Empyrion DC, Asia’s first green data centre developer, announced that it is developing a 40 megawatt (MW) green data centre project in Gangnam, Seoul, South Korea (GDC). Empyrion DC signed a binding agreement with a local promoter to acquire 100 per cent of the development rights, with plans to invest up to $400 million in GDC.
Gangnam is widely recognized as the ‘Silicon Valley’ of Seoul and is home to several of the largest Korean conglomerates such as Hyundai, Kia, LG, and Samsung. As there has been no new data centre development in Gangnam for over a decade, Empyrion DC’s GDC project is aiming to alleviate the data centre supply shortage in Gangnam and the broader metropolitan Seoul area. The project is shovel-ready and the team expects to commence construction before year end 2022.
Empyrion DC has partnered with leading architects and engineers to develop GDC into Seoul’s first green energy enabled data centre. The project will utilise high efficiency Building Integrated Photovoltaic Panels (BIPV) on the facade of the 10-storey project. Empyrion DC also plans to leverage its in-house expertise in energy management to reduce its carbon footprint and develop GDC in line with world-class energy efficiency standards.
“Leveraging our deep local networks in Seoul, we sourced this exclusive transaction that was not available in the market. As Seoul is running out of data centre supply, and as we plan to achieve ‘ready-for-service’ status in 2024, we already have customers requesting to lease entire floors,” shared James Chern, chairman and managing partner of Seraya Partners. Empyrion DC is a portfolio company fully owned by funds managed by Seraya Partners.
Upon closing, GDC will be Empyrion DC’s second data centre investment. Empyrion DC also owns and operates SG1 Dodid data centre in Singapore, and beyond that, it has a pipeline of over 200 MW of projects across Asia.
