SINGAPORE and SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA, 19 January 2021 – ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC), a leading data centre service provider headquartered in Singapore, today announced a strategic partnership with Hyosung Heavy Industries (KRX:298040), a leading high voltage electrical equipment manufacturing and construction company in Korea, on a 60:40 basis to jointly develop and operate their first carrier-neutral data centre campus in, South Korea.

“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, President and 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 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 centre business based on our collective industrial capabilities with STT GDC, who is recognised as a leading data centre provider in Asia, to build the infrastructure needed for the thriving digital economy,” said Hyun-Joon Cho, Chairman, Hyosung Group.

South Korea leads the world in ICT adoption¹ and 5G network rollout, and tops Asian countries with an Internet penetration rate of 96% as of January 2020, while its number of mobile connections was equivalent to 118% of its population².  The country’s public cloud market is expected to double in size over five years from US$1.5 billion (2018) to US$3.1 billion (2023), enjoying a compound annual growth rate of 15% with digital native businesses, and media and gaming companies driving spend in South Korea’s public cloud market³. 

The JV 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.

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.