Seoul districts move to restrict data centers as China builds them underwater

Seoul's autonomous districts are moving to curb data center construction, citing concerns over power and water consumption and the degradation of residential environments.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government's Council of District Mayors unanimously passed a proposal Wednesday calling for regulatory reforms to restrict data center construction, at its 203rd regular meeting.

The proposal, put forward by Yeongdeungpo-gu, would make architectural review mandatory for new data centers and allow restrictions on their construction in residential zones.

Data centers are considered essential infrastructure for the AI industry, but concerns are growing over electricity shortages from their massive power demands and water shortages from excessive cooling water use. Some residents have also raised the issue of low-frequency noise.

Under Seoul's current regulations, data centers are classified as broadcasting and communications facilities. Outside first-class general residential zones, there are few restrictions on building them.

The council plans to recommend that the Seoul Metropolitan Government amend its architectural committee operating guidelines so that data center construction falls under district-level review. It also agreed to push for revisions to Seoul's urban planning ordinance to allow restrictions on data centers in second- and third-class general residential zones.

The controversy is not limited to Seoul. According to reports by financial outlet Barron's and Britain's Guardian on July 5, scattered opposition movements across the United States have grown into large-scale protests, recall campaigns, and construction moratoriums and cancellations.

Over the past month, residents in California, Florida, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oregon and Texas have launched recall drives against officials who backed data center projects. Arizona, Illinois and Ohio, meanwhile, have moved to scale back or eliminate tax breaks and other incentives for data centers.

China has taken a different approach to the power and water challenges, operating commercial underwater data centers off Lingshui in Hainan province and Lingang in Shanghai, according to a report by the Korea-China Technology Cooperation Center. The Lingshui facility, located 35 meters below the seabed off Lingshui County, is the world's first commercial undersea data center and has been in operation since 2023. The Lingang facility, installed 10 meters underwater about 10 kilometers off the Shanghai coast, began full commercial operation in May.