By Diplomacy Journal Lee Kap-soo

LG Electronics CEO William Cho is advancing the company’s Global South growth strategy through a strategic partnership to provide cooling solutions for an AI data center under development in Oxagon, the industrial hub of Saudi Arabia’s NEOM City project.

On September 2 in Riyadh, Cho met with Abdulelah Abunayyan, Chairman of SHAKER Group, the manufacturer and sole distributor of LG Air Conditioners, following the 30th anniversary of the strategic partnership; and Rajit Nanda, CEO of DATAVOLT, a global data infrastructure provider.

The parties signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) under which LG will supply advanced thermal management solutions for next-generation data centers being developed by DATAVOLT.

DATAVOLT, headquartered in Saudi Arabia with offices in the USA, Uzbekistan, India and the UAE and with a presence in South Korea and South Africa, develops hyperscale data centers that incorporate renewable energy and alternative fuels. Its flagship project in Oxagon is planned as one of the largest AI data centers in the region. DATAVOLT is also investing in hyperscale data centers in Uzbekistan, Bangladesh, and other parts of Asia.

“We are building a new generation of net-zero, AI-ready data centers designed for performance, scale and sustainability,” said Rajit Nanda, CEO of DATAVOLT. “Partnering with LG allows us to integrate world-class cooling technologies that are critical to enabling the digital transformation of governments and enterprises across the Kingdom of Saudi and beyond.”

“Our 30-year partnership with LG has been instrumental in shaping the HVAC market in Saudi Arabia, and today’s collaboration marks another step forward in that journey,” said Mohammed Ibrahim Abunayyan, CEO of SHAKER Group. “By joining forces with LG and DATAVOLT, we are driving innovation in advanced, energy efficient cooling solutions and supporting the Kingdom’s ambition to become a global technology hub.”

By integrating large-scale chillers with coolant distribution units, LG is positioning AI data center thermal management as a new growth engine within its heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) business. In addition to cooling, LG is developing capabilities to propose integrated solutions such as heat recovery and DC power systems, which can further contribute to energy efficiency in data centers.