MOL and Kinetics Plan World’s First Offshore Floating Data Center

Japanese shipping group Mitsui O.S.K. Lines signed a memorandum of understanding on 7 July with Kinetics Technologies, an energy-transition unit of Türkiye’s Karpowership, to develop what the partners describe as the world’s first integrated floating data-centre platform. Kinetics is registered in the U.K., giving the project a Japan-U.K. corporate footprint. The plan is to retrofit a 120-metre, 9,731-tonne cargo ship into a data centre that would be moored alongside a dedicated power-generation vessel. The powership is expected to supply uninterrupted electricity, while additional onshore grids, solar or offshore wind sources could be integrated depending on location. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2026, with commercial operations targeted for 2027. The companies say a movable offshore facility would bypass land shortages and permitting delays that increasingly hamper conventional server farms, as demand for computing power—including for generative AI—surges worldwide.