Korea sets out a plan to ease AI data-centre permits and back domestic equipment

The Ministry of Science and ICT said it presented an "AI data-centre ecosystem support plan" at the second Regulatory Rationalisation Committee, chaired by the president, on 23 October 2026. The attached release says the committee met that day from 14:00 to 15:30 at the state guest house at Cheong Wa Dae. The release does not name a time zone. It says the plan will be followed by subordinate rules under the Special Act on the Promotion of the Artificial Intelligence Data Center Industry, which the release says was enacted in June.

For data-centre builders, the ministry plans to cut steps such as pre-review and requests for supplementation in one-stop permitting, and to open a dedicated window for operator problems. For facility rules such as parking and charging, it plans to leave unmanned equipment, including computer rooms and cooling and power equipment, out of the calculation of building size. The release says operators had described the power-grid impact assessment, building permits, landscape review and traffic-impact assessment as a burden. It does not say those assessments will be dropped.

For domestic materials, parts, equipment and solutions, the ministry plans a new project in 2027 of about 200 billion won, marked as the government proposal. It also plans a demonstration testbed and a large AI data-centre cluster that includes commercial centres. For host regions, it plans to designate AI data-centre special zones in the first half of 2027, to require a regional coexistence plan before an operator can receive a fee reduction, and to prepare guidelines, with local governments, for communication between operators and residents. Second Vice Minister Ryu Je-myeong said the ministry plans to issue, by the end of this month, a legislative notice of an enforcement decree setting the direction for promoting the industry and easing the rules.

What it means for business: this is a government plan, not a rule in force. Firms building or supplying AI data centres in Korea may want to watch the enforcement-decree notice. No start date for the permitting changes is printed.