B u i l d i n g A PA C ’s AI-Ready Digital Infrastructure Platform
B u i l d i n g A PA C ’s AI-Ready Digital Infrastructure Platform Our latest catch-up with Digital Edge DC and Group CEO, John Freeman, shifts the narrative to reflect on how the platform has evolved Writer: Jack Salter | Project Manager: Josh Whiteside
We’ve moved decisively from building a portfolio of individual assets to operating as an integrated regional platform capable of delivering AI-ready infrastructure sustainably at speed, at scale, and to consistent global standards.” 2 | APAC Outlook Issue 81
The evolution of Digital Edge DC (Digital Edge), who we last spoke to in August 2025, is important because the next generation of digital infrastructure cannot be delivered through isolated projects, according to Group CEO, John Freeman. Rather, it requires a regional
platform with repeatable capabilities across development, design, construction, operations, customer delivery, capital formation, and sustainability, combined with deep local execution in each market. “We have invested in those capabilities at platform level whilst
DIGITAL EDGE DC TECHNOLOGY
retaining strong local leadership in each market,” outlines Freeman. “That allows us to apply common standards and institutional discipline without losing the market knowledge, relationships, and responsiveness required to execute successfully across Asia.”
The Singapore-headquartered digital infrastructure platform, backed by Stonepeak, is on a mission to build the foundation for the world’s digital future. To fulfil this mission, Digital Edge needs to do more than grow quickly – it needs to create infrastructure that
customers, lenders, governments, and communities can rely on for decades. Sustainability is therefore integral to its licence to grow; the company is targeting 100 percent renewable or carbon-free electricity across its operations by 2030, expanding renewable energy procurement, APAC Outlook Issue 81 | 3
DIGITAL EDGE DC TECHNOLOGY
advancing the use of recycled and reclaimed water, and linking its financing strategy to measurable environmental outcomes. “Ultimately, platform maturity is demonstrated through consistency: delivering safely, meeting customer commitments, allocating capital responsibly, and creating sustainable value in every market in which we operate. That is the standard against which we measure our progress,” Freeman sets out.
INFRASTRUCTURE REQUIREMENTS The Asia Pacific (APAC) data centre (DC) market continues to accelerate, but the conversation has moved beyond simply meeting demand for more capacity. Now, the defining challenge is whether that capacity can be delivered at the scale, density, and speed required by artificial intelligence (AI). “Cloud adoption remains a
significant growth driver, but AI inference and increasingly large-scale AI factory deployments are reshaping infrastructure requirements,” insights Freeman. “Customers need campuses with secure, scalable power, advanced cooling, resilient connectivity, and a credible path to expansion. Above all, they need certainty that capacity can be delivered when promised and operated reliably over the long term.” This environment favours platforms with the capital, technical capability, and local market expertise to convert demand into operating infrastructure. Over the past year, Digital Edge has demonstrated that capability through major customer commitments, the expansion of its campuses in South Korea, India, Thailand, and Indonesia, and more than USD$2 billion of financing raised across the platform. “It’s a substantial opportunity, but scale without discipline creates risk. Our focus remains on staying ahead of customer needs whilst maintaining
capital discipline, operational resilience, and responsible environmental stewardship,” Freeman assures. “The companies that lead this next phase will not necessarily be those that announce the most capacity, but those that consistently deliver it.”
