SHI and M3 sign engineering contract for 50 MW floating data center in the US

Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI), a South Korean shipbuilder and maritime engineering firm, has signed an engineering contract with Mousterian Corporation (M3), a US-based infrastructure developer, for the first moored floating data center (FDC) deployment in the United States. The agreement marks the first project-level commitment under a strategic framework the two companies announced in April 2026.

Under the contract, SHI and M3 will jointly carry out basic design, detailed engineering, and production design for purpose-built moored FDC units capable of delivering 50 MW of IT capacity. According to a press release, the floating data centers are expected to be deployed in Texas and other key US markets, targeting hyperscalers and neocloud providers seeking faster and more flexible capacity expansion.

The floating data center concept addresses a growing constraint in the US data center industry: limited land availability. As buildouts become increasingly difficult to site onshore, placing critical IT infrastructure on water offers a viable alternative. The FDC design also incorporates bulk non-evaporative cooling, which consumes no potable water and returns no process discharge to the surrounding waterway. The system eliminates the need for air-cooled chillers and fans, resulting in a very low power usage effectiveness (PUE) and a reduced noise profile.

“Signing this engineering contract transitions our partnership with Samsung Heavy Industries from intent to execution and gives us a clear path to scaling factory-built critical IT capacity for AI-class facilities,” said Min Suh, Chief Executive Officer of Mousterian Corporation. “We are jointly engineering the first mission-critical data center of its class to be fabricated off-site to shipyard standards.”

Suh added that because the facility is built in a shipyard, fabrication advances alongside sitework rather than after it, giving the solution a significant timeline advantage over conventional data center delivery methods.

“Floating data centers are a natural extension of the engineering, fabrication, and project delivery capabilities we have built over five decades in offshore and maritime construction,” said Sung-an Choi, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Samsung Heavy Industries. “Together with Mousterian, we intend to deliver floating data centers with the same rigor, quality, and schedule certainty that define our maritime track record.”

The FDCs are expected to be deployed alongside existing power generation infrastructure, a move intended to demonstrate that delivery timelines can be drastically reduced, unlocking capacity for hyperscalers faster than land-based data centers can achieve. Earlier this year, SHI signed a memorandum of understanding with several international partners to develop an FDC concept that applies shipbuilding methods to create scalable offshore digital infrastructure.

The US deployment plan is significant for hyperscalers and neoclouds operating in the region, where land scarcity and permitting delays have slowed capacity growth. Floating data centers represent a growing market segment: QY Research estimates the market could be worth as much as US$ 593 million by 2031.