SK ecoplant to supply fuel cells to China's GDS

Park Kyung-il, left, SK ecoplant CEO, and William Wei Huang, GDS CEO, pose for a photo during a collaboration agreement signing ceremony held on Friday in Jongno District, central Seoul. [SK ECOPLANT]

SK ecoplant on Monday said that it will supply fuel cells to GDS, a Shanghai, China-based data center operator.

The two companies signed a collaboration agreement on Friday in a bid to enter the Southeast Asian market and construct eco-friendly fuel cell-powered data centers in the region.

SK ecoplant, renamed from SK Engineering and Construction in May last year, will oversee the installment and construction process of fuel cell-based power systems at data centers, while GDS will take charge of the operation of the centers.

Founded in 2000, Nasdaq-listed GDS specializes in developing and building data centers, the largest of its kind in China with over 20 percent of the market share. Its customers include Chinese and global tech companies such as Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, Amazon and Microsoft.

The goal of the agreement is to take the lead in the Southeast Asian data center market, combining the Korean builder’s technologies in the hydrogen fuel cell business with GDS’ capabilities in the data center sector, said the companies.

SK ecoplant aims to expand its fuel cell businesses outside the traditional power supply sector and into the commercial sector, such as the data center and cold storage businesses.

SK ecoplant and GDS held a signing ceremony on Friday at the SK ecoplant office building in Jongno District, central Seoul, with SK ecoplant CEO Park Kyung-il and William Wei Huang, GDS CEO, in attendance.

“I expect the strategic cooperation with GDS, China’s No.1 data center company, to serve as a foundation for the fuel cell business expansion across sectors and borders,” said Park. “We will continue to take the lead in the global fuel cell market through continuous business model development and cooperation with global top-tier companies.”

SK eco plant has been operating its fuel cell business since 2018 and won a total of 381-megawatt fuel cell power plant projects over the past six years. In 2020, the company established a joint venture with San Jose, California-based Bloom Energy. The joint venture, named Bloom SK Fuel Cell, is 49 percent owned by SK ecoplant and 51 percent by Bloom Energy, and opened a manufacturing plant for solid oxide fuel cells in Gumi, North Gyeongsang in October 2020.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]