ROUTE TO DEPLOYMENT AI has made digital infrastructure a strategic constraint as well as a strategic enabler. The availability of suitable land, power, cooling, and connectivity will increasingly influence where AI ecosystems can develop and how quickly countries and companies can participate in the opportunity. This is particularly significant in APAC; demand is regional, but infrastructure conditions are highly local. “Power availability, permitting, land constraints, regulation, and sustainability expectations vary considerably from one market to another. Our role is to navigate
“We’ve moved decisively from building a portfolio of individual assets to operating as an integrated regional platform capable of delivering AI-ready infrastructure sustainably at speed, at scale, and to consistent global standards” – John Freeman, Group CEO, Digital Edge DC
that complexity with deep market knowledge, trusted local relationships, and platform-wide expertise, giving customers a scalable, credible route to deployment across APAC,” explains Freeman. Digital Edge’s campuses are being designed for higher-density environments, including liquid cooling applications and next-generation AI workloads, whilst its recognition as an NVIDIA DC partner is also strategically important. “It connects us more closely with the broader AI ecosystem and strengthens the technical foundation from which we can support customers as their requirements evolve,” he informs. More widely, AI is only one part of the transformation taking place; DCs support cloud adoption, digital financial services, e-commerce, communications, enterprise modernisation, and public-sector digitisation.
As these services become more central to economic activity, DCs are increasingly being recognised as essential infrastructure. “Digital Edge’s role is to build that infrastructure responsibly, enabling innovation whilst contributing to the long-term resilience and digital competitiveness of the markets we serve,” Freeman tells us.
DIFFERERENT DIMENSIONS OF GROWTH India is one of APAC’s most strategically important DC markets, combining strong domestic digital growth, increasing international
hyperscale demand, and access to a sophisticated renewable energy ecosystem. The company’s existing BOM campus in Navi Mumbai has multiple buildings under construction and significant customer commitments already secured. India, along with Thailand and Indonesia, each represent a different dimension to the company’s regional strategy. However, all three demonstrate Digital Edge’s ability to identify longterm demand, secure the necessary infrastructure, and build platforms capable of scaling with customers.
APAC Outlook Issue 81 | 5
Inside the Industry with Michael L. Gierges,
President, Climate Solutions Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, Carrier
Could you elaborate on your collaboration with Digital Edge? How do the two companies mutually benefit each other, and what complementary strengths do you bring? Our collaboration with Digital Edge is built on a shared commitment to delivering high-quality, innovative and scalable data centre infrastructure across Asia Pacific. As Digital Edge continues its rapid expansion, it is looking for partners that can provide standardization, speed of deployment, innovation, consistency across multiple markets, and reliable long-term service support. These requirements align closely with Carrier’s strengths and have formed the foundation of our collaboration. Carrier supports Digital Edge’s growth strategy through innovative solutions such as packaged chiller rooms
and modular chiller plants, which can reduce both construction and commissioning timelines by nearly 20 percent. Beyond accelerating deployment, we work closely with Digital Edge to support its vision for efficient and sustainable data centre operations by incorporating advanced technologies such as free cooling and trim cooling into our system designs. This enables Digital Edge to meet evolving performance, energy efficiency and sustainability requirements while maintaining speed to market. The collaboration is mutually beneficial. Digital Edge provides Carrier with the opportunity to support large-scale, multi-country deployments and a strong growth pipeline in one of the most dynamic sectors of the economy. In return, Carrier delivers consistent products, engineering expertise and aftermarket services across the geographic regions where Digital Edge
operates, helping ensure operational reliability and a seamless customer experience. Perhaps most importantly, our two organizations share common values. Both Digital Edge and Carrier prioritize speed, quality and a customer-centric approach to project execution. This cultural alignment, combined with our complementary capabilities, enables us to work together effectively to deliver mission-critical infrastructure that meets the needs of today’s rapidly evolving digital economy.
Data centres are becoming a critical part of the global digital economy. How is Carrier positioning itself to support this rapidly evolving sector, and what differentiates Carrier’s approach to helping customers achieve both operational excellence and sustainability goals?
