KT Cloud, DigitalBridge join hands for data center biz in Korea

KT Cloud Co., the cloud computing unit under South Korea’s second-largest mobile carrier KT Corp., and US infrastructure investment firm DigitalBridge Group Inc. signed a strategic partnership earlier this week to boost their global internet data center (IDC) businesses.  

KT Cloud, the top operator of data centers in Korea, said on Thursday it aims to enter the global market and solidify its position as a local market leader via the collaboration.

It also marks the US digital infrastructure asset manager’s first strategic partnership agreement with a Korean company, KT Cloud added.

KT Cloud will develop data centers for the US asset manager’s business and interconnect the two firms’ data centers in Korea. KT Cloud will also advance its technologies for energy efficiency and carbon footprint reduction for the two parties’ environmental, social and governance (ESG) management.

KT Cloud was established in April of the last year as a spin-off from its parent company’s cloud and IDC division. The KT unit is the second-largest company in the local cloud computing service market, following Amazon Web Services (AWS). 

DigitalBridge invests in global data centers, cell towers and fiber networks with nearly $65 billion in assets under management as of Feb 24, 2023.

The investment firm owns a controlling stake in Vantage Data Centers LLC’s APAC business and is in the final stage of acquiring Southeast Asia-focused AIMS Data Center Sdn.

Write to Jihyun Kim at snowy@hankyung.com

Jennifer Nicholson-Breen edited this article.