As data centres run into unhappy neighbours and water limits on land, Samsung wants to float them offshore. Samsung Heavy Industries plans to launch its first floating data centre by 2028, Seoul Economic Daily reported. It would be a purpose-built barge parked near the coast.
The design is specific. Rather than convert an old ship, Samsung is building a new 50MW barge with a server hall, onboard power generation and liquefied natural gas fuel tanks. The first version is “nearshore”, sitting close to land and drawing some power from the grid, a hedged first step before anything ventures far out to sea.
Why put a data centre on water
The pitch answers a growing problem on land. Data centres need vast plots, cheap power and huge volumes of water for cooling, and communities increasingly refuse to give up all three. Floating offshore sidesteps land shortages and slow planning fights, while the sea offers ready cooling.
The economics stay unproven. Saltwater corrodes, storms threaten, and running fibre and power to a barge adds cost and risk. Samsung is betting the trade is worth it as AI demand outruns what many grids and towns will bear.
The move also reflects where shipbuilding is heading. Samsung’s yards are hungry for new work. “Data centres on the sea” turn spare hull-building capacity into AI infrastructure. “Floating datacentres represent a major new opportunity for the shipbuilding and offshore industries,” said Samsung Heavy Industries chief executive Sung-an Choi.
Rivals are circling the same idea. A Japanese pair, Mitsui OSK Lines and Hitachi, is fitting data-centre kit onto existing ships, aiming to go live in 2027. China has gone further and put a data centre under the sea.
Samsung is not going it alone either. At the Posidonia maritime fair it signed partners including Greece’s Capital Clean Energy Carriers and the classification society Lloyd’s Register. It also struck a deal with Supermicro to test AI servers at sea, The Register reported. The American Bureau of Shipping and Lloyd’s Register have granted approval in principle.
Why it matters
Floating data centres remain a bet, not a fact. But a shipbuilder drawing up plans shows how far the industry will go to escape the backlash on land. If neighbours will not host AI’s power-hungry sheds, the next stop may be just off the coast.
More than $18.4 Million Available to Expand HealthySteps, an Early Childhood Mental Health Initiative that Screened 108,000 New Yorkers for Maternal Depression in 2025
Office of Mental Health Awards $350,000 in ‘Collaborative Care’ Grants to Help OBGYN and Family Medicine Practices Provide Behavioral Health Support to Patients
The New York State Office of Mental Health recently announced the availability of more than $18.4 million to expand HealthySteps, a successful early childhood mental health initiative that provides tens of thousands of critical depression screenings for new mothers annually. The agency also announced $350,000 in awards through the Collaborative Care program to help OBGYN and family medicine practices provide behavioral health support to their patients.
“It is critical that we focus on maternal mental health and develop the preventative services and supports for families in our state that address the long-standing inequities in care,” Office of Mental Health Commissioner Dr. Ann Sullivan said. “Initiatives like HealthySteps, Collaborative Care, Project TEACH and others are providing often life-saving screenings that are also connecting New Yorkers to both prenatal and postpartum supports. Under Governor Kathy Hochul’s leadership, we are increasing prevention services to improve outcomes and eliminating disparities in care.”
“I am grateful to Governor Hochul for her leadership in advancing maternal mental health initiatives in New York State that expand access to critical screenings and services,” Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said. “In recognition of Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week, we are reminded that every mother deserves compassion, support, and quality care. We remain committed to ensuring that all mothers feel supported, heard, and empowered.”
The state Office of Mental Health made available more than $18.4 million to continue expanding HealthySteps, an innovative program integrating behavioral health professionals with pediatric practices to provide early childhood mental and physical health care. The additional funding will provide 38 new awards to the 152 sites now funded, increasing statewide capacity of the program by about 25 percent once all are fully implemented.
HealthySteps pairs behavioral health specialists with pediatricians, who are often the first point-of-contact new caregivers have with the health care system. These specialists then serve as part of the primary care team during well visits, screening children and parents for a variety of concerns including behavioral health, developmental concerns and social determinants of health and family needs and then linking them to supports.
In 2025 alone, HealthySteps sites completed more than 108,000 screenings for perinatal depression, identifying cases and connecting parents to support when needed. Altogether, these sites conducted more than 500,000 screenings, helping to track food insecurity, housing instability, substance misuse, tobacco use, transportation, utility, and interpersonal safety.
In addition to the funding availability, OMH also awarded seven $50,000 one-time Collaborative Care grants to help OBGYN and family medicine practices implement evidence-based integrated healthcare for their patients and decrease racial disparities. Award recipients by region include:
Hudson Valley
New York City
Jamaica Hospital in Queens
Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx
William F. Ryan Community Health Center, Inc., in Manhattan
Western New York
Jericho Road Ministries, Inc., in Buffalo
Neighborhood Health Center of WNY in Buffalo
Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center in Niagara Falls
This funding will expand the psychiatric collaborative care model at these practices so they can increase perinatal depression and anxiety screenings and integrated treatment — a recommendation included in the state’s first-ever maternal mental health report. Directed by Governor Hochul and released by OMH in November, this report detailed the challenges pregnant and postpartum individuals are facing and made recommendations for improvements statewide.
Previously, Governor Hochul secured a $2.9 million increase to expand Project TEACH, an initiative that assists maternal health providers with screening and treatment of maternal depression and related mood and anxiety disorders during pregnancy and the postpartum period within their scope of practice. Adopted as part of the FY 2026 State Budget, the expansion has allowed a wider range of front-line practitioners – including doulas, midwives, therapists, WIC staff, home visiting nurses, lactation consultants, caseworkers and others working directly with the perinatal population – to obtain professional training and support in assessment for consultations with a reproductive psychiatrist or psychologist, and accessing resources.
Every year, an estimated 500,000 – about one in five – mothers in the United States experience perinatal mood and anxiety disorders during pregnancy or in the first year postpartum. About 75 percent of these individuals are not diagnosed or treated, which can lead to high-risk pregnancies, poor childhood cognitive development due to substance use, self-harm, or suicide.
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