ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC), a global data center colocation service provider headquartered in Singapore, has announced that STT Seoul 1, its first data center in Korea, has achieved the Uptime Institute Tier III Certification of Design Documents (TCDD). This is significant in South Korea where increased concerns over sustainability led to the finalizing of sustainability standards earlier this year, as well as mandatory sustainability reporting requirements.
Uptime Institute is a globally recognized authority on data center performance, resilience and efficiency. Its Tier Certification program evaluates data center infrastructure against defined availability objectives, with certification available across three stages: Design Documents, Constructed Facility, and Operational Sustainability.
“The Tier Certification of Design Documents provides independent validation of the facility’s engineering and architectural plans against rigorous criteria across critical infrastructure elements. This offers early confidence at the design level that the planned topology is aligned to the project’s availability objectives and is designed for concurrent maintainability. The Tier III Certification of Design Documents award signifies the organization’s commitment to superior design standards and sets the foundation for a Tier Certification of Constructed Facility,” said Philip Hu, Managing Director, North Asia, Uptime Institute.
In a press release, STT GDC said that STT Seoul 1 is currently under development in Gasan‑dong, Geumcheon‑gu, Seoul, with commercial operations targeted to commence in June 2026. Designed as an AI‑ready facility, the data center will support up to 30MW of IT load and features a resilient power architecture, including dual 22.9kV power feeds (primary and secondary), distributed redundant UPS systems, and N+1 emergency generators.
The facility is also designed with a carrier‑neutral network architecture, dual telecom entry points, a high‑efficiency cooling system, with a targeted design power usage effectiveness (PUE) below 1.3. Fire detection and suppression systems include VESDA‑based early smoke detection and gas‑based fire suppression. Moreover, the facility was engineered to support high availability through concurrent maintainability, with critical power and cooling infrastructure designed to allow planned maintenance activities to be carried out without service interruption.
“Achieving the Tier III Certification of Design Documents for STT Seoul 1 is an important milestone as we progress towards operational readiness in Korea,” said Charles Huh, Country Head for STT GDC Korea. “It reflects our disciplined approach to infrastructure design and our commitment to delivering data center environments that meet globally recognised standards for availability and resilience.”
STT Seoul 1 represents a key step in STT GDC’s long-term expansion in Korea, supporting the growing demand for digital infrastructure to support cloud, enterprise, and emerging AI workloads.