Empyrion DC, Asia’s first green data centre developer, is developing a 40MW green data centre (GDC) in Gangnam, Seoul, South Korea.
Gangnam is widely recognised as the “Silicon Valley” of Seoul and is home to several of the largest Korean conglomerates such as Hyundai, Kia, LG, and Samsung.
Empyrion DC, which is headquartered in Singapore with regional offices in Seoul and Taipei, signed a binding agreement with a local promoter to acquire 100% of the development rights, with plans to invest up to US$400 million in GDC.
Closing is expected to take place before end of September 2022 subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions.
As there has been no new data centre development in Gangnam for over a decade, Empyrion DC’s GDC project will 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 use high efficiency Building Integrated Photovoltaic Panels (BIPV) on the facade of the 10-story project.
A portfolio company fully owned by funds managed by Seraya Partners, Empyrion DC leverages 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 wasn’t available in the market,” said James Chern, chairman and managing partner of Seraya Partners.
“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,”
Upon closing, GDC will be Empyrion DC’s second data centre investment. Empyrion DC also owns and operates SG1 Dodid data centre in Singapore. Beyond that, the company has a pipeline of over 200 MW of projects across Asia.
