Naver Backs Wave-Powered Offshore AI Data Centre Startup Panthalassa
Data Center Dynamics reported that Naver invested in Panthalassa, a US startup developing the Ocean-3 wave-powered floating AI data centre platform. The undisclosed investment adds a prototype offshore energy bet to Naver's wider data centre power strategy.
Naver has backed an offshore wave-powered data centre startup as South Korea's cloud operator looks for cleaner ways to run AI infrastructure, Data Center Dynamics reported.
The investment went to Panthalassa, a Washington-based company developing Ocean-3, an autonomous floating platform that combines wave-energy generation with a modular AI data centre.
The investment amount is not public.
Ocean-3 Uses Waves Instead Of Shore Power
Ocean-3 is designed to rise and fall with ocean waves, forcing water through an internal turbine to generate power for onboard compute.
The platform is self-propelled and has no anchors or cables connecting it to land or the seabed, which makes the unit different from offshore designs that still depend on fixed grid or communications links.
Panthalassa claims the system can beam compute results back by satellite instead of sending data through a direct cable to shore.
Panthalassa's scaled-platform claim puts potential power cost as low as $0.02 per kWh, a figure still tied to future deployment rather than a published commercial fleet.
Testing is planned for this year, with commercialization targeted in 2027.
That schedule makes Naver's investment an early bet on whether offshore renewable generation can support AI workloads without placing all power demand on land-based data centre grids.
Naver Adds The Bet To A Larger Energy Plan
Naver already runs public cloud services through Ncloud and on-premise services through Neurocloud.
The company operates three data centres in South Korea, and last November announced an expansion of its Sejong facility to 270 MW, with work expected to finish sometime in 2029.
The Panthalassa investment also follows a cleaner-power procurement move.
In April, Naver signed a 25-year wind power purchase agreement with GS Wind Power to supply its Sejong and Chuncheon data centres.
Offshore AI data centres remain a small and unproven category.
Floating wind company Aikido recently entered the same field with a modular AI-focused data centre integrated into a floating offshore wind platform.
Ocean-3 now gives Naver a separate route to test whether wave power, satellite links and modular compute can become part of its future cloud energy mix.
The next evidence point is operational rather than financial: Panthalassa still has to put Ocean-3 into testing before Naver can judge whether the platform's energy and connectivity model works outside a prototype plan.
