"A 100-MW-class AIDC can generate up to 3.5 trillion won in production, boosting employment and tax revenue"

[Financial News] A 100-MW-class artificial intelligence data center (AIDC) can generate up to 3.5 trillion won in production-inducing effects and create an additional 2.5 to 4.5 indirect and induced jobs for every direct employee, according to an analysis. AIDCs can increase production across industries and contribute to growth in employment and tax revenue.
On the 30th, according to the research response titled "The Employment, Production, and Value-Added Creation Effects of Data Centers" submitted by the National Assembly Research Service (NARS) to Hwang Jeong-a, a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker representing Daejeon Yuseong Eul, the production-creation effect of a 100-MW-class AIDC was estimated at up to approximately 3.5 trillion won.
NARS cited a project analysis by Busan as well as domestic and international studies. Busan estimated that building a 105-MW-class AIDC with an investment of 1.8 trillion won would generate a production-inducing effect of 3.492 trillion won. This means that production equivalent to approximately 1.9 times the investment would be generated across industries.
A study published this year by Nam Sang-jun and other Korean researchers estimated that production across all industries would decrease by approximately 1.17 trillion to 3.06 trillion won if a 100-MW AI data center could not be supplied smoothly. The analysis indicates that a shortage of data-center capacity could also affect production in other industries.
In an analysis released this year, global real-estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield estimated that each 100 MW of new data-center capacity generates approximately $344 million (about 466 billion won) in annual total output for nearby related industries.
The employment impact was also evident. The analysis cited by NARS placed the data-center employment multiplier at 3.5 to 5.5. This means that every direct job creates an additional 2.5 to 4.5 indirect and induced jobs.
According to an analysis this year by global accounting and consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), direct employment in the U.S. data-center industry stood at 1,005,080 in 2024. Including 4,490,020 indirect and induced jobs, the total employment impact was estimated at 5,495,100.
A University of Chicago study found that a 1% increase in data-center revenue leads to an approximately 0.039% increase in total regional employment. The increase in construction employment associated with higher revenue fell from 0.600% in 2005 to 0.071% in 2020, while the increase in data-processing employment rose from 0.092% to 0.294% over the same period.
NARS explained that these results reflect a pattern in which construction-related employment increases during the initial phase, followed by growth in operations-related employment after construction is completed.
The analysis also presented spillover effects on value added and labor income. According to PwC, the value-added multiplier for the U.S. data-center industry was approximately 3.1, meaning that every $1 of value added generated directly induced an additional $2.1 in value added in other industries. The labor-income multiplier was estimated at 3.2.

According to the PwC analysis cited by NARS, tax revenue related to the U.S. data-center industry rose approximately 24%, from $164.7 billion in 2023 to $204.4 billion in 2024.
Data-center-related tax revenue in Virginia totaled $2.677 billion, equivalent to approximately one-quarter of the state government's spending on higher education. Related tax revenue in California amounted to $14.1 billion, exceeding one-fifth of higher-education spending.
NARS explained that data-center-related tax revenue was comparable in scale to major funding sources for local governments' public services and could be considered a significant contribution to securing tax revenue sources.
The possibility of higher electricity rates resulting from increased power demand was also presented. A University of Chicago study found that, as of 2020, a 1% increase in cumulative data-center revenue would raise regional electricity rates by approximately 0.009%.
Rep. Hwang's office explained that the estimated increase in electricity rates in the study was not large. However, it added that the findings were based on regional U.S. data and therefore could not be directly applied to South Korea, where the rate structure is different.
NARS also said that caution was needed when generalizing the results to all data centers because the number of cases used in the analysis was limited and the bases for the respective figures differed.
Rep. Hwang said, "AI data centers represent the creation of new advanced industrial complexes in the AI era," adding, "As they evolve from server-room-level data centers of the past into active, gigawatt-scale AI factories, their production and regional-growth effects are expected to become even stronger."
She continued, "We must swiftly pursue the three major megaprojects that can deliver a fourfold benefit, including tax-revenue gains for local governments, and lead balanced growth," emphasizing, "The government must boldly remove the bottlenecks facing industry."
[email protected] Yoon Hong-jip Reporter