Home Why subsea How it works Economics Stakeholders Contact
← Submersion Data Centers  /  Hyperscalers & Co-locators
END USERS · FROM THE PITCH DECK

Proposed 23 MW Pilot: Data Center Specifications

Preliminary specs for the first subsea facility — to be validated jointly with your engineering team before final commitment.

Talk to us See our ask

Capacity, cost, and footprint

Three pillars of the pilot spec — all preliminary, pending joint validation with your team.

Capacity & Connectivity
MW · Bandwidth · Uptime
  • 23 MW total IT load for the pilot facility
  • 10 Gbps+ dedicated shore-to-platform fiber, scalable to 100 Gbps
  • 99.9%+ uptime target, backed by dual power feeds
  • Redundant N+1 power generation on the platform
  • Direct interconnect to existing subsea cable landing points
  • Modular design allows staged capacity beyond 23 MW
Cost Profile
CapEx · OpEx · AbEx
  • CapEx roughly equivalent to a comparable onshore build
  • OpEx savings of $5–6M/yr per 24 MW vs. onshore (38% lower power cost)
  • PUE 1.01–1.15 vs. 1.55 onshore average
  • Zero water consumption (WUE = 0); no cooling tower spend
  • AbEx — ballast the barge and bring data centers back to shore
Resource Footprint
Water · Electricity · Grid Independence
  • Water usage: 0 gallons; closed-loop seawater cooling, no freshwater draw
  • Electricity supplied by upgraded platform generation, not the local grid
  • No new grid interconnect required, bypasses the multi-year queue
  • Compatible with standard rack density and power distribution specs
  • All figures are preliminary, pending joint validation (see Our Ask)

Speed at every stage

The same patented deployment model that gets you online fast also makes the entire lifecycle fast, from first power to eventual decom in 10–20 years.

01
Quick Install
6–18 months from signed agreement to live capacity. Barge ballasts down, connects, and commissions in place — no heavy-lift or dive vessel required.
02
Quick Maintenance & Repair
No dive support vessel or heavy-lift vessel needed for routine work. Sealed, remotely monitored modules minimize on-site intervention. Can achieve 99.982% Tier III uptime.
03
Quick Decommissioning
Demob follows the same no-heavy-lift model as install. The barge can be refloated and relocated, or retired, without a specialized removal campaign.
No dive support vessel, or heavy-lift vessel required to install, maintenance, or decom; under SDC's patent-pending design.

Royalty structure: what you pay for access

Two small, contractually fixed royalties are already baked into your all-in cost — you don't manage separate relationships to pay them.

PLT
PLATFORM ROYALTY
$1–2M/yr
paid to the platform operator
A small, fixed royalty for use of the platform and topside space; already reflected in your lease economics, in place of rent you'd otherwise pay for site infrastructure onshore.
SEA
SEABED ROYALTY
paid to the U.S. government
A royalty fee for use of the seabed footprint under existing BOEM offshore leasing frameworks. SDC manages this relationship; you don't manage a separate government contract.
Both royalties are structured as a pass-through in your lease economics. They don't change the all-in cost per MW outlined above.

SDC vs. onshore: the comparison

Same compute, same reliability expectations — a fundamentally better cost and speed profile.

MetricOnshore Data CentersWhy It Falls ShortSDC Subsea Advantage
Power Efficiency & OpExPUE ~1.55 avg; cooling consumes 30–40% of total OPEXChillers and cooling towers burn electricity and budgetPUE 1.01–1.15. ~38% lower power cost, saving $5–6M/yr per 24 MW
Water UseUp to 1.5B gallons/yr per 100 MW; permits being refused across TX, AZ, and the SoutheastFreshwater cooling is a growing regulatory and supply riskZero freshwater draw. Closed-loop seawater cooling (WUE = 0)
Speed & Site Cost2–5 yr permitting; 5–7 yr grid interconnect queue; land near fiber hubs runs $1M–$10M/acreLand, water, and interconnect approvals all gate the timeline6–18 months, reusing existing platform power & pipeline. CapEx near parity; AbEx a fraction of the onshore cost
Comparable CapEx, Lower OpEx & AbEx
Roughly at parity with an onshore build but quicker. Major savings in OpEx & AbEx.
38% Lower Power Cost
PUE 1.01–1.15 vs. 1.55 onshore average. At 24 MW, that's $5–6M/yr saved. No water costs.
6–18 Month Deployment
vs. 2–5 years onshore, by reusing existing platform power, pipeline, and lease infrastructure.

Our ask: validate, then commit

We're asking for your engineering team's time to validate the specs, then if our FEED is successful, we will ask your commitment to be our first pilot customer.

PHASE 1
Now through pilot design sign-off
Validate & Refine Specs
What We're Asking:
  • Stress-test the 23 MW spec
  • Confirm rack & power fit
  • Share latency requirements
  • Joint engineering sessions
  • Platform walkthrough
  • Align on service level agreement (SLA) terms
  • Set a Phase 2 timeline
No capital commitment required for this phase.
PHASE 2
Target: Q1 2027 signing
Commit to Fund the 23 MW Pilot
What This Unlocks:
  • Signed colocation / capacity agreement for the 23 MW pilot
  • Locks in your pricing and delivery timeline
  • Priority allocation on SDC's first platform
  • Joint press / case study opportunity as launch partner
  • Option to scale beyond 23 MW on the same platform
Terms available under NDA — contact us to begin Phase 1.