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S&P Global Ratings
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S&P Global Ratings

Credit rating agency and division of S&P Global.

S&P Global Ratings said on 21 September that South Korea's telecoms operators cannot self-fund a won1,200tn AI data-centre build-out from their combined won17.9tn of cash.

Last refreshed: 22 September 2026

Key Question

Why can't South Korea's telecoms self-fund their AI data-centre build-out?

Timeline for S&P Global Ratings

#8 22 Jun

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Background

S&P Global Ratings is a credit rating agency and division of S&P Global, assessing the creditworthiness of companies, sovereigns and structured debt.

Its assessment of South Korea's telecoms sector set the scale of a domestic AI data-centre build-out, won1,200tn, against the sector's combined cash holdings, won17.9tn, and concluded the gap is too wide for telcos to close from their own balance sheets. That framing points towards external financing, whether debt issuance, new equity or state support, as the likely route for Korea's data-centre expansion.

For a ratings agency, publishing that comparison is itself a market signal: bondholders and lenders now have a benchmark for how much new financing Korea's telecoms sector needs to raise to build out AI infrastructure at the scale planned.

Common Questions
Is S&P Global Ratings the same as the S&P 500 index?
No. S&P Global Ratings is the credit-rating division of S&P Global. The S&P 500 index is calculated by a separate index-services Arm of the same parent company.
What is the difference between S&P Global Ratings and S&P Global Platts?
S&P Global Ratings issues credit ratings on debt and issuers. S&P Global Platts, now part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, provides pricing and analytics for energy and commodities markets. Both are divisions of the same parent, S&P Global.
What did S&P Global Ratings say about Korea's telecoms and AI data centres?
In September 2026 S&P Global Ratings said South Korean telecoms operators could not self-fund a won1,200 trillion AI data-centre build-out from their combined won17.9 trillion of cash on hand.Source: Business Korea
When did Standard & Poor's become part of S&P Global?
Standard & Poor's, formed in 1941 from the merger of Poor's Publishing and Standard Statistics, became fully part of S&P Global in 2016, having previously been owned by McGraw-Hill.Source: Wikipedia
Source Material
S&P Global Ratings on Korean telecoms and AI data-centre spendS&P Global Ratings