Interview with Kang Ho-seok, Samsung C&T Construction Division Data Center Team Pro

(Translated by Google)

“DC order selling point ‘Immersion cooling’, diversification of lineup to respond to market growth” Review of system supply business with the goal of dominating the global market

Samsung C&T Construction Group established a dedicated data center business (DC) team in 2020 as the first domestic construction company to pursue differentiated technology-based DC business.

The DC team, comprised of experts in each field including sales, design, procurement, construction, and DC operation, possesses various specialized technologies to reduce construction and operating costs and improve operational stability, and provides services covering the entire DC business through partnerships with various specialized companies.

In particular, they have recently attracted attention by developing immersion cooling together with domestic company Databin. We met with Kang Ho-seok, a professional from the Data Center Team in the Construction Division of Samsung C&T, to hear about the development background and future business direction.

■ DC-related major business contents are
In the past, the main method of participating in a project was through a construction phase bid, but recently, we are moving toward creating business value together as a partner. We participate in the project from the beginning in the form of a pre-construction service, reflecting Samsung C&T’s specialized technology in the initial design, and improving the business viability of the client company by reviewing construction costs and construction periods as well as reducing operating costs.

In addition, we are reviewing a plan to continuously discover next-generation DC core technologies, such as liquid immersion cooling, and directly utilize them in DC businesses, and further promote them as separate new businesses.

■ DC business strengths
Samsung C&T has various strengths based on differentiated technology in terms of DC business. First, in terms of technology, it has electrical, facility, extra-high voltage, BMS, architecture, and structural technology experts with specialized qualifications in DC design and operation such as ATD (Accredited Tier Designer), CDCP (Certified Data Center Professional), CISA (Certified Information Systems Auditor), and ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library), as well as DC operation experts with over 20 years of experience, which cannot be found in other construction companies.

Based on these experts, we have the technical capability to verify designs and secure system reliability through our own simulations. For example, we present TCO (Total Cost of Ownership)-based air conditioning system alternatives using our own DC-only energy performance evaluation program, and we verify cooling performance and system reliability using ETAP (Power System Analysis Simulation) and our own 6Sigma CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation) program.

In addition, we provide systematic commissioning services such as unifying the management of step-by-step creation data by utilizing our own commissioning management program to perform on-site commissioning, which is most important for securing DC final performance, and sharing real-time test operation data with the ordering party, construction company, CM, and commissioning company.

As a result of the great efforts and investment in developing these differentiated technologies, we have seven intellectual property rights related to DC, including the immersion cooling system, DC business feasibility review system, and energy performance evaluation program. In particular, the immersion cooling system is being patented not only domestically but also in five foreign countries.

In addition, we have several DC proposal models to shorten the customer decision-making period for initial business scale review, construction cost, construction period, and operating cost, and we have a technology DB for expanding application of renewable energy for reducing operating costs and ESG management, LEED certification model, server waste heat utilization, and cooling water efficiency.

As for DC construction performance, 12 DC projects have been completed and 1 DC pre-con service is currently in progress. The DC projects carried out by Samsung C&T have a diverse portfolio, ranging from supercomputer centers with a maximum power density of 50kW or more per rack to commercial IDCs and financial DCs. In particular, Saudi Arabia's Tadawul DC is the first DC in Korea to receive Tier 4 certification from the Uptime Institute, and is a DC with the highest level of reliability, which only 3.4% of all certified DCs achieve.

■ The size of the domestic and international immersion cooling market
It has already been 15 years since liquid immersion cooling technology was first introduced overseas. Since then, many global manufacturers have entered the liquid immersion cooling market, but until now, there have been few high-heat servers that require liquid immersion cooling, so air cooling has been sufficient.

According to the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) guidelines, liquid cooling is more effective than air cooling for CPU chips with a heat output of 350W or more. In 2023, Intel developed a 350W CPU chip, and the heat output of GPU chips is even greater. NVIDIA's H100 chip, which was released in 2022 and is currently in mass production, is 700W, and the recently released AI GPU Blackwell is 1,200W.

Looking at the major industries of immersion cooling technology, it consists of immersion cooling system manufacturers, refrigerant developers centered around global petrochemical companies, and server developers. Immersion cooling system manufacturers and refrigerant developers are considering the immersion cooling market as a new market and are making a lot of investment and technology development efforts, but the development of immersion-only servers seems to be progressing relatively slowly.

There are still many cases in which technology verification or pilot application is being carried out at the domestic and international level due to quality assurance issues in chips, SSDs, network equipment, cables, etc.

However, even in the DC market, which cannot help but be conservative for stable operation, it will be inevitable to use immersion cooling to remove the stigma of being a 'power-guzzling hippopotamus', and along with the rapid development of AI technology, the immersion cooling market is also expected to grow explosively within 2-3 years.

