Keppel enters South Korea’s data centre market with 60 MW greenfield project

[SINGAPORE] Keppel announced on Tuesday (Jun 9) that it has made its strategic entry into South Korea’s digital infrastructure sector through its private fund, Keppel Data Centre Fund III (KDCF III).

The fund has secured land in Ansan, within the Seoul Metropolitan Area (SMA), to develop a 60 megawatt (MW) greenfield data centre.

Under the transaction, KDCF III will acquire an about 73 per cent effective stake in a special purpose vehicle that owns the land.

The remaining 27 per cent stake is held by South Korean developer Shinyoung, NNH Investment & Securities and construction company Hyundai E&C.

The planned artificial intelligence-ready facility has already secured the necessary construction permits and power approvals, and is targeted to be ready for service by 2030, said Keppel.

The data centre will be built to serve hyperscalers, cloud service providers and corporates.

The move marks Keppel’s first data centre project in South Korea. As at the end of 2025, its portfolio comprised 39 data centres with a gross power capacity exceeding 800 MW, including projects under development.

Manjot Singh Mann, CEO of Keppel’s connectivity division, noted that South Korea represents a “compelling growth market” driven by strong demand from cloud service providers and hyperscalers, coupled with limited new supply in the SMA.

Lee Hui Fang, chief investment officer for data centres at Keppel, said that the convergence of burgeoning AI workloads and a power-constrained market in the SMA create an attractive entry point for the company.

“By securing scarce power in a shovel-ready site, we are building on our deep capabilities in data centre fund management and development to capture the full upside of Korea’s digital transformation,” she added.

This project marks the second investment by KDCF III.

As at the end of 2025, KDCF III’s funds under management (FUM) had grown to about S$2.7 billion. Keppel’s total FUM under its connectivity segment stood at around S$13 billion.

Keppel said that the agreement is not expected to have a material impact on its net tangible assets per share or earnings per share for the current financial year.