South Korean city bets on the ocean to solve its AI data center crisis but this is only the beginning

Date:
Sat, 22 Aug 2026 19:10:00 +0000

Description:
Ulsan and KIOST are testing a $37 million underwater data center cooled by cold seawater instead of electricity.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Ulsan is testing underwater
data centers to support growing AI workloads The project carries a KRW 51.1 billion (about $37 million) budget through 2030 Seawater could provide
cooling without conventional mechanical refrigeration systems South Korean city Ulsan is exploring underwater infrastructure as AI computing continues
to strain land availability, power grids, and cooling systems nationwide.

The city is partnering with the Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (KIOST) to design a standardized subsea data center model. Officials hope the approach can ease some of the site and cooling constraints that conventional data centers increasingly face across the country. Latest Videos From TechRadar Watch full video here: Building a standardized underwater model The partnership between Ulsan and KIOST runs through 2030, with a combined budget of KRW 51.1 billion (about $37 million) - KRW 40 billion (about $29 million) of which comes directly from the central government, with the remainder covered locally.

Ulsan plans to complete the standard model by 2030 and begin developing an underwater data-center complex for commercialization from 2031, the city
said. You may like Samsung says it will launch a floating data center by 2028 Samsung wants to bring a floating data center to Texas Google says how it
will solve the AI data center water problem by 2030

The goal is a working, carbon-neutral template for underwater computing that other sites could later replicate.

The project will take place in waters roughly 20 meters deep off the Ulsan coastline, where engineers plan to rely on seawater which averages about 13.3C annually as a core part of the cooling strategy. Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get
all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed! Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting
your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

Researchers intend to combine pressure-resistant vessel design with hybrid cooling systems described as ultra-high-efficiency by project planners.

Server units and power distribution equipment will follow standardized
modular designs meant to simplify future scaling.

The team is aiming for an operating efficiency of approximately PUE 1.2 once testing concludes. What to read next Nuclear engineer wants to use special bubbles to save AI data centers from a massive energy crisis Enabling the
next generation of AI data centers Many new AI data centers will be built on US drought-hit areas

SK Telecom joined the partnership in January 2026, taking on responsibility for GPU-based infrastructure and server operations management.

In addition to Ulsan and KIOST, other research organizations, academics and industry professionals are part of the project working behind the scenes.

Their combined role covers everything from vessel engineering to the software layer that will eventually manage AI workloads underwater. A larger
commercial vision A separate, longer-term concept discussed by the city involves roughly KRW 500 billion (about $360 million) in investment and capacity for up to 100,000 servers.

This larger sum is not tied to the current phase of work and only reflects what a full commercial buildout could eventually cost.

Whether Ulsan reaches that scale will depend entirely on how the initial testing phase performs.

South Korea faces mounting pressure to expand computing capacity as AI workloads multiply across chipmakers, cloud providers, and research institutions nationwide.

Land near major population centers remains scarce and expensive, pushing planners toward unconventional sites away from crowded urban areas.

Ocean water offers a cooling resource that requires none of the mechanical refrigeration conventional facilities depend on heavily.

If the Ulsan demonstration performs as expected, similar underwater sites could eventually spread along other stretches of Korea's coastline.

For now, the ocean floor represents a promising but unproven answer to
Korea's expanding AI infrastructure demands.

Via SSC Subsea Cables Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.



======================================================================
Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/south-korean-city-bets-on-the-ocean-to-solve-its -ai-data-center-crisis-but-this-is-only-the-beginning


--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 (Linux/64)
* Origin: tqwNet Technology News (1337:1/100)