South Korea Plans Underwater Data Center for AI

South Korea is planning to build an underwater data center to ease the conflict between AI growth and limited land. In April, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries picked Ulsan for a pilot project. Servers will be placed in container-like capsules and sunk 20 meters deep, with room for up to 100,000 servers. The pilot costs about 51.1 billion won (around 243 million yuan) and tests may start this year. The capsules must handle three times normal air pressure and deal with saltwater corrosion and condensation. The goal is to keep equipment working underwater for 5 to 7 years. The project is led by the Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology, with SK Telecom, Lotte Construction, and POSCO involved. They are also developing robots for remote monitoring. Underwater data centers are not new—Microsoft shared results in 2020, and China already has one off Hainan. Land-based centers need lots of space, but South Korea is running out. Seawater can help cool the heat from AI training. South Korea is also working on floating data centers. HD Hyundai and Schneider Electric are partnering, and Samsung Heavy Industries' design got approval. The country aims to be a top AI nation, so data centers are key.