Hanwha Ocean Unveils 60MW Floating Data Center as AI Infrastructure Moves Offshore

Hanwha Ocean is expanding its expertise in shipbuilding and offshore engineering into the burgeoning AI infrastructure market with a 60MW Floating Data Center (FDC). This innovative solution aims to address the growing demand for data centers while mitigating land and power constraints. The South Korean conglomerate will unveil its first physical model of the 60MW FDC at the Gastech 2026 event in Thailand on September 14th, marking the first time it has presented the concept to the global market.

The company plans to showcase the technology and business model to a wide range of industry stakeholders, including energy companies, data center operators, and shipowners. The rapid growth of artificial intelligence is creating a surge in demand for data centers, which in turn require vast amounts of electricity and cooling capacity.

However, building new facilities on land can be hindered by limited sites, grid capacity, cooling requirements, and local opposition. To tackle these challenges, Hanwha Ocean has designed its FDC to generate power offshore and use seawater for cooling, potentially improving energy efficiency and reducing dependence on scarce land near major population centers.

The company's FDC features a modular design that can be easily adjusted to meet individual customer requirements, including power generation and supply systems, server types, and overall data center capacity. By combining its shipbuilding and offshore engineering capabilities with Hanwha Group's expertise in data centers, power and energy, operations and maintenance, and security, Hanwha Ocean aims to establish a leading position in the global FDC market.

The project has received Approval in Principle from the American Bureau of Shipping for the conceptual design of the 60MW FDC. However, further engineering and commercial development will be required before the technology can be deployed. At Gastech 2026, Hanwha Ocean will also display a model of a 174,000-cubic-meter LNG carrier featuring an ammonia gas turbine-based electric propulsion system.

This next-generation vessel aims to be a zero-carbon propulsion platform that eliminates the use of pilot oil even during ignition. By presenting both the floating data center and the zero-carbon LNG carrier, Hanwha Ocean seeks to demonstrate its commitment to decarbonizing its core shipbuilding operations and expanding its offshore engineering capabilities into new infrastructure markets.