Dallas Startup Mousterian Inks Deal for First U.S. Floating Data Center
Dallas-based Mousterian Corp. Inc. and Samsung Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. have signed an engineering contract for their first U.S. moored floating data center, which will be deployed in Texas. This project aims to speed up the delivery of hyperscale and AI compute by leveraging existing power plants and sustainable cooling methods. The contract is a step towards an eventual Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contract.
Dallas-based Mousterian Corp. Inc. (M3) and South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. (SHI) have officially entered an engineering contract for their first moored floating data center (FDC) in the United States. This agreement marks the transition from intent to execution for the strategic partnership announced in April 2026, aiming to accelerate the deployment of hyperscale and AI compute capacity.
According to M3 CEO Min Suh, the FDC design focuses on sustainability and rapid delivery. These floating data centers, intended for deployment in Texas and other U.S. markets, will utilize non-evaporative cooling, consuming no potable water and emitting no process discharge. By locating these 50-megawatt facilities on barges adjacent to existing power plants, the companies expect to compress development timelines and access generation capacity not viable for conventional land-based sites.
The engineering contract will cover basic design, detailed engineering, and production design, setting the stage for a final Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract. The American Bureau of Shipping is slated to be the project's classification society. M3 co-founder Min Suh highlighted that the company has a hybrid land-water site under development in Houston adjacent to a combined-cycle gas turbine power plant, and plans to focus on Houston and the Texas Gulf Coast for future FDC deployments.