Data centres have become the backbone of the digital economy, and the rise of AI and high-performance computing is fundamentally reshaping cooling requirements. Carrier recognized early that customers need more than cooling equipment. They need a trusted partner that can manage the entire thermal ecosystem while balancing performance, reliability, efficiency and sustainability. That’s why we developed QuantumLeap™, our integrated “chip-to-chiller” thermal management platform that combines advanced cooling technologies, intelligent controls, DCIM software, predictive analytics and lifecycle services into a single ecosystem, helping customers optimize performance, improve energy efficiency and scale with confidence. What further differentiates Carrier is the combination of our 125year engineering heritage, deep R&D expertise and end-to-end accountability. As the inventor of modern air conditioning, we bring decades of experience in missioncritical environments and continue to invest in next-generation cooling technologies for AI-ready data centres. We also work closely with hyperscalers and colocation providers as a strategic engineering partner, codeveloping solutions that address their unique performance, scalability and sustainability goals. Our collaboration with Digital Edge is a strong example, where modular and packaged cooling solutions have helped accelerate deployment while enhancing operational resilience and efficiency. Today, Carrier supports more than 300 data centres globally, enables the management of over one million racks and more than 10 million live
operational data points. Combined with our service network spanning more than 50 countries, customers benefit from real-time monitoring, predictive maintenance, dedicated technical expertise and lifecycle support that maximize uptime and operational performance across their portfolio. Sustainability remains central to our strategy. Through intelligent thermal optimization, advanced liquid cooling and digital platforms such as Abound™, we help customers reduce energy consumption and emissions while maintaining the resilience required for mission-critical environments. By combining engineering innovation, collaborative customer partnerships and global lifecycle expertise, Carrier helps customers achieve both operational excellence and sustainability goals while preparing for the next generation of AI-powered infrastructure.
Looking ahead, what are Carrier’s key priorities and goals? Carrier is focused on enabling the next generation of digital infrastructure by helping customers address the growing demands of AI, high-performance computing, energy efficiency and sustainability. Data centres remain a strategic growth priority for the company, and Carrier is aligning its investments, innovation, acquisitions and talent development tosupport the industry’s rapid evolution. A key priority is advancing AI-ready thermal management solutions, including next-generation air and liquid cooling technologies that can support increasing rack densities and higher computing loads. Carrier is also continuing to invest in intelligent
controls, predictive analytics, digital platforms and lifecycle services that help customers maximize uptime, optimize performance and scale with confidence. Another major focus is helping customers achieve their sustainability and energy-efficiency goals. Through integrated solutions such as QuantumLeap™ and Abound™, Carrier is enabling customers to reduce energy consumption, improve thermal efficiency, optimize resource utilization and lower emissions while maintaining the operational resilience required for mission-critical environments. Ultimately, Carrier’s goal is to become the industry’s most trusted thermal management partner. By combining cooling infrastructure, intelligent controls, digital intelligence and lifecycle expertise into a unified ecosystem, Carrier aims to help customers confidently scale AI, improve sustainability, enhance operational resilience and build the high-performance data centres that will power the global digital economy for decades to come.
Connect with us at: www.carrier.com
DIGITAL EDGE DC TECHNOLOGY
In Thailand, the company’s BKK campus in Chonburi is being developed within the Eastern Economic Corridor as a major hyperscale and AI-ready destination. The first two buildings represent 100 MW of committed capacity, with BKK1 scheduled to be ready for service in Q4 2026 and BKK2 to follow. “Our partnership with B.Grimm Power combines its local energy expertise and institutional relationships with our regional DC capabilities,” Freeman notes. “The result is a campus designed for scale, resilience, and efficiency, including an annualised power usage effectiveness (PUE) target of 1.25, hybrid closed-loop cooling that helps minimise water consumption whilst maintaining operational efficiency, and infrastructure that supports longterm sustainability and increased renewable energy utilisation.” Indonesia, meanwhile, illustrates the breadth of the company’s
evolution particularly well. It began by establishing EDGE1 and EDGE2 in Central Jakarta, supported by Indonet’s fibre and connectivity network. Indonet remains a significant differentiator; its network of more than 500 kilometres of fibre connects Jakarta’s principal DC hubs and allows Digital Edge to combine carrierneutral colocation with highly reliable connectivity. “As customers increasingly seek integrated infrastructure solutions, that combination strengthens our customer proposition and positions us to play a broader role in Indonesia’s digital development,” highlights Freeman. Digital Edge is now developing its CGK campus – a USD$4.5 billion, 500-MW, AI-ready hyperscale campus with the potential to scale to one gigawatt (GW) – located in the Greenland International Industrial Centre (GIIC) in the Bekasi Regency.
