As demand for artificial intelligence (AI) data centers surges, global shipowners are turning their attention to "data centers at sea." They aim to expand revenue by moving beyond the traditional business of owning vessels and collecting charter fees to long-term leasing of offshore data centers to big tech and cloud operators. Among domestic shipbuilders, Samsung Heavy Industries was the first to partner with a global shipowner to commercialize a floating data center (FDC).
◇ Beyond ships to data center leasing… inquiries from shipowners for collaboration are pouring in
According to the shipbuilding industry on the 7th, Samsung Heavy Industries recently received collaboration inquiries on the FDC business from multiple global shipowners. Among them, it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Capital Clean Energy Carriers (hereafter Capital), a Greek shipowner, for a joint FDC development project.
An FDC is a data center installed on a floating structure on a river or at sea, not on land. Large AI data centers require vast sites, massive power, and cooling facilities, but the United States and Europe have recently struggled with grid connection delays and land shortages. FDCs can be installed in ports, coastal areas, or on rivers to ease the burden on land sites and use seawater as a cooling source to reduce the load on cooling facilities.
Shipowners are interested in FDCs because they offer a relatively stable revenue structure. Profitability for existing vessels such as crude carriers, LNG carriers, and container ships varies greatly with freight cycles. By contrast, data centers are infrastructure with expected long-term demand as AI and cloud adoption spreads. If a model takes hold in which a shipowner owns an FDC and a big tech or cloud operator uses it for an extended period, it becomes a new business model that expands ship assets into digital infrastructure.
Jerry Kalogiratos, CEO of the shipowner Capital, which joined hands with Samsung Heavy Industries, said, "This collaboration is about seeking new opportunities where marine and digital infrastructure meet," adding, "As AI spreads and computing demand grows rapidly, floating data centers are becoming a solution with scalability and flexibility."
Not only shipowners but also the actual demand side—big tech and cloud operators—have begun to see offshore data centers as one of their options. Samsung affiliates signed a letter of intent (LOI) with OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, in Oct. last year for global AI data center infrastructure cooperation. Among them, Samsung C&T and Samsung Heavy Industries agreed to pursue joint development of floating data centers with OpenAI.
◇ Samsung Heavy leads with a 50 MW-class design… tasks remain to verify power and server stability
Leveraging its experience designing and building floating offshore facilities, Samsung Heavy Industries is accelerating the commercialization of FDCs. An FDC must reliably integrate not only server space but also power, cooling, communications, and safety facilities within an offshore structure. Based on its offshore plant experience such as FLNG (floating liquefied natural gas production facilities), Samsung Heavy Industries created a 50 MW-class FDC concept design and received approval in principle in April from the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) and Lloyd's Register.
Power supply architecture is also a core technology of FDCs. The FDC envisioned by Samsung Heavy Industries is designed to be installed along coasts or in ports to receive external power via subsea cables, and it can also mount its own power generation facilities. The 50 MW-class model under development as the standard is considering an onboard generation system using solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) fueled by LNG. By using both external power and onboard generation, it can reduce grid connection burdens compared with land data centers, Samsung Heavy Industries said.
Experiments with surface and subsea data centers are underway overseas as well. Nautilus Data Technologies in the United States is operating a 6.5 MW barge-type data center at the Port of Stockton, California, and Japan's Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) is considering converting used vessels into data centers. In China, a 24 MW subsea data center went into operation last month about 10 km offshore from Lingang, Shanghai. The operator, Shanghai HighCloud Technology, said the facility uses offshore wind power and seawater cooling to cut power consumption by 22.8% compared with conventional land data centers, while reducing the use of fresh water for cooling and the burden of securing large sites.
However, many say it will take time for large FDCs to establish themselves as a full-fledged revenue business. Structures at sea are exposed to vibration, inclination, salinity, and humidity changes, so the stability of precision servers must be verified. To confirm conditions for reliably operating AI servers in marine environments, Samsung Heavy Industries recently signed a joint development cooperation agreement with Supermicro, a U.S. AI server company.
An industry source said, "FDCs are more likely to be used first in coastal cities or island regions where power and land constraints are significant, rather than immediately replacing land data centers," adding, "The success or failure of the early market will hinge on accumulating sufficient operating data and meeting stringent permitting standards."