The Warburg Pincus-backed Princeton Digital Group (PDG), a pan-Asia data centre developer and operator, has entered the South Korean market, unveiling its plan for a US$700m (€603m) data centre in what will be its seventh market in the AsiaPacific region.
The flagship 48MW campus, PDG SE1, located in Incheon, is around 40 minutes from Central Seoul. SE1 spans a total land area of approximately 11,000sqm and will be ready for service in early 2028. Power is fully contracted for the facility and construction will start later this month.SE1 will be purpose-built for hyperscale and AI workloads. PDG plans to develop multiple campuses adding up to 500MW to serve the AI and cloud opportunity in South Korea.
“South Korea is one of Asia Pacific’s most advanced digital economies and a critical market for cloud and AI hyperscalers. Our entry is part of a long-term plan to be a significant provider of AI and cloud data centre capacity in the country,” said Rangu Salgame, chairman, CEO and co-founder of PDG.
“With this expansion, PDG continues to strengthen its position as one of the top pan-Asia operators serving the world’s largest technology customers.”
With SE1, PDG’s portfolio now exceeds 1.2GW of IT capacity across seven countries and more than 20 campuses, reinforcing its position as a trusted partner for hyperscalers in Asia Pacific’s most strategic growth corridors, the group said.
PDG will also lease an 80MW data centre by another Warburg Pincus portfolio company, ESR Group, and its South Korean partner, Wide Creek Asset Management (Wide Creek AMC).
The nine-storey KR1 Data Centre (KR1) in Incheon’s Bupyeong district, is the maiden project of the ESR-Wide Creek partnership.
ESR and Wide Creek AMC jointly undertake the construction of core and shell of the data centre from next week, while PDG will subsequently manage the internal fit-out and operations.
Stuart Gibson, co-founder and co-CEO, ESR, said the project, due to get underway next week, marked a major milestone for ESR in advancing its pan-APAC data centre strategy and unlocking value across its pipeline of developments in high-demand markets throughout the region.
Diarmid Massey, CEO, Data Centres, ESR, added: “Data centres are the backbone of the digital ecosystem. KR1 will play a pivotal role in enabling seamless data flow and AI-driven innovation in South Korea and across APAC.”
KR1 forms part of ESR’s 3.2+ GW pipeline of secured land and power across APAC to deliver data centre solutions to capital partners and customers, enabling them to harness the region’s accelerating digital growth and rising demand for scalable, high-performance infrastructure.
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