Gaon Cable eyes 25-fold surge in bus duct sales by 2030 on AI data center boom

Amid expectations of rapid growth in the global bus duct market, Gaon Cable has set a target of raising bus duct-related sales to 2 trillion won ($1.44 billion) and capturing a 6 percent market share by 2030, driven by large-scale orders from North American big tech companies.

According to industry sources, Gaon Cable recently disclosed at an investor relations roadshow that it expects bus duct sales to reach 2.1 trillion won and its market share to climb to 6.4 percent by 2030. Its US subsidiary LSCUS posted bus duct sales of about 83 billion won last year, representing a market share of roughly 0.4 percent — meaning the company projects a 25-fold increase in sales and a 16-fold rise in market share within five years.

A bus duct is a power transmission system that delivers and distributes large volumes of electricity inside buildings by enclosing flat, plate-shaped conductors — known as bus bars — in a metal casing, replacing hundreds of conventional wires. Compared with standard cables, bus ducts offer lower bulk, reduced power loss and a smaller fire risk, making them a critical infrastructure component in high-power facilities. Their advantages also include maximized space efficiency, shorter installation times, and flexibility for scale-up and relocation. They are increasingly regarded as an essential power distribution solution for AI data centers, and the market is expected to expand rapidly.

Market research firm Global Growth Insights projects the global bus duct market will grow from 20 trillion won last year to 33 trillion won by 2030, expanding at an average annual rate of 10.5 percent. Building a 1 GW AI data center typically requires total capital expenditure of around 70 trillion won, of which power infrastructure accounts for roughly 15 percent — about 10.5 trillion won — and bus ducts alone for about 1 percent, or around 700 billion won.

The current global top five bus duct suppliers are Siemens, Schneider Electric, ABB, Gaon Cable (through LSCUS) and EAE. High entry barriers, combined with surging demand and supply bottlenecks, give suppliers a clear advantage in the market. Signs of change are even emerging in Europe, where strict building preservation regulations and aging structures have long made electrical upgrades difficult. Italy's Prysmian, the world's largest cable maker, and France's Nexans, the second largest, had largely stayed out of the bus duct business, but Prysmian has recently moved to enter the segment by pursuing the acquisition of US electrical equipment maker Atkore.

Against this backdrop, LSCUS has been landing a string of massive bus duct orders. In May, it signed a long-term supply contract to deliver more than 4 trillion won worth of bus ducts to a US big tech company — identified only as Company A — over five years. The deal is the largest supply contract ever recorded in South Korea's cable and power equipment industry. Before that, in November last year, LSCUS signed a three-year, 1.2 trillion won long-term supply agreement with another big tech firm, referred to as Company B.

Most recently, LSCUS agreed to supply 200 billion won worth of bus ducts for an AI cloud data center project in the United States, with deliveries to proceed in stages through next year. The project includes a 250 MW AI data center and represents the largest single-building order LSCUS has ever won. The company said it is in talks over additional projects worth two to three times the volume of this contract, and that its North American market share could grow further depending on the outcome of those discussions.

Meanwhile, Gaon Cable is also pushing to expand US exports of distribution cables alongside its bus duct business. US exports of distribution cables came to about 100 billion won last year and are expected to reach about 300 billion won this year. The company aims to raise the share of overseas sales from 14 percent in 2023 to 59 percent by around 2030. In addition, it is pursuing expansion into the submarine cable segment by leveraging product upgrades and the capabilities of its parent company LS Cable & System, and is reportedly considering entering the inter-array submarine cable market.