KKR and IMM back SK Telecom's data center spin-off

KKR and the IMM Investment-Stonebridge consortium are putting KRW 3.08 trillion ($2.2 billion) into SK Horizon, the AI data center company SK Telecom is carving out of its SK Broadband subsidiary, IREI reported. The deal, announced Aug. 27, is an equity commitment to a newly created platform built to expand Korea's AI data center infrastructure, a structure that resembles infrastructure finance more than a property trade.

Under the plan, SK Telecom will divide SK Broadband into a surviving company focused on fixed-line, media, and enterprise businesses and the newly established SK Horizon. Funds managed by KKR, IMM Investment — a South Korean alternative investment firm with more than $7.5 billion in assets under management — and Stonebridge Capital, a South Korean private equity firm with approximately KRW 3.6 trillion ($2.5 billion) in cumulative AUM, signed a definitive agreement for the combined equity investment. KKR partner Keith Kim said Korea's advanced digital ecosystem and growing demand for AI capacity provide a strong foundation for SK Horizon's next phase of growth.

For private real estate capital, a $2.2 billion equity check into a data center platform is a bet on the land, grid access, and water rights that determine where AI capacity gets built. Power and water, not compute, now decide where data center capital can go, and securing grid access and water rights will separate the next cycle's winners from the overbuilders. KKR and the consortium appear to be making that bet at the platform level, which suggests the next wave of data-center investment will flow to entities that control sites and power before they pour concrete.