Chapter 141: Tectonic Shift

The meeting room fell silent for a moment.

Everyone looked dazed, as if the number 10 trillion had just flashed before their eyes.

“10 trillion?”

Executive Vice President Hong Chung-ki asked again, as if to confirm.

“Yes.”

Executive Director Oh Seong-hak sighed and continued.

“Maybe… even more than that.”

“Are you saying that much money is needed just to build a data center?”

Han Yu-ju answered.

“It’s not the current level of data center, but a facility designed for the future, so it’s going to cost more than you think.”

Oh Seong-hak waved his hand.

“That’s secondary. Just securing the land will require more than 2 trillion in funding.”

It was a massive data center spanning 200,000 pyeong.

So, like the Dongtan Plant 1 and 2, building it in a single region wasn’t suitable.

And it shouldn’t be done that way.

I brought up a map on the screen.

And pointed to a few candidate locations.

“For now, we plan to build in these three locations domestically.”

The first location was Pyeongtaek.

It already had a data center, and being close to Seoul made it easy to respond.

And the second was Chuncheon.

It had the advantage of being close to the capital area while having lower temperatures, reducing cooling costs, and having a nearby hydroelectric power plant, making it easy to secure power.

The third and final location was Busan, where a seawater cooling system could be introduced, and being close to Southeast Asia and Japan made it easy to handle global data traffic.

“A scale of 500PB per site would be appropriate.”

The scale needed to realize all the monetization models I mentioned was 15,000PB.

But there was no need to build all of that right now.

After all, it was a project to be carried out under a long-term plan.

So, there was a need to proceed with a thorough plan.

“Then… where do you plan to build the rest?”

Oh Seong-hak, who seemed to have caught on to something, looked at me with a slightly anxious eye.

I smiled and answered.

“Focusing only on domestic locations carries a very high risk. If data traffic surges, there’s a concern that data transmission speeds will drop. Therefore, we need to select global hubs and build data centers in key overseas regions as well.”

I adjusted the zoom of the map, which had been limited to Korea, to a world map and pointed to several locations.

“First, we plan to build a data center in Oregon on the U.S. West Coast.”

Oregon had the advantage of being connected to the Pacific submarine cable, making data transmission to Asia fast.

Of course, it also had the disadvantage of being relatively expensive, consuming more funds than expected.

“Not just Oregon, but also South Carolina, Iowa, and in Europe, Ireland, Finland, Belgium, and in Asia, Taiwan, Singapore, and Japan, we need to establish hubs.”

“If we build data centers in all those regions… the land acquisition costs will far exceed the 2 trillion I estimated.”

“I know, but we can’t ignore efficiency. Even if it costs more, we must build data centers in those regions.”

Only then could we provide the level of service I wanted.

And in the future, we could generate sufficient profits.

“……”

“Even if it seems impossible now, in the future, we definitely won’t regret this decision.”

Even with my words, Oh Seong-hak couldn’t easily relax his expression.

“CEO, with only 1 trillion in available funds, building data centers simultaneously is a stretch.”

“So, I’m thinking of dividing it into phases over about three years. Would that still be difficult?”

After pondering for a while, Oh Seong-hak sighed.

And walked over to the whiteboard.

“Assuming we divide the data center construction into three phases, let me write down the approximate costs.”

[Phase 1: 3 Domestic Sites]

• Locations: Pyeongtaek, Chuncheon, Busan

• Scale: 1,500PB

• Land Acquisition: 800 billion

• Construction & Equipment: 1.5 trillion

• Operation & Maintenance: 380 billion

[Phase 2: North America & Europe]

• Locations: Oregon, South Carolina, Iowa, Ireland, Finland, Belgium, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, etc.

• Scale: 8,000PB

• Land Acquisition: Over 3 trillion

• Construction & Equipment: 7 trillion

• Operation & Maintenance: 1.5 trillion

[Phase 3: Other Asia & Emerging Markets]

• Locations: India, Brazil, South Africa, Australia, etc.

• Scale: 6,500PB

• Land Acquisition: 2 trillion

• Construction & Equipment: 5.5 trillion

• Operation & Maintenance: 1 trillion

Oh Seong-hak quickly finished organizing and added the total at the bottom.

[Total: 22.68 trillion]

“Huh.”

With my sigh, the meeting room fell into silence.

In a situation where even 10 trillion was burdensome, 22 trillion was an unimaginable amount.

