Samsung Heavy Industries is set to sign an engineering agreement with U.S. data center developer Mousterian Corporation (M3) for a floating data center (FDC) project. Among South Korean shipbuilders, this is the first case of applying an FDC concept design to a real project.
An FDC is a data center that operates on the water by loading servers and power and cooling facilities onto a barge or ship. It does not require large tracts of land and can use surrounding water to cool servers, emerging as a new alternative to conventional land-based artificial intelligence (AI) data centers.
◇ Construction at merchant-vessel dock requires no additional expansion; FLNG technology to be applied
According to industry sources on the 30th, Samsung Heavy Industries is set to sign an engineering agreement next week with M3 for FDC facilities. M3 identifies waterfront sites with access to power and develops data centers by securing tenants, including big tech companies, as well as investors. It is promoting the FDC business, highlighting that it can shorten the build time compared with onshore data centers.
Samsung Heavy Industries will handle everything from design to fabrication and delivery of the FDC, leveraging its offshore plant design and construction capabilities. Min Suh, chief executive officer of M3, told ChosunBiz, "We are exclusively working with Samsung Heavy Industries as a shipyard partner to manufacture and deliver our permanently moored data center facilities." The two companies are expected to further define the FDC's design and specifications under the engineering agreement before moving on to a follow-up construction contract.
The first FDC they are pursuing will be installed not in the open sea but in waters near an industrial complex with sufficient power supply. The goal is to place a data center on a barge, receive power from onshore and begin operations in the first half of 2028.
Construction will use a dock for merchant vessels at Samsung Heavy Industries' Geoje Shipyard. A Samsung Heavy Industries official said, "By adjusting dock schedules, we can build up to two FDC units currently under discussion."
The FDC will be built separately from offshore plant production facilities, so it will not affect ongoing floating liquefied natural gas production facility (FLNG) construction work, effectively adding new work without separate expansion. Samsung Heavy Industries plans to expand its business scope to ship-type data centers deployed farther offshore.
Technologies accumulated by Samsung Heavy Industries through building FLNG facilities will also be applied to the FDC. For AI data centers densely packed with high-performance graphics processing units (GPUs), the key is to reliably remove the heat generated by servers. Cooling, thermal management and fire protection are areas Samsung Heavy Industries has handled while building offshore production facilities.
An industry official said, "By applying a standardized shipyard construction process that integrates design, fabrication and equipment installation, FDCs can be built faster than onshore data centers," adding, "Because these are high-value-added structures packed with cooling and safety facilities, profitability is likely to surpass that of conventional merchant vessels."
◇ FDC demand amid onshore data center bottlenecks; potential for series orders
FDCs are drawing attention because onshore data centers are facing delays due to challenges in securing power, water and permits. To build a large AI data center, developers must secure transmission networks, sites, cooling water and environmental permits. If even one is delayed, the overall schedule slips.
In fact, New York State this month paused for up to one year the issuance of discretionary environmental permits for new hyperscale data center projects whose permit applications had not already been deemed complete. The state also decided to establish common standards to assess power demand, water use, and air and water quality impacts.
Because floating structures and key equipment can be prefabricated at shipyards, shortening on-site construction time, FDCs are drawing interest from big tech companies racing to secure AI data center capacity.
Targeting this demand, M3 is pushing ahead with data center projects in the hundreds of megawatts, with Samsung Heavy Industries as a key partner. The company is pursuing a 500 MW floating–onshore hybrid data center project in Houston and preparing an 860 MW FDC in the San Jose area of California, with operations targeted for 2029.
The scale of the data centers M3 is pursuing, including onshore types, exceeds 1 GW in terms of IT critical capacity. Samsung Heavy Industries plans to adjust capacity and configuration to match actual installation environments, based on the 50 MW FDC concept design that received approval in principle in April.
As demand in the FDC market becomes visible, competitors are also starting to move. HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering earlier this month signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with French data center solutions company Schneider Electric to jointly develop FDC infrastructure technologies, while exploring related technologies and their commercial potential.
An industry official said, "Corporations rushing to secure AI data center capacity are focusing on near-shore models with shorter construction timelines," adding, "If the first project demonstrates reliable delivery and operational stability, the market could grow into repeat orders for standardized designs."