Recently, the pace of change in AI technology is so fast that it is difficult to predict, but according to Intel Taiwan in 2022, the liquid cooling market will grow by more than 50% annually to reach $3 billion by 2026, and Omdia, a British technology consulting firm, predicts that immersion cooling will account for 60% of the liquid cooling market in 2026.

■ Background of the development of liquid immersion cooling
The mission given to the DC team when it was created in 2020 was to strengthen DC order competitiveness through technological differentiation. While researching next-generation DC technology, we came to know about the liquid immersion cooling technology that Databean was reviewing as a new business at the time. At the time, it was an unfamiliar term that was difficult to translate into Korean, and the image of the server being immersed in liquid was shocking. After listening to the technology introduction, we decided that it was a new technology that would change the future DC paradigm.

Afterwards, Databin's immersion cooling technology development was selected for the Samsung C&T 'Con-tech Program' contest in 2021, and joint technology development was promoted, and the initial model, 'Smart Box 1.0', was developed. The Con-tech program is a technology development program for large and small businesses through mutual cooperation in which Samsung C&T's construction division provides technology development expenses and manpower to small and medium-sized businesses with technological capabilities and shares the results.

In 2023, we developed the 'Smart Box 1.5' that reflects the OCP (Open Compute Project) server, a high-density server standard, and completed verification of operational stability and usability in a supercomputer environment. We are currently developing additional lineups and improving products in preparation for the expansion of hyperscale AI DC.

■ DC immersion cooling business plan
Liquid immersion cooling is a new business of Samsung C&T Construction Division, and we are reviewing its commercialization from various angles. First, we plan to apply liquid immersion cooling technology to existing DC construction projects and utilize it as a selling point.

Singapore, which had long restricted the construction of new DCs due to power and land shortages, selected a consortium that proposed renewable energy and high-efficiency DC cooling systems as a business partner in July of last year. In addition, it announced a green DC roadmap in May, planning long-term DC expansion through measures such as improving DC energy efficiency, introducing energy-efficient IT equipment, and providing incentives and subsidies for resource efficiency.

Not only in Singapore but also around the world, DC projects are expected to become essential for energy efficiency. Samsung C&T Construction Division has secured the ability to provide design and construction consulting to customers by developing immersion cooling technology and establishing a DC proposal model that applies the immersion cooling system, and plans to actively propose it to domestic and international DC projects.

In addition, we are reviewing the promotion of a system supply business with the goal of dominating the global immersion cooling market. Details will be disclosed at a later date.

■ Recently, we are diversifying DC-related services.
First, S-DCIS (Samsung Data Center Information System), the DC business review system of Samsung C&T Construction Division, is a solution that performs business review based on GIS and visualization (Unreal) engines at the DC business planning stage.

Through GIS information inquiry of the business site, the surrounding environment such as laws and hazardous facilities is analyzed, and the optimal scale and mechanical and electrical systems are recommended by considering DC power capacity, building coverage ratio, and floor area ratio. In addition, DC modeling is provided using BIM. Finally, a review report on investment costs, construction periods, and operating costs for business feasibility review and an integrated information visualization dashboard using Unreal Engine are provided for use in marketing or consulting.

We are also developing a platform service utilizing digital twins. To improve the efficiency of building operation and management, we are developing BEES (Building Energy & Environment Simulator) based on data mining and simulation, and we plan to launch the service soon.

It provides intuitive information for building operation through data collection and analysis, data visualization, and 3D space management services. Based on a physical model, it is possible to link weather forecasts and operational data to enable precise energy analysis.

We provide building management and HVAC optimization services for building chimney phenomenon control, as well as precise prediction of indoor environment and optimal air conditioning operation solutions through energy simulator linkage analysis.

By linking with building operation data, we can provide rapid disaster response services tailored to disaster situations and solutions to early identify and resolve the causes of equipment failures, ultimately reducing building energy consumption, improving operational efficiency, and enhancing occupant comfort.

■ Mid- to long-term plan
As reported in the media every day, AI technology is growing rapidly every day. The DC market with high-performance servers is also expected to grow rapidly due to AI technology and market changes. Samsung C&T Construction Division plans to establish a DC model that applies an immersion cooling system that can effectively respond to the heat generation of these high-performance servers and actively expand its business targeting HPC (High Performance Computing) DC and global CSPs. Furthermore, in order to meet the rapid needs of the AI ​​market, we will lead the DC market more actively and quickly by combining modular DC technology that can be constructed in a short period of time with immersion cooling technology.

Read this article in its original language (Korean).

Reporter Yeo In-gyu igyeo@kharn.kr
Copyright 2015.10.01 ⓒ Kharn