en.Wedoany.com Reported - Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) has signed an engineering contract with Texas-based infrastructure developer Mousterian Corporation to advance plans for a fleet of floating data centers. The collaboration targets the power supply, land use, and cooling bottlenecks driven by artificial intelligence (AI) workloads, aiming to offer an alternative solution through maritime infrastructure.
The contract covers the basic and production design of dedicated moored floating data center units. Each unit is designed to deliver 50 megawatts (MW) of critical IT capacity, with initial deployment sites targeting Texas and other U.S. markets. According to the Seoul Economic Daily, SHI plans to commercialize the platform by the second quarter of 2028.
The advantage of floating facilities lies in their ability to be deployed near existing power sources, which traditional onshore projects often struggle to access; the surrounding water also provides cooling for high-density AI equipment. The design employs non-evaporative cooling technology that does not rely on potable water, can support liquid-cooled AI workloads, and operates with lower noise levels than conventional facilities.
Min Suh, CEO of Mousterian Corporation, stated that this engineering contract moves the relationship between the two parties from intent to execution, providing a clear path to prefabricate critical IT capacity needed to scale AI-grade facilities. He also noted that manufacturing to shipyard standards enables construction and site preparation to proceed in parallel, potentially accelerating the deployment of hyperscale AI infrastructure. Sung-an Choi, Vice Chairman and CEO of Samsung Heavy Industries, pointed out that the floating data center builds on the company's existing experience in marine engineering and shipbuilding.
SHI initially unveiled the floating data center concept at the Posidonia 2026 exhibition in June, positioning it as an alternative to land-based facilities, which face increasing constraints in terms of available site space, power, and cooling. Other partners involved in the project include Greece-based Capital Clean Energy Carriers and Lloyd's Register.
As demand for AI infrastructure continues to heat up, several companies are exploring maritime data centers. Japan's Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) partnered with renewable energy company Kinetics in 2025 to develop an integrated floating data center platform; in April 2026, MOL announced a collaboration with Hitachi to develop floating data centers using converted vessels, targeting commercial deployment from 2027. In China, a facility billed as the world's first wind-powered underwater data center has been completed in Shanghai's Lingang New Area, with an installed capacity of 24 MW and an investment of 1.6 billion yuan (approximately $226 million). The large-scale commercial viability of floating data centers remains to be seen, but the growing number of engineering collaborations suggests the industry views them as a potential path to alleviating power and siting constraints for AI infrastructure.
