Partners to jointly develop, verify next-generation power solutions

27 years of operational data combined with power technology

(From left) LG Uplus CEO Hong Beom-sik, LG Uplus Enterprise Division head Kwon Yong-hyeon (executive vice president), LS Electric CEO Chae Dae-seok (executive vice president) and LS Electric Chairman Koo Ja-kyun pose for a photo after signing an MOU at LS Yongsan Tower in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, on Tuesday. [LG Uplus]
(From left) LG Uplus CEO Hong Beom-sik, LG Uplus Enterprise Division head Kwon Yong-hyeon (executive vice president), LS Electric CEO Chae Dae-seok (executive vice president) and LS Electric Chairman Koo Ja-kyun pose for a photo after signing an MOU at LS Yongsan Tower in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, on Tuesday. [LG Uplus]

LG Uplus announced Wednesday that it will partner with LS Electric to jointly develop and verify next-generation power technology and strengthen its core infrastructure capabilities for building AI data centers (AIDCs).

The two companies signed an MOU on "advancing AIDC power infrastructure and jointly developing and verifying next-generation DC power solutions" at LS Yongsan Tower in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, on Tuesday. Senior executives from both sides attended the signing ceremony, including LG Uplus CEO Hong Beom-sik, LG Uplus Enterprise Division head Kwon Yong-hyeon, LS Electric Chairman Koo Ja-kyun and LS Electric CEO Chae Dae-seok.

The two companies will jointly develop and verify a direct current (DC) power system by combining LG Uplus's data center operating experience with LS Electric's power technology. Power demand at data centers has been rising rapidly with the spread of AI agents, drawing industry attention to DC-based power technology — which can deliver large-scale power stably while minimizing transmission losses — as a key infrastructure component for next-generation AI data centers.

An 800V DC distribution architecture is regarded as the industry's next-generation standard because it reduces power conversion stages and improves efficiency. Under the MOU, the two companies will combine LG Uplus's AIDC construction and operating capabilities with LS Electric's power solution expertise to collaborate on developing next-generation DC-based power systems.

LG Uplus will contribute power grid design proposals drawing on 27 years of accumulated data center operating know-how and power data gathered from actual AIDC operations. LS Electric plans to develop power solutions optimized for AI data centers and advance its power data analysis and diagnostics technology.

In addition, the two companies will jointly verify the stability and efficiency of 800V DC-based power technology and collaborate on developing power solutions optimized for ultra-high-density GPU server environments.

Through this partnership, LG Uplus said it is expanding its core AIDC technology capabilities into the power domain, following earlier work in liquid cooling. The company is building key AI data center facilities within its "One LG" ecosystem.

Beyond the power infrastructure collaboration with LS Electric, the ecosystem includes liquid cooling solutions from LG Electronics and high-performance uninterruptible power supply batteries from LG Energy Solution for stable power delivery.

LG Uplus is the only company in South Korea to have maintained uninterrupted data center operations at a 99.999 percent (five-nines) level for 27 consecutive years. Its strategy is to combine these capabilities to secure integrated competitiveness spanning AI data center design, build and operations. LS Electric, for its part, aims to use the partnership to lay the commercial groundwork for next-generation DC power technology and strengthen its power solution business in the AI data center market.

"The key to AI data center competitiveness lies in how stably and efficiently power can be supplied," said Kwon Yong-hyeon, LG Uplus's Enterprise Division head. "Through this collaboration, we will proactively verify the next-generation power infrastructure needed for the AI era and ensure we can provide customers with the most reliable AI infrastructure available."

LS Electric CEO Chae Dae-seok said the company would "build on the technology we have proven in the North American big-tech data center market to provide an integrated power solution covering the entire grid from extra-high voltage to low voltage, and emerge as a leading company in global AI data center power infrastructure."


woo@heraldcorp.com