Pension fund Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) is investing in a new venture to develop data centers in South Korea.

The company this week announced a KRW 1 trillion (US$711 million) joint venture with Pacific Asset Management Company (Pacific AMC) to develop carrier-neutral hyperscale data centers in South Korea.

CPP Investments has committed KRW 276 billion ($196m) to the joint venture’s initial seed project.

Further details of planned data center locations and specifications were not shared.

“The demand for data centers in Asia Pacific has been on the rise, driven by the continued need for cloud computing and the increasing global adoption of artificial intelligence. In South Korea, businesses continue to seek high-quality digital infrastructure to support the country’s emergence as a digital technology hub,” said Max Biagosch, senior managing director, global head of real assets & head of Europe for CPP Investments.

“This new venture not only represents another milestone in our broader data center strategy globally, but also expands a valued partnership with Pacific AMC, allowing us to seize additional opportunities in the sector to the benefit of CPP contributors and beneficiaries.”

This is the second data center joint venture between CPP Investments and Pacific AMC. The first venture was set up in 2022 to develop the Jukjeon Data Centre, located in the eastern part of the Seoul metropolitan area. The four-story facility, spanning 99,070 square meters (1 million sq ft), is leased to LG CNS.

CPP Investments made its first direct data center investment in 2017. It has joint ventures and investments across Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, the US and Canada.

Recent investments include a JV with Equinix to build hyperscale facilities in the US, and buying Australia’s AirTrunk alongside Blackstone. It has also previously partnered with Mitsui in Japan and Keppel’s Alpha fund.

Pacific is an alternative investment management company specializing in real estate in the APAC region. It invests in offices, logistics, hotels, and multi-family buildings. This is seemingly its first data center investment.