• The five companies signed their agreement on 4 September at LG Uplus's Pyeongchon Mega Center in Anyang
  • Work under way since April covers a 100MW new-build model and a separate design for converting existing buildings

The fact

LG Uplus and GS Engineering & Construction announced on 6 September that they had formed a five-company alliance to develop prefabricated modular AI data centres. Xi C&A, Gansam Architects and D&O CM are also taking part. The agreement was signed on 4 September at LG Uplus's Pyeongchon Mega Center in Anyang, South Korea. The approach uses factory-made building sections and power and cooling equipment that can be assembled on site.

The group has been working since April on two models: a new-build design for a 100MW data centre and a separate model for converting existing buildings into AI data centres. LG Uplus will set operating and technical requirements and validate the designs. GS E&C will handle construction and engineering, Xi C&A conversions and power and cooling, Gansam standard design, and D&O CM project management. The 100MW figure refers to a design under development, not capacity that has already been built or commissioned.

The assessment

The alliance is trying to do more of the design work before construction reaches the site. In a modular data centre, building sections and parts of the power and cooling system are made in a factory. That can save time later, but only if the companies agree early on how the finished facility should operate.

LG Uplus will set those operating requirements, while the other partners turn them into standard designs for construction, power, cooling and project management. The advantage would be a design that can be reused with fewer changes from one project to the next.

The companies have not yet shown that this will shorten the delivery of a complete data centre. Sites still need power, civil works and commissioning. For BTW readers, the real test will come when the group applies the design to a named project and publishes the full construction schedule.

What to watch

Watch for the first project to use the standard design and for a schedule that separates factory production from site work, power connection and commissioning. That will make it possible to see whether modular construction saves time across the whole build, rather than only during assembly.