Singapore’s ST Telemedia Data Centres Takes on 2nd Korea Project With 30MW Facility

Temasek Holdings-backed ST Telemedia Global Data Centres has teamed up with Samsung Group’s property investment arm and an unnamed institutional investor to develop a 30 megawatt data centre in Seoul, marking its second facility in South Korea’s fast-growing digital infrastructure sector.

The digital infrastructure arm of Singapore’s ST Telemedia announced on Wednesday that it is leasing a 31,205 square metre (335,887 square foot) facility in the southwestern part of the capital which is being developed by Samsung SRA Asset Management and its anonymous global partner.

“The establishment of our second data centre site in South Korea bears testament to our strong efforts in supporting the country’s digital transformation and we are delighted for this next chapter of our growth,” said STT GDC president and group chief executive officer Bruno Lopez. “This expansion in Seoul is a natural next step for us in offering critical digital infrastructure services to meet the growing customer demand for complex design and scale requirements.

ST Telemedia’s unit is embarking on this latest project just 17 months after entering the market through a joint venture with a Korean electrical equipment manufacturer for a data centre campus in Greater Seoul, as the wholly owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings seeks to grow its share of a market supported by some of the highest rates of 5G development and public cloud adoption globally.

2025 Launch Eyed

Slated to begin operation in the first half of 2025, STT GDC said the project is located in Gasan-don in the Geumcheon-gu district of southwestern Seoul, with access to the Gasan Digital Complex and Doksan subway stations and is situated close to logistics and knowledge industry hubs.

While the firm declined to disclose the amount of investment involved, it said Samsung SRA and its partner will jointly develop the shell and core of the data centre before this is leased out to STT GDC Korea.

The Singapore-headquartered firm and its earlier partner, KRX-listed Hyosung Heavy Industries, will then be in charge of the remaining fit-out and the actual operations of the server hosting facility.

“We are committed to deliver flexibility and scalability to our customers by offering critical infrastructure solutions that meet their evolving needs,” said Nicholas Toh, STT GDC’s CEO for Northeast Asia. “With our data centre site set within a strategic yet accessible prime location within the city of Seoul, we believe this will open doors to new opportunities for accelerated digital infrastructure, cloud-based services and innovations.”

The latest data centre sits to the north of its first Korean property, which is located in Gyeonggi province’s Anyang City in the capital’s southern suburbs. The firm is developing the carrier-neutral data centre campus alongside Hyosung Heavy Industries, with the goal of supplying both hyperscale and retail co-location needs.

Digital-Savvy Korea

STT GDC said South Korea has been a world leader in implementing 5G networks, public cloud platforms and artificial intelligence. With 5G accounting for at least a quarter of total mobile connections in the country, Korea has the highest rate of leading edge mobile networks globally, according to a report by telecom research firm GSMA Intelligence.

The domestic public cloud market is also poised to double in size from $1.5 billion in 2018 to $3.1 billion in 2023 according to Boston Consulting Group, mainly due to the heavy usage by the nation’s e-commerce sector, media firms, gaming companies and other digital-driven businesses.

In April alone, Korea welcomed two major data centre investments from Singapore-based Digital Edge and Hong Kong’s Gaw Capital.

Stonepeak Infrastructure-backed Digital Edge in late April launched a KRW 1 trillion ($1 billion) joint venture with local construction firm SK Ecoplant to build a 120 megawatt server facility in Incheon city near Seoul. On the same day that Digital Edge unveiled its plan, Gaw Capital announced that it had teamed up with a local fund manager for its entry into Korea’s digital infrastructure market through an investment in data centre operator Dreammark1 which owns a 10 megawatt project.

BDx Indonesia Aims For 250MW Load

While ST Telecom’s data centre unit expands in East Asia, digital infrastructure provider Big Data Exchange (BDx) is growing its presence in Southeast Asia with the launch of its Indonesian unit last week after closing a $300-million joint venture in May.

Through the new partnership, BDx Indonesia acquired four data centres located in Jakarta and surrounding cities, with a plan to upgrade their combined power capacity to 70 megawatts by next year and eventually enhance the facilities to accommodate 250 megawatts in total, the company said.

“Hyperscalers and enterprises have a critical need for best-in-class global data centers and robust connectivity in Indonesia, and BDx Indonesia will play an integral role in empowering digital transformation across this key APAC region and beyond,” said Braham Singh, CEO of BDx.

The move broadens BDx’s regional presence beyond its existing footprint in China, Hong Kong and Singapore where it has a total of six facilities.