Doosan Fuel Cell makes first foray into US market with $365M deal

Doosan Fuel Cell announced Wednesday that it has signed a contract to supply phosphoric acid fuel cells (PAFC) worth 501.4 billion won ($365 million) to Hyaxxium, a US subsidiary of Doosan Co.

This marks the first time Doosan Fuel Cell's hydrogen fuel cells have entered the US market. PAFCs generate electricity using hydrogen as fuel and phosphoric acid as the electrolyte — the substance that mediates the chemical reaction.

The products will be delivered to Hyaxxium in stages from the second half of this year through the first half of 2028. Hyaxxium will then supply them to AI data centers across the United States.

Hyaxxium handles not only research and development but also sales, engineering, project execution, commissioning, and long-term maintenance and service in North America and Europe. Doosan Fuel Cell, operating out of its Iksan factory, has a cumulative installation record of more than 800 MW.

The deal comes against the backdrop of power bottlenecks in the United States. AI data centers are consuming electricity faster than new power plants and transmission infrastructure can be built, making rapid power procurement a key variable in the AI race. While expanding transmission networks takes years, data centers typically come online in about 18 months. To bridge that gap, major global technology companies are increasingly installing on-site power generation near their data centers, and fuel cells have emerged as a leading option.

The export deal is significant because it demonstrates that Doosan Fuel Cell's technology meets the high performance standards demanded by the North American data center market. The company's fuel cells offer high generation efficiency and continuous 24-hour operation, broadly satisfying data centers' requirements for power reliability, ease of maintenance and load responsiveness. Their modular design also allows capacity to be scaled up incrementally as power demand grows.

Depending on customer needs, heat generated during the fuel cell's power generation process can also be channeled into absorption chillers or heat pumps for data center cooling. Because a significant share of data center electricity goes toward cooling, an integrated solution that addresses both power generation and cooling is a key differentiator for PAFC technology.

Doosan Fuel Cell has built its competitiveness on government hydrogen economy promotion policies and cooperation within the domestic industrial ecosystem. The world's first hydrogen law, enacted in 2020 and amended in 2022, laid the groundwork for the Clean Hydrogen Power Supply market that opened in 2023, helping the domestic fuel cell industry grow. Doosan Fuel Cell has worked alongside domestic partners to advance its technology and strengthen its supply chain. The company has proactively secured annual production capacity of around 275 MW and is reviewing additional scale-up to prepare for future demand growth.

"This contract confirms our competitiveness in the United States — the core market — as a behind-the-meter power solution capable of resolving the power bottleneck problem facing data centers in the AI era," a Doosan Fuel Cell official said. "Building on this, we will leverage our rapid supply capabilities and phased scalability to expand additional orders in the North American market."