Chey's comment comes after having meetings with tech gurus around the world including Jensen Huang of Nvidia, Sam Altman of OpenAI, Satya Nadella of Microsoft, Pat Gelsinger of Intel and Andy Jassy of Amazon among others this year.

The electricity required to power AI data centers is expected to increase by 160 percent by 2030 compared to 2023, guzzling up 1,063 terawatt-hours, according to Goldman Sachs data.

SK Group had put its early bet on nuclear power. In 2022, its energy affiliate, SK Innovation, together with SK Inc., announced its plan to invest $250 million into U.S. small modular reactor company TerraPower founded by Bill Gates.

Chey also emphasized new opportunities that AI will create.

“Changes brought about by AI are considered opportunities, and quickly leading changes by utilizing this trend will be how we survive in the AI ecosystem,” the chairman said.

The three-day forum, which wrapped up on Wednesday, was joined by renowned figures in the AI realm such as Jürgen Schmidhuber, a professor at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, who was invited to give the opening speech, and Zack Kass, former head of OpenAI's go-to-market strategy.

BY JIN EUN-SOO [jin.eunsoo@joongang.co.kr]