Pranav Hotkar
Seoul, September 4, 2025- Singapore-based Empyrion Digital has announced a major leap forward in sustainable data infrastructure with the rollout of Nortek DCC’s StatePoint® Liquid Cooling technology at its newest facility, the KR1 Gangnam Data Centre (GDC) in Seoul.
Designed to meet the soaring demands of artificial intelligence and high-performance computing, the data centre hosts a cutting-edge cooling system that blends liquid and indirect evaporative methods, using a microporous membrane exchanger to split water and air streams.
This innovation delivers superior thermal performance along with major energy and water savings, outperforming traditional cooling setups.
By harnessing StatePoint, KR1 GDC runs with PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) and WUE (Water Usage Effectiveness) well below typical South Korean standards, making it one of the most efficient centres in the nation.
The system’s modular design also allows easy upgrades, like rear-door heat exchangers or direct-to-chip cooling, so the facility can evolve with future AI advances.
Empyrion’s Chief Strategy Officer, Yongsuk Choi, called the move a “long-term commitment to AI-ready, green-by-design data centres,” reinforcing the company's sustainability-first vision.
Nortek DCC’s CEO, Karin Overstreet, added that this collaboration demonstrates how forward-looking infrastructure paired with innovation “can raise the bar for sustainability and performance” in South Korea’s data network.
The KR1 GDC, Empyrion’s second data centre after Singapore’s SG1 Dodid, spans 30,714 sqm with a 29.4 MW IT load. It stands as the first new data centre in Seoul's Gangnam district in over a decade, underscoring Empyrion’s strategic bet on one of Asia’s most dynamic tech hubs.
Driven by a “green-by-design” philosophy, the facility also features solar-integrated facade panels, rainwater management, and eco-friendly construction, all aimed at lowering its environmental footprint while supporting power-dense workloads. It's all part of Empyrion’s broader aim to provide efficient, future-ready data infrastructure tailored to the AI era.
No exact PUE or WUE figures were disclosed in the announcement, but earlier reports have put KR1’s PUE at around 1.3, with water usage cut by more than 30% compared to traditional centres.
As AI becomes a core driver of capacity demands across Asia, projects like KR1 GDC highlight how innovation and environmental consciousness are now two sides of the same coin in the race to power next-gen data infrastructure.
