Keppel and Digital Edge Add 120MW of Planned Capacity in Greater Seoul Data Centre Push
June 9, 2026
Keppel and Digital Edge Add 120MW of Planned Capacity in Greater Seoul Data Centre Push
Singapore-based digital infrastructure firms Keppel Ltd and Digital Edge have each announced separate data centre project acquisitions in the South Korean city of Ansan on consecutive days this week, collectively adding 120 megawatts of planned IT capacity to one of Greater Seoul’s most active digital infrastructure hubs. The back-to-back deals underscore the intensifying competition for scarce power and land in the region, where vacancy rates have fallen to historic lows.
Digital Edge, backed by US alternative investment firm Stonepeak, said on Monday that it had acquired a fully powered land parcel in Ansan’s Sihwa National Industrial Complex to develop a 60MW facility, marking its fifth project in South Korea. The site, located in Seonggok-dong, Danwon-gu, will be developed into SEL5, the company’s third project in the Seoul metropolitan area, complementing its existing facilities in Incheon and Busan. The parcel carries a 90 MVA power agreement, which Digital Edge described as among the largest in Ansan, and will feature a dual-feed power architecture supported by two independent 154-kilovolt substations. Cooling infrastructure incorporating a chiller plant with integrated free cooling is expected to deliver an annualised power usage effectiveness below 1.25.
“With SEL5, we have secured large-scale power in a highly constrained market and paired it with a resilient, scalable site capable of supporting next-generation hyperscale deployments,” said John Freeman, chief executive officer of Digital Edge. Korea Investment Real Asset Management, which had competed to acquire the site, has joined the project as co-developer. With 52MW of facilities currently operating, the Ansan acquisition brings Digital Edge’s pipeline in the country to 120MW.
The following day, Singapore’s Keppel Ltd announced that it had acquired a 73 percent effective stake in a project developing the 60MW Ansan Global Meta Data Centre, marking its first investment in South Korea and the first for its Keppel Data Centre Fund III vehicle. The project is located at 726-4 Wonsi-dong in Ansan’s Banwol National Industrial Complex, across town from Digital Edge’s Sihwa site. Shinyoung Group, the developer that established the project vehicle Daol Data Center No. 1 PFV in 2022, holds the remaining stake alongside financial co-investors. The project is targeted to enter service by 2030 and will be built to Tier III-equivalent specifications to serve hyperscalers, cloud service providers and corporates. Keppel did not disclose the acquisition price, but Korean media placed the total project investment at KRW 1 trillion ($659 million).
The pair of project acquisitions come as data centre end users face a vacancy rate of just 1.4 percent in the Seoul Metropolitan Area, according to Keppel, with the entire 2025–27 supply pipeline already fully pre-leased. “South Korea is one of Asia’s most exciting data centre investment markets,” said Lee Hui Fang, chief investment officer for data centres at Keppel. “The convergence of burgeoning AI workloads and a power-constrained market in [Greater Seoul] creates a compelling entry point for Keppel.” In its statement, Keppel pointed to government curbs on power supply applications for projects exceeding 10MW having significantly curtailed new development in the Greater Seoul area. The transaction is the second investment for Keppel Data Centre Fund III, which Keppel said it had grown to approximately S$2.7 billion ($2.1 billion) in funds under management by the end of 2025.
Ansan has emerged as a focal point for data centre development in the Greater Seoul region, driven by government-backed industrial land conversion and more accessible power than inner Seoul. Over the past year, projects in the Gyeonggi provincial city include local tech giant Kakao opening a data centre near Hanyang University’s Erica campus in September 2023, Koramco Asset Management and data centre operator DCI breaking ground on a project in Seonggok-dong in December of that year, and Korea Alternative Asset Management developing a 62.5MW facility at a neighbouring parcel through a partnership with Hyundai Engineering and Construction. UK infrastructure investor Actis is also developing a 100MW data centre in Ansan’s Seonggok-dong area, according to Korean media. In the broader Seoul area, Warburg Pincus secured an 80MW greenfield site in Yongin City last September in partnership with Wide Creek Asset Management and data centre operator DC Connects.
Source: mingtiandi
