IBM, in collaboration with local IT service vendor SK C&C, has launched a cloud datacentre in the city of Pangyo, south of South Korea's captial Seoul.

The datacentre, the ninth for Big Blue in Asia-Pacific, will support growing cloud adoption and customer demand, the companies said.

The centre will allow Korean startups -- Pangyo is home to the local version of Silicon Valley -- and enterprises to accelerate their digital transformation, enjoy more comfortable services, and choose more diverse solutions, the companies added.

It was modeled after IBM's standardized pod and will have capacity for thousands of physical servers and offer the full range of cloud infrastructure services, including bare metal servers, virtual servers, storage, security services, and networking, they said.

According to IDC, the public cloud market in South Korea is expected to grow from $445 million in 2015 to $1 billion by 2019.

IBM's global network of cloud datacentres -- 47 in total -- will offer Korean firms global reach, the companies said.

"A key part of our cloud strategy is to collaborate with local companies who understand the local market." said Robert LeBlanc, senior vice president, IBM Cloud, in a statement. "That's why we chose to partner with SK Holdings C&C in Korea. Together, we are able to bring the local expertise, platform, and data services that gives Korean customers the ability to compete on a global scale."

Big Blue and SK Group have been collaborating on multiple projects in the cloud as well as artificial intelligence.

SK Infosec, affiliate of SK C&C, has provided QRadar-based cloud security solutions for local clients since July.

The two are collaborating to launch a Korean version of IBM's AI platform Watson by next year. The finished version will be brought to the new centre in Pangyo and serviced when launched, SK C&C said.