HD Korea Shipbuilding teams up with Schneider Electric to develop floating data centers

HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering signed an MOU with global data center infrastructure solutions company Schneider Electric on Tuesday to jointly develop floating data center (FDC) infrastructure technology.

The signing ceremony was held at HD Hyundai's Global R&D Center and attended by Kim Hyeong-gwan, CEO of HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, Kwon Ji-woong, CEO of Schneider Electric Korea, and other executives and officials from both companies.

An FDC — often called a data center at sea — is a next-generation data center that operates servers on a floating offshore structure. It is seen as an alternative to conventional onshore data centers, which face difficulties securing land sites and incur high server cooling costs.

Under the agreement, the two companies plan to expand cooperation in core data center infrastructure technology and the engineering needed to optimize it for a maritime environment. To that end, they will review the infrastructure and technical requirements for realizing an FDC and work together to identify optimal infrastructure solutions suited to an offshore platform environment. They also plan to build integrated design capabilities combining data center power and cooling infrastructure with offshore platform technology.

The two companies also agreed to share information on the latest FDC technology trends and engineering issues on an ongoing basis, while seeking additional joint research and development opportunities.

"Through this collaboration, we will advance the core technologies needed to stably deploy large-scale, high-density computing infrastructure at sea," Kim said.

Kwon said the expansion of AI infrastructure has made power efficiency and sustainability increasingly important challenges for data centers. "By combining Schneider Electric's global data center technology expertise with HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering's shipbuilding and marine engineering know-how, we will set a new standard for next-generation floating data centers," he added.

Other domestic shipbuilders are also accelerating their FDC development efforts. According to TradeWinds, Samsung Heavy Industries plans to complete commercialization of its floating data center by the second quarter of 2028.