Regional scale, local execution One of the most important
elements of Digital Edge’s strategy is its ability to combine regional
scale with genuine local execution. APAC is not a single, homogeneous market; each country has different infrastructure constraints,
regulatory frameworks, business practices, and stakeholder expectations.
A purely centralised organisation will struggle to respond to those differences, whilst a collection
of independently managed local
businesses will struggle to deliver consistency and scale.
Digital Edge has been designed to bridge that gap. At platform
level, the company provides capital strength, customer relationships, technical standards, governance, and specialist capabilities. Within each market, experienced local teams bring the relationships,
judgement, and execution expertise required to turn that platform capability into results.
This model allows customers to
receive a consistent, high-quality experience whether they are
deploying in Mumbai, Bangkok, Jakarta, Seoul, or Tokyo, whilst
ensuring each project is grounded in its local market.
That balance between global
customer expectations, regional platform strength, and local accountability is difficult to
replicate. It is one of the principal
reasons why Digital Edge has been able to scale successfully and will remain a defining competitive advantage.
8 | APAC Outlook Issue 81
“Our objective is not only to grow Digital Edge, but also demonstrate what responsible, institutionally managed digital infrastructure g row t h s h o u l d l o o k l i k e i n A PAC ” – John Freeman, Group CEO, Digital Edge DC
“The first building is targeted to be ready for service in Q4 2026. We have also entered into Indonesia’s largest single-campus power agreement with PLN, securing 1.45 GW of long-term power capacity,” he shares.
DISCIPLINED REGIONAL EXPANSION Beyond India, Thailand, and Indonesia, Digital Edge continues to deepen its presence in APAC’s leading digital markets, including Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines. These markets give it a balanced regional portfolio across established
digital hubs and high-growth metroadjacent locations. “Our strategy is not to be everywhere – it is to build meaningful positions in markets where we can secure the right combination of customers, power, land, connectivity, and long-term scalability,” Freeman elaborates. “That discipline allows us to offer customers a multi-market platform without compromising the quality or economics of individual projects.” The company also continues to invest in the capabilities behind the physical infrastructure. As technology
and customer requirements evolve, the ability to attract, develop, and retain exceptional people will be just as important as its access to land and power. Digital Edge is therefore strengthening its leadership, technical expertise, operating systems, and organisational capacity across the platform. The appointment of Andy Rigoli – who we previously interviewed a year ago – as Chief Sustainability Officer is part of that evolution. Rigoli previously led Indonet and now has executive responsibility for the company’s platformwide environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) agenda. “The creation of this role reflects our belief that responsible growth requires dedicated leadership, measurable objectives, and clear accountability,” affirms Freeman. APAC Outlook Issue 81 | 9
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Q&A Briefly introduce us to Eaton and the differentiators that set the company apart from the rest. Eaton is a global intelligent power management company dedicated to improving quality of life and protecting the environment through the safe, efficient, and sustainable use of power. With a heritage spanning more than a century, we serve customers in over 180 countries across data centres, utilities, industrial, commercial, and residential markets. Here in Asia Pacific, we’re playing an important role in supporting the rapid growth of digital infrastructure. We work closely with hyperscalers, colocation providers, and enterprise customers, providing solutions that include uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems, power distribution, energy storage, software, and services to help keep data centres resilient, efficient, and ready to scale. What sets Eaton apart is the combination of our global expertise and strong local presence. That allows us to help customers manage growing power demands, meet sustainability goals, and maintain business continuity in an increasingly digital world. How does Eaton solve critical power management challenges with innovative technologies that meet the everchanging needs of the world? The data centre industry is evolving