Lee Gyu-lee is a business writer at The Korea Times, focusing primarily on IT & telecommunications, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA. Prior to this, she has covered a wide range of cultural news, from film, television and K-pop to lifestyle and fashion.
Hyundai Steel partners with HanmiGlobal to expand data center steel business
Hyundai Steel Head of Sales Division Kim Sung-min, right, and HanmiGlobal Chief Technology Officer Oh Won-kyu pose after signing a partnership agreement at Hyundai Steel’s headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Aug. 19. Courtesy of Hyundai Steel
By Lee Gyu-lee
Hyundai Steel is teaming up with HanmiGlobal, a leading construction project management company, to strengthen its competitiveness in building advanced industrial facilities, including data centers and semiconductor plants.
Hyundai Steel said Thursday that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with HanmiGlobal earlier this month to enhance technical capabilities in the construction sector.
“Through our collaboration with HanmiGlobal, we plan to secure leading technological competitiveness in steel products for advanced industrial facilities such as data centers and create demand for high-performance steel,” a Hyundai Steel official said.
Under the MOU, the two companies will work together from the design stage to evaluate and incorporate construction steel products, including fire-resistant steel and high-strength structural sections, best suited to each project.
They will use the materials to develop optimized steel-frame designs for advanced industrial facilities and offer the designs to clients.
Data centers have traditionally been designed and built using concrete-based structural systems such as precast concrete, in which concrete components are manufactured in advance and assembled on site, and post-tensioning, a construction method that uses high-strength steel tendons to reinforce concrete structures and improve their load-bearing capacity.
However, steel-frame construction has gained attention recently as developers seek to shorten construction timelines and improve cost efficiency. Steel structures can also be assembled more quickly, allowing other construction work to start sooner.
The two companies plan to expand the use of steel structures in new data center projects and promote Hyundai Steel’s ability to provide a comprehensive range of steel products for different construction needs.
Meanwhile, Hyundai Steel established a task force in March to expand its sales of steel products for next-generation power infrastructure, as it seeks to tap the growing data center steel market amid a surge in large-scale data center construction driven by rising demand for artificial intelligence.