Google Cloud’s Big Move: Introducing Data Residency in Korea for Enhanced Security

As the generative artificial intelligence (AI) boom leads more companies to adopt related technologies, Google Cloud has introduced the concept of ‘Data Residency’ for the first time globally in Korea, enhancing data security. This move is seen as an effort to alleviate companies’ concerns that cloud technology could inadvertently leak their data and ultimately be used to improve big tech services.

Kang Hyung-jun, the head of Google Cloud Korea, said at the ‘Google Cloud Summit Seoul 2023’ held in Seoul on February 14, “We have started offering data residency in 10 countries simultaneously, with Korea being one of them. Korea is the fastest-growing Google Cloud Platform (GCP) region worldwide. We will support Korean companies to utilize generative AI through the advantages of GCP successfully.

Data residency ensures that the internal data of partner companies does not leak outside the Korean region of Google Cloud. The Google Cloud introduced this information protection concept to alleviate customer companies’ concerns about data protection when using Google Cloud. While it has been convenient and cost-effective to build and deploy generative AI services using public clouds provided by Google Cloud and Microsoft (MS), there have also been concerns that corporate data could be transferred to big tech through the cloud.

President Kang emphasized, “The most important thing we consider when providing an AI platform for companies is security. Customer data should remain whether we prompt, infer, or output through models. In all these processes, the customer should manage their data. We provide encryption keys to use generative AI safely, and the customer fully manages this.”

Google Cloud expressed confidence in increasing its market share in the cloud market through its generative AI solution. Google Cloud’s global cloud market share is third, following Amazon Web Services and MS. Philip Moyer, the Vice President of Google Cloud Global AI Business and Solutions, said, “We have already secured reference customers in over 100 places for the products we launched in the last 4-5 months, and 70% of AI unicorns are using our solution. Since the product launch, the number of projects using our product has increased more than 150 times, and tens of thousands are taking exams to get certified in our generative AI technology.”

By. Heo Jin