rapidly, driven by AI workloads, electrification, and the growing focus on sustainability. At Eaton, we address these challenges through an integrated approach that combines hardware, software, and services. Our advanced UPS and power distribution systems provide the foundation for resilient operations, protecting critical loads and ensuring uptime. On top of that, our intelligent power management software provides operators with real-time visibility into their infrastructure, helping them optimise performance, improve efficiency, and identify potential issues before they become problems. We’re also continually investing in R&D. One of our latest developments is the 800Vdc Medium-Voltage Solid-State Transformer (MVSST), designed to support the rapid growth of AI data centres, particularly those running high-density AI servers. Innovations like these help operators reduce energy
consumption, lower carbon emissions, and improve operational efficiency. Just as importantly, our solutions are modular and scalable, allowing customers to futureproof their infrastructure whilst adapting to higher power densities and rapidly changing technology requirements. Could you elaborate on your partnership with Digital Edge DC? How do you mutually benefit each other, and what complementary strengths do you bring? Our partnership with Digital Edge is built on a shared commitment to delivering resilient, sustainable, and future-ready digital infrastructure across Asia. Digital Edge brings extensive expertise in designing, developing, and operating data centres, whilst Eaton contributes deep power management capabilities and decades of experience in mission-critical environments. Together, we’re delivering high-performance electrical infrastructure that supports Digital Edge’s continued expansion across key markets. Our solutions help improve uptime, enhance operational efficiency, and support sustainability goals across its facilities. But the partnership goes beyond technology. It’s built on close engineering collaboration, strong local support, and a shared long-term vision. By combining our strengths, we’re well-positioned to support the next phase of digital transformation and data centre growth across the region. Please tell us more about any recent projects or investments that you are working on. Eaton continues to invest in strengthening its capabilities across Asia Pacific to meet the rising demand for sustainable and resilient data centre infrastructure. One of our key initiatives is our collaboration with the National University of Singapore on the Sustainable Tropical Data Centre Testbed (STDCT), an industry-academia programme focused on validating next-generation data centre architectures designed specifically for tropical environments. We’ve been involved since Phase 1 began in 2022, contributing equipment, engineering expertise, and technical support. Building on that work, we’ve expanded our involvement into Phase 2, which focuses on
developing and validating AI-driven, highdensity data centre power architectures. This marks a shift from providing individual components to delivering more integrated, modular power solutions for next-generation, GPU-intensive workloads. A key part of this phase is Eaton’s 2.5-megawatt MVSST container, designed to support AI-powered workloads operating on 800Vdc applications. The STDCT acts as a living testbed, allowing technologies to be validated under real tropical operating conditions. The insights gained will help shape future data centre designs and standards whilst reducing deployment risks. Alongside this, we’re supporting major data centre developments across Southeast Asia and North Asia whilst continuing to invest in local capabilities and sustainability-focused innovation. Looking ahead, what are some of your key priorities? Our priorities are closely aligned with the major trends shaping the industry: electrification, digitalisation, and sustainability. We’ll continue to innovate in intelligent power management, developing solutions that deliver greater efficiency, visibility, and resilience as infrastructure becomes more complex. Sustainability will remain central to everything we do, with a focus on helping customers reduce their environmental impact through energy-efficient technologies, renewable energy integration, and lifecycle optimisation. We’re also strengthening our presence across key growth markets in Asia Pacific so we can provide local expertise and support as customers continue to expand. Finally, collaboration will remain essential. We’ll continue working closely with partners such as Digital Edge and industry stakeholders to develop solutions that meet evolving customer needs and support the growth of next-generation digital infrastructure.