“Even if we poured in all of last year’s profits, it would be hard to secure that amount.”

“CEO, maybe we should just proceed with Phase 1 first… or, instead of three phases, divide it into ten phases as a 10-year long-term plan…”

“That won’t work!”

I cut off Executive Vice President Hong’s suggestion outright.

Phase 1 was an essential step for domestic market stabilization and initial service launch.

And Phases 2 and 3 were elements that formed the basis for entering the global market.

The later these were delayed, the later Dojin Soft’s monetization would be delayed.

Tap, tap.

I tapped the table with my fingers.

‘What should I do?’

I was considering two options.

The first was…

‘Listing Dojin Soft.’

It was a matter I couldn’t easily decide on.

None of the Dojin Group affiliates had gone public yet.

The reason was simple.

Going public meant dividing shares.

And that would mean allowing external interference in company operations.

There would be an obligation to periodically notify about the overall management situation.

And above all…

‘In the domestic stock market, it’s hard to get proper recognition of our value.’

Stopping my thoughts, I asked Oh Seong-hak.

“If we list Dojin Soft on the domestic stock market, how much value do you think we could get recognized for?”

The surroundings became noisy at the unexpected mention of going public, but I didn’t mind.

“…If listed on the domestic stock market, we could get recognized for around 20 trillion in value.”

20 trillion.

Currently, Naver’s market cap was about 24 trillion.

It wasn’t a bad level.

But…

‘Assuming we offer about 20% of my shares in the IPO, the funds we could secure would be around 4 trillion.’

It was far from enough to build the data centers.

“What if we list on NASDAQ instead of in Korea?”

Actually, from the moment I considered going public, I hadn’t even thought about the domestic stock market.

The term “Korea Discount” didn’t exist for no reason.

Oh Seong-hak didn’t answer right away and remained silent for a while.

Then, after a moment, he spoke heavily.

“If Dojin Soft lists on NASDAQ, the valuation criteria would be completely different.”

I nodded in agreement.

“If listed domestically, the comparison would be companies like Naver, but on NASDAQ, it would be Microsoft or Google.”

Naturally, the valuation would have to go up.

“I think if listed on NASDAQ, Dojin Soft’s valuation could be at least 50 trillion, maybe even 100 trillion.”

With 100 trillion, assuming we sell 20% of the shares in the IPO,

we could secure enough funds to build the data centers.

If necessary, we could sell a bit more of the shares.

Then.

Executive Vice President Hong stepped into the conversation with a concerned look.

“CEO, listing on NASDAQ, unlike domestically, involves quite complex processes like accounting transparency, financial statement disclosure, IR activities, and compliance with disclosure regulations.”

It would take much longer to go public than in the domestic market.

And there would be more to comply with.

‘These are the reasons I don’t want to list if possible.’

“Moreover, during the listing process, a specific company could intentionally acquire a large portion of the shares.”

At the mention of a specific company, Ahsung Group came to mind first.

Those who were always looking for a chance to bring me down wouldn’t miss an opportunity to interfere with management.

“To prevent a specific company from acquiring a large portion of the shares, it would be better to list after getting a much higher valuation.”

“Yes.”

“The NASDAQ listing… is on hold for now.”

“Then how will we secure the funds needed for the data center construction…”

Han Yu-ju’s voice trailed off with worry.

“For now, look into loans.”

At the mention of loans, Oh Seong-hak reacted immediately.

“Getting a trillion-scale loan from banks won’t be easy.”

“I know. We’ll get the minimum loan from the bank to start the data center construction, and I’ll somehow secure the additional funds.”

“You’ll secure them yourself? How…”

It was over 20 trillion, not a small amount.

It was natural for everyone to be surprised that I would secure it myself.

“I’m not entirely sure yet. I’ll let you know when it’s more certain.”

“Yes.”

Since I, as the CEO, said so,

no one pressed further.

After the long and heated weekly meeting, Seong-hwan came to see me separately.

“By any chance, are you thinking of… not Dojin, but DJ Capital?”

He was the one who knew best what I was planning.

“For now, it seems like that’s the only way.”

Actually, creating a private fund and receiving overseas investments using IPs like Lunar and Pang Pang was also possible.

But I thought using DJ Capital to make money might be easier.

This was the second method I had been considering.

Without delay, I flew to Manhattan, New York, DJ Capital’s headquarters, with Seong-hwan.