Daewoo Engineering & Construction announced Friday that it has signed a strategic partnership with Korea Internet Neutral eXchange (KINX), an internet infrastructure and data center operator, as the company seeks to position itself as a full-service developer in the rapidly growing artificial intelligence infrastructure market.

Under the agreement, Daewoo E&C and KINX will jointly pursue hyperscale and AI data center projects, establish a collaboration model that spans development, construction, and operations, and coordinate from the earliest planning stages of new developments. The two companies also agreed to expand mutual participation in future data center projects undertaken or under review by either party.

For Daewoo E&C, the alliance provides an experienced operating partner for future project bids, strengthening the capabilities and stability of its data center offerings while improving its prospects of securing construction contracts for jointly developed facilities. KINX, in turn, gains a reliable development and construction partner as it broadens its data center portfolio. KINX, listed on Korea's KOSDAQ market, operates one of the country's largest internet exchange points and runs multiple carrier-neutral data centers across the Seoul metropolitan region.

The partnership aligns with Daewoo E&C's broader strategy of diversifying beyond its traditional residential construction business into higher-value nonresidential sectors. Korean builders have faced headwinds from a prolonged housing market downturn marked by elevated interest rates and financing constraints, pushing major contractors to seek revenue from infrastructure and tech-related projects. The company has established a dedicated data center task force as part of its transformation from a conventional contractor into a developer with end-to-end capabilities in investment, development, and operations.

The Korean builder has been steadily building its presence in the data center sector. It is currently involved in the Empyrion Digital AI Campus, a new data center project in Gangnam-gu, Seoul — the first major development of its kind in the area in a decade. Daewoo E&C has also invested in and is serving as the builder for the Jangseong Pine Data Center, the first commercial data center project in South Jeolla Province. Earlier this year, the company signed a separate agreement with the South Jeolla provincial government to cooperate on developing an AI data center cluster.

Looking ahead, Daewoo E&C said it aims to cover the entire data center value chain, from land acquisition and project development through construction, operations, and eventual asset sales — a model designed to enhance profitability while building long-term expertise as an integrated developer. The strategy reflects a broader shift among Korean construction firms toward recurring operational revenue from digital infrastructure, a segment that has attracted sustained investment as global cloud providers and AI companies compete for capacity.

"The combination of Daewoo E&C's accumulated expertise in data center development and construction with KINX's operational capabilities will create a distinguished advantage in the domestic market," a Daewoo E&C official said.

"Building on the successful partnership in Korea, we also plan to expand cooperation with overseas partners and actively pursue opportunities in the global data center market."