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Hyundai Engineering announced on September 28 that it has won a contract to build a 60-megawatt AI data center in Gunsan, Jeonbuk State. The total project value is 870 billion won ($625 million at current rates). Groundbreaking is planned for October.

The Deal

The client is SGC Group. The site is a 115,702-square-meter plot in Bieungdo-dong, Gunsan — large enough to anchor a multi-phase development. This 60MW award is phase one of a 300MW AI data center cluster, and Hyundai Engineering said it expects the existing contract to give it priority negotiating rights on the planned 240MW second phase.

The facility will run Nvidia’s next-generation Vera Rubin chips. Hyundai Engineering flagged that Vera Rubin raises power density and heat output per rack sharply versus prior generations, making robust power and liquid cooling infrastructure a core technical requirement for the project. The mechanical, electrical, and plumbing scope covers cooling towers, chillers, and switchgear; KT Cloud is responsible for uninterruptible power supplies, batteries, and automated controls.

A Six-Month Track Record

Hyundai Engineering created its dedicated data center unit in March 2026. This Gunsan win is its first order from that division — so the unit has gone from formation to a $625M signed contract in roughly six months.

The company is also preferred bidder on two additional projects: a data center in Incheon and one in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province. Hyundai Engineering said that if those contracts close within 2026 as planned, its total AI data center order volume this year would reach approximately 1.9 trillion won ($1.37 billion).

Beyond Construction

The company is explicitly building toward a vertically integrated model. Plans include expanding into operations and maintenance and taking investment stakes across data center assets. It is also developing energy procurement models tied to renewables — solar, small modular reactors, and hydrogen — for future facilities.

Korea’s AI Infrastructure Buildout

The Gunsan deal adds to a South Korean construction wave that has been accelerating through 2026. SK Telecom committed to a 15GW development roadmap in July. Naver locked a $10 billion commitment from Nvidia and Brookfield in the same month. SK Group and Nvidia signed a $500 billion-plus LOI covering a 2GW Vera Rubin factory. Hyundai Engineering’s entry into this market, backed by a 1.9 trillion won pipeline, signals the construction side of that buildout is now broad enough to attract the country’s major engineering conglomerates alongside the hyperscalers and telecoms that led the first wave.

For Nvidia, each Korean data center committing to Vera Rubin at scale represents a named demand signal ahead of broad chip availability. Vera Rubin’s power and cooling requirements — the same characteristics that Hyundai Engineering cited as the technical challenge — are driving a parallel buildout in liquid cooling infrastructure worldwide.