NFD Korea has moved its 300MW AI data center campus in Dangjin's Songsan 2 General Industrial Complex into full-scale construction planning. Site acquisition, a power supply agreement, and building permits for the first 200MW phase are complete, with construction set to begin in early November 2026. The project sits roughly 90km southwest of Seoul and is designed for liquid cooling at up to 160kW per rack.
The newly added 100MW phase has entered permitting following a September 9 investment agreement signed by Chungcheongnam-do Province, the City of Dangjin, NFD Korea, and EFD Co., Ltd. That agreement gives the developer site control across the full 300MW cluster and targets permit completion within December 2026.
Execution timeline and contractor stack
DL E&C, selected as general contractor, is in pre-construction on Building A of the 200MW phase. LS Electric has finalized a supply agreement for step-up transformers, with deliveries phased from 2027 through 2028. NFD Korea has locked in a 300MW power supply agreement with Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO).
Phase 1 (Building A) targets a Q1 2028 Ready-for-Service date. Phases 2 and 3 are also targeting RFS within 2028, putting the full 300MW online in stages during a single calendar year. Lease negotiations with global cloud service providers and AI companies are underway.
Why Dangjin, why now
Power and permit availability across the Seoul metro area have tightened, pushing demand toward alternative sites that still offer metro proximity. The Dangjin site was assembled before this shift, and the completed permits plus GC selection have reduced execution risk on the timeline.
CEO Choi Jae-woo said, "With site acquisition, power, and permits now locked down, and GC selection and local government agreements finalized, the Dangjin project has moved into full-scale execution." He added, "Between low community-opposition risk inside the industrial complex, proximity to the Seoul metro, and strong local government backing, Dangjin is positioned to deliver AI data center capacity quickly, and with ample power headroom, it's an ideal site for further expansion."
The campus's location inside an existing industrial complex lowers community-opposition risk, a factor that has delayed data center projects elsewhere in Korea. Final specifications will be set according to tenant requirements.
Developer track record and pipeline
NFD Korea was founded by Choi Jae-woo, who built hyperscale and cloud infrastructure experience at Amazon Web Services and DCI Data Centers, a Brookfield portfolio company. The company has an 80MW hyperscale data center under development in Yongin City, with construction started in September 2025 and a 2028 RFS target. NFD Korea is also building a nationwide, gigawatt-scale development pipeline.
Why this matters for real estate and construction professionals
This project signals where Korean data center development is heading: beyond Seoul into industrial zones with secured power, active local government support, and lower opposition risk. For contractors and developers, the phased structure - 200MW permitted and breaking ground now, 100MW in permitting - shows how large AI campuses are being sequenced to manage execution risk while keeping a single-year delivery window for the full buildout. The involvement of DL E&C and LS Electric also points to which Korean firms are positioned to capture data center construction and electrical infrastructure work as the pipeline scales toward gigawatt territory.
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