LS Cable拟在欧洲建设首个AI数据中心母线槽产能并强化北美总部

LS Cable & System is setting up its first production base in Europe to expand supplies of busducts, a core power component for AI data centers. The move comes as U.S. Big Tech firms aggressively ramp up investment in AI data centers across Europe and demand a stable local supply chain. Building on its Asian and North American operations, the company plans to extend its production network to Europe while also growing its North American business into what it describes as a second headquarters, positioning itself to capture expanding global investment in power infrastructure.
Kim Woo-tae, CEO of LS Cable & System (part of LS Corp., 006260.KS), and other senior executives recently visited the company's Polish production unit and Northern Europe to discuss plans for a new busduct production line, industry sources said on the 23rd.
A busduct is a device that stably distributes large amounts of electricity to servers and other equipment inside an AI data center. While cables and transformers form the power grid outside a data center, busducts handle power supply within the building. As power consumption by AI servers has surged, busducts have become essential equipment at data center construction sites.
LS Cable & System aims to complete the new European plant by next year and produce busducts locally. The investment took concrete shape after major Big Tech customers requested the establishment of a European production base as one of the conditions for buying the products.
Because AI data centers require large-scale facilities to be built within short timeframes, any delay in busduct supply can disrupt the entire process. That is why Big Tech firms, now expanding data center investment in Europe as well as North America, have asked LS Cable & System to set up local production to improve delivery reliability.
At present, LS Cable & System produces busducts at its plant in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province. North American volumes will be handled by its Mexican production unit, set to begin operations in the fourth quarter of this year. By securing a separate production base in Europe as well, the company intends to complete a supply chain spanning three major global regions. Candidate sites for the new plant include Poland, where the company already operates a cable production facility, and Northern Europe, where Big Tech data center investment is concentrated.
Big Tech's Trillion-Dollar AI Era
European Data Center Demand Also Soars
Behind LS Cable & System's push to build a European production base is the explosive AI infrastructure investment by its main customers, the U.S. Big Tech firms.
According to Bloomberg, capital expenditure by major U.S. Big Tech firms is projected to nearly double to $781.9 billion (about 1,085 trillion won) this year from $394.5 billion (about 547 trillion won) last year. It is expected to rise further to $975.4 billion (about 1,354 trillion won) next year. The infrastructure race among global technology firms to secure leadership in the AI market is intensifying.
Gaon Cable (000500.KS), an LS Cable & System affiliate, cited McKinsey & Company data in projecting that the market for AI data center power infrastructure will grow to 494 trillion won by 2030 from 294 trillion won last year.
Demand for data centers is also spreading from the U.S. to Europe, particularly as agentic AI services that perform tasks on people's behalf spread rapidly. As companies begin deploying AI agents in earnest across their work systems, demand for data computation and storage is surging.
Hyperscalers that provide AI services typically build two to three or more availability zones (AZ) within the same region or across multiple countries to prevent service outages. By distributing and replicating data, they can keep services running through other facilities even if a fire, flooding or other accident hits one data center. Structurally, the larger the AI services market grows, the more data centers and power equipment must expand in tandem.
Google is expanding data center investment in Austria, Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands, among others. Amazon Web Services (AWS) has moved to expand infrastructure in Spain and Italy, while Microsoft is building new AI data centers and expanding existing facilities in Portugal and elsewhere.
LS Cable & System's European plant is also a step to align its supply chain with these customers' investment schedules. A senior industry official said, "To keep expanding supply contracts with major Big Tech firms, the ability to supply products in line with customers' global data center investment plans is essential," adding, "With AI investment growing faster than expected, production capacity also has to expand significantly."
LS Cable & System plans to raise its overall busduct production capacity by up to three times through the expansion of its Gumi plant and the operation of its Mexican plant. Still, it has judged that products made only in Korea and Mexico face logistical and delivery limits in responding promptly to European data center construction schedules.
As a result, the company plans to secure a separate production base in Poland, where it already runs a cable plant, or in Northern Europe, where data center investment is concentrated, to target the European market directly.
North America Shifts to a Second Headquarters
A Control Tower for AI Orders
In line with its global expansion, LS Cable & System is also carrying out a sweeping overhaul of the control tower for its North American business.
At present, three affiliates operate separately in North America: LSCSA, which handles extra-high-voltage cable sales; LS GreenLink, which runs the submarine cable business; and LSCUS, a Gaon Cable subsidiary that handles medium-voltage cable and busduct operations.
LS Cable & System launched its Americas regional headquarters in 2020, but that organization's role has effectively been focused on supporting LS GreenLink's business. LS GreenLink is building the largest local submarine cable plant in Virginia and will serve as a key English-speaking-market base, targeting not only North America but also the European market across the Atlantic.
Recently, the North American landscape has been shifting as LSCUS rapidly expands its busduct business for AI data centers. With orders surging alongside Big Tech's growing AI data center investment, LSCUS has already secured long-term supply contracts worth a combined 5 trillion won.
Given that LS Cable & System's total order backlog stood at a record 9.55 trillion won as of the end of June this year, the volume secured by LSCUS alone accounts for a substantial share.
LSCUS signed an additional busduct supply contract worth about 200 billion won this month. It is also in talks with that customer over additional supplies amounting to two to three times the existing contract volume. In effect, its role is growing into the front line of Big Tech sales in North America.
Judging that LSCUS, an organization under the Gaon Cable subsidiary, faces structural limits in overseeing collaboration with the other North American affiliates, LS Cable & System has decided to significantly strengthen the functions of its Americas regional headquarters.
Business territories among the affiliates are also increasingly overlapping, as LSCUS has recently expanded into the extra-high-voltage cable business and LS-VINA, a Southeast Asian production unit, pushes to enter the U.S. market. This has heightened the need for an integrated management system that ties together the group's overall capabilities, rather than dividing roles by entity.
LS Cable & System is currently reviewing plans to reorganize the Americas regional headquarters through outside consulting. Options under discussion include increasing local staff and organizational scale and integrating work systems that are scattered by entity. An official familiar with LS Cable & System said, "We plan to expand the North American organization to the level of a second headquarters," adding, "We are pursuing a plan to launch a new form of North American organization late this year or early next year."
Some in the industry see Big Tech's AI data center investment as still only at the beginning of a full-scale expansion phase. As data center construction grows, demand for LS Cable & System's power infrastructure products — extra-high-voltage cable, submarine cable, medium-voltage cable and busducts — is likely to grow simultaneously.
An industry official said, "Big Tech's AI data center investment is close to a starting stage right now," adding, "To supply products on time to meet surging demand, we need a system that unifies the production and sales capabilities of the entire LS Cable & System group beyond the level of individual entities."