DIGITAL EDGE DC TECHNOLOGY
Under Rigoli’s leadership, Digital Edge is formalising its CSR programme around three principal areas: education; women in technology; and health, environment, and communities. The objective is to move beyond individual initiatives and create programmes capable of delivering sustained, measurable impact across the communities in which the company operates. “Our success should be judged by not only the capacity we develop, but also whether we help expand digital opportunity, develop future talent, and leave a positive, lasting contribution in our markets,” Freeman acknowledges.
to fund its growth pipeline whilst maintaining a prudent and diversified capital structure. Several of these transactions established new market benchmarks. For example, it secured a USD$665 million green loan for the first phase of the CGK campus, the largest green loan for a DC project in Indonesia. Digital Edge and B.Grimm Power also completed a USD$880 million green loan for the BKK campus, the largest DC financing in Thailand and
its greatest green loan to date. In addition, its USD$575 million inaugural HoldCo facility provides greater flexibility to allocate capital efficiently across the platform. “These financings are important not only because of their size. The support of leading international and domestic lenders demonstrates confidence in our strategy, governance, execution capability, and long-term customer proposition,” Freeman emphasises. “We view capital as an enabler of
Digital Edge – at a glance Solutions – Hyperscale and retail colocation, interconnection and, in selected markets such as Indonesia, fibre and connectivity.
Employees – More than 800 across the region, together with its regional
STRATEGIC ENABLER
headquarters in Singapore and corporate office in Hong Kong.
Access to capital is essential in the DC industry, but the real competitive advantage is the ability to deploy it with discipline against secured demand, power, and executable projects. In the first half of 2026, Digital Edge raised more than USD$2 billion across the platform through green financings and its inaugural HoldCo facility. This provides the company with both the capacity and flexibility
Customers – Leading global hyperscalers, cloud and AI platforms, financial
12 | APAC Outlook Issue 81
institutions, carriers, digital-native businesses, and domestic enterprises.
Operations – Across nine APAC markets, with DCs operating or under development across Japan, South Korea, India, Indonesia, China, Thailand, and the Philippines. What increasingly differentiates Digital Edge is not simply the breadth of its footprint, but how customers use it.
Many larger customers now work with the company across multiple metros and countries, which reflects confidence in its ability to offer a consistent regional standard whilst navigating the very different commercial, regulatory, and infrastructure environments within each market.
DIGITAL EDGE DC TECHNOLOGY
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our strategy rather than the strategy itself. Our objective is to match long-duration capital with highquality, customer-led infrastructure opportunities and generate sustainable value by delivering those projects well.”
CAPTURING THE OPPORTUNITY Ultimately, since our previous conversation with Digital Edge, the company’s ambition has not changed – it remains intent on being the leading provider of next-generation, AI-ready digital infrastructure across APAC. What has changed, however, is the scale of the opportunity and level of execution now required to capture it. “We have assembled a substantial development pipeline across our core markets, supported by secured land, power, and customer demand. The priority is now to convert that pipeline into operating capacity safely, sustainably, predictably, and
efficiently,” asserts Freeman. “That means delivering our committed projects on time and on budget, maintaining worldclass operational performance, and continuing to secure the next generation of strategic sites and power positions. “It also means standardising designs and processes where doing so improves safety, speed, and reliability, whilst retaining sufficient flexibility to meet different customer and market requirements,” he adds. Digital Edge will continue investing in its people, technology, operating systems, and platform capabilities so the organisation scales with the same discipline as its physical portfolio – delivering consistent performance for customers whilst advancing sustainable growth across APAC. It will also maintain capital discipline, because long-term leadership in this sector will be determined by the quality and returns
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of the infrastructure delivered, not simply the size of the development pipeline announced. Sustainability will remain central to every aspect of that agenda, from renewable energy and water stewardship to green finance, community engagement, and governance. “Our objective is not only to grow Digital Edge, but also demonstrate what responsible, institutionally managed digital infrastructure growth should look like in APAC,” Freeman closes.
info@digitaledgedc.com
https://digitaledgedc.com/
APAC Outlook Issue 81 | 13
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