SEOUL, KOREA - Microsoft Corp. will spend 5.5 trillion won to build a data center in the city of Busan. This is the first time an approximate figure has been reported in relation to Microsoft's investment.

 

According to the Busan Metropolitan City Government and the Busan-Jinhae Free Economic Zone Authority on March 5, the American software giant is currently reviewing an idea of establishing a data center in a 165,000-square-meter site in Busan's international logistics park as a way to respond to the rapidly rising traffic in the Asia-Pacific region.

 

An official in the city government said, "We are aware that Microsoft is mulling an investment near Mieum Industrial Park. Although the investment volume is in the range of 5.5 trillion won, the amount is subject to change depending on land price."

 

The most important condition for Microsoft to locate a data center is stable supply of electricity around the clock, especially given the Busan data center will be responsible for traffic for the whole Asia-Pacific region.

 

The same city government official added, "We can't reveal any more details of the investment deal as we are negotiating with the company. The main reason Microsoft is considering Busan as a new data center location is electricity cost is lower in Korea than other candidate countries such as Japan and Hong Kong, with lower probability of natural disasters such as earthquake and tsunami. As long as the local government guarantees stable, low-cost electric power supply, we are optimistic that the deal will go through."