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.
Naver invests in US startup developing wave-powered AI data centers
Naver's headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province / Yonhap
By Lee Gyu-lee
Naver has invested in Panthalassa, a U.S. startup developing floating artificial intelligence (AI) data centers powered by ocean waves, as the tech giant moves to secure infrastructure to meet the rapidly growing demand for AI computing.
The company on Thursday announced the investment without disclosing details such as the amount or the size of the stake it acquired. It said the investment is aimed at expanding its capabilities in next-generation AI data center technologies, including renewable energy-powered facilities.
Founded in 2016, Panthalassa is a renewable energy startup developing floating data centers that use wave energy to generate electricity without relying on separate power plants or fuel, potentially helping meet the growing power demands of AI as demand for computing capacity surges.
“Naver is rapidly securing differentiated data center infrastructure through global partnerships as we expand our business into AI data centers,” Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon said.
“We will proactively invest in next-generation technologies such as wave-powered renewable energy AI data centers to strengthen our competitiveness on multiple fronts in the global AI infrastructure market.”
Panthalassa’s floating Node platforms are designed to integrate power generation, AI computing and cooling into a single offshore facility. The setup could lower land and construction costs compared with conventional data centers, while using seawater to cool servers and reduce the energy needed for cooling.
The platforms can also process AI workloads offshore without dedicated transmission infrastructure, with processed data sent back to land through low-Earth-orbit satellite networks such as Starlink.
With lower latency than traditional satellite systems, low-Earth-orbit connectivity could support AI inference applications that require rapid data processing and responses, while allowing data centers to operate without undersea cables.
Panthalassa has already tested its wave-powered prototypes, including Ocean-1 and Ocean-2, at sea. It plans to deploy its Ocean-3 pilot later this year ahead of commercial deployments targeted for 2027.
The startup is led by co-founder and CEO Garth Sheldon-Coulson, a former Bridgewater Associates executive, and has drawn backing from a group of prominent tech investors.
In May, it raised $140 million in a funding round led by Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel, with participation from Salesforce founder Marc Benioff and Hanwha Asset Management.
Naver has been moving aggressively to secure AI infrastructure. It recently partnered with Nvidia to build a global AI factory and with Brookfield on an infrastructure investment of about $9 billion.
The company expects its AI factory to begin generating revenue in the first half of 2027, starting at 55 megawatts and eventually scaling to gigawatt-level capacity.