ST Telemedia Global Data Centres has forayed into the South Korean market and has partnered with Hyosung Heavy Industries to develop and operate data centers.

This partnership will be done through a joint venture, wherein 60 per cent of the partnership will be held by STT GDC and the remaining 40 per cent by Hyosung Heavy Industries.

STT GDC is one of the leading data centre service providers based out of Singapore. Hyosung Heavy Industries is a leading high voltage electrical equipment manufacturing and construction company in Korea.

Further, both the companies will jointly develop and operate their first carrier-neutral data centre campus in, South Korea, according to company officials.

“South Korea ranks among the world’s most digitally competitive economies and we are delighted to be partnering Hyosung Heavy Industries as we expand into South Korea, growing our presence in Asia to five markets. Hyosung Heavy Industries has strong local capabilities in power, industrial systems and construction technology.

Leveraging our global track record in designing, constructing and operating state-of-the-art, carrier-neutral data centres, we are well poised to support the increasing demands from our customers and businesses in the country and region, brought about by the rising adoption and consumption of cloud and digital services globally,” said Bruno Lopez, Group CEO, ST Telemedia Global Data Centres.

“Hyosung Heavy Industries has been focused and reputed for decades in providing power, industrial systems and construction technology in various residential, commercial and industrial facilities. We have observed the data centre industry in South Korea to be fast-growing on the back of increasing demand for digital solutions and services. With our long-standing expertise and leveraging STT GDC’s operational Data Centre excellence, we are excited to extend our capabilities and venture into building green data centres to support the surging demands of IT infrastructure sustainably,” said Takeshi Yokota, Representative Director of Hyosung Heavy Industries.

The joint venture is in the final stages of securing a land site in Greater Seoul, South Korea. Once finalised, the new data centres will be built to the highest quality standards and will be one of the few carrier-neutral, high-capacity facilities in South Korea capable of serving both hyperscale and retail colocation customer requirements, according to a company statement.

South Korea leads the world in ICT adoption and 5G network rollout, and tops Asian countries with an Internet penetration rate of 96 per cent as of January 2020, while its number of mobile connections was equivalent to 118 per cent of its population. The country’s public cloud market is expected to double in size over five years from $1.5 billion in 2018 to $3.1 billion in 2023, which translates into a compound annual growth rate of 15 per cent with digital native businesses, and media and gaming companies driving spend in South Korea’s public cloud market.

“The world’s first commercial 5G network was launched in South Korea in 2019. With faster data speeds, it enables businesses and consumers alike to enjoy the benefits of consistent ultra-low latency and high quality real-time digital content and services such as the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence and virtual reality. It is an opportune time for us to expand our offerings and delve into the data center business based on our collective industrial capabilities with STT GDC, who is recognised as a leading data center provider in Asia, to build the infrastructure needed for the thriving digital economy,” said Hyun-Joon Cho, Chairman, Hyosung Group.

Also, this partnership marks the continuing expansion of STT GDC’s data centre footprint globally particularly in Asia, with strong bases in China, India and Southeast Asia markets.