Cloud & Datacenters Magazine vol. #7 | The AI Data Center

ISSUE 07

The AI Data Center Building the data center for tomorrow’s AI

AI adoption in India: Exceptional enthusiasm, middling maturity

Middle East betting big on renewable energy

Fukushima’s shadow: A haunting reminder as the data center industry seeks nuclear power

Special Awards supplement included

Maximizing Global Sustainability Website Website

CD Cloud & Datacenters

Contents

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From the Editor’s Desk

6

Noteworthy News

50 In Closing It A.I.n’t going away, so let’s play nice

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COVER STORY 11

Building the data center for tomorrow’s AI

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AI adoption in India: Exceptional enthusiasm, middling maturity

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Middle East betting big on Renewable Energy

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Fukushima’s shadow: A haunting reminder as the data center industry seeks nuclear power

FEATURES 24 DIG shakes up Thai market with ambitious 1.5GW plan for data center parks

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42 The Middle East’s voracious appetite for AI 44 Can our networks keep up when disaster strikes?

45 Under the sea: Powering global connectivity through subsea cables

HIGHLIGHTS 21

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Eye on SEA’s Interconnected Digital Landscape

22 The impact of AI on power and cooling in the data center 40 I strive to absorb as much knowledge as possible: Jeremy Deutsch 48 Malaysia and Thailand CDC 2024: Industry Leaders Share Insights

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49 Interconnect World: W.Media brings together Connectivity Ecosystem stalwarts

AWARDS SUPPLEMENT 29 Liquid cooling, the hidden watersaver in modern data centers 31

Revolutionising AI with OneAsia’s award-winning solution

34 More than meets the eye: Inside the world of data center intelligence with DC Byte 37 Highlights from the Asia Pacific Cloud & Datacenter Awards 2024 38 W Media Awards: Recognising stalwarts from Middle East & South Asia

Cover Photo: Photo by Lionel Lim licensed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

From the Editor’s Desk AI continues to captivate us, occupying an increasing amount of our mind-space with each passing day. It is making us wonder how it can help us become more efficient, find innovative solutions to longstanding problems, and improve our lives.

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s AI evolves into something that will have an increasingly significant role in our personal and professional lives, governments across the world are working towards creating an economic climate that supports not only digital transformation, but also specifically AI adoption and development of related infrastructure such as AI data centers.

The AI boom isn’t limited to just the mature data center markets in the United States, Europe, or East Asia; even Middle Eastern and South Asian economies are displaying a voracious appetite for all things AI. Meanwhile, all major players in the technology industry have either made, or are planning, billion-dollar investments into AI. AI training and inference data centers are being

planned and built across the world, and GPUs are the new diamonds.

Though with DeepSeek and other similar players in the picture now, that could change.

Given how AI demands more of everything – energy, compute power, and cooling – there is also a mad scramble to build more sustainable digital infrastructure powered by renewable energy.

In this issue of Cloud & Datacenters magazine, we will take a closer look at trends in AI adoption, investments into AI data centers, common challenges, and uncommon solutions.

We hope you enjoy reading this issue as much as we enjoyed putting it together.

Deborah Grey Editor-in-Chief W.Media

Meet the team

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Paul Mah

Deborah Grey

Hazel Moises

Kristelle Razon

Executive Editor

Editor-in-Chief

Senior Tech Journalist

Contributor

Cloud and Datacenter Magazine |

Issue 07

NOTEWORTHY NEWS

Empyrion Digital expands into Taiwan

Empyrion Digital has announced its strategic expansion into Taiwan with the development of a 7MW edge colocation data center in Neihu, Taipei.

This move comes at a crucial time when Taiwan’s energy grid is facing strain, making it challenging for new data center entrants.

Located in the heart of Taipei’s technology hub, Neihu, the TW1 data center is strategically positioned to cater to the needs of gaming, electronics, and tech companies. Its advanced design is optimized for highperformance AI computing, a growing demand that traditional data centers struggle to meet.

Empyrion Digital aims to differentiate itself through sustainability by incorporating advanced cooling technology and building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV). This approach is expected to achieve a PUE rating of 1.33 or lower and a WUE of nearly net

zero, aligning with Taiwan’s growing emphasis on green technology.

Taiwan, a global semiconductor powerhouse and a hub for technology and R&D, is emerging as a key data center market in North Asia. The increasing demand from domestic and international cloud, content providers, and enterprises, coupled with limited supply, presents a significant opportunity for Empyrion Digital.

By 2025, the company aims to grow its pan-Asian platform to over 170MW across Singapore, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan.

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New Data Center investments in Australia to top $26 billion Mandala’s latest research, commissioned by AirTrunk, Amazon Web Services (AWS), CDC, Microsoft, and NEXTDC finds investment in Australian data center capacity is empowering innovation, jobs, essential services and the clean energy transition.

New investment in Australian data center capacity is forecast to top $26 billion by 2030 to meet soaring digital demand driven by internet-connected devices, cloud computing and artificial intelligence, our research finds.

Data centers are a crucial component of Australia’s digital infrastructure, supporting everything from everyday internet use and streaming services to essential services like emergency response and disease surveillance.

Data centers deployable capacity in Australia is projected to more than double from 1,350 megawatts (MW) in 2024 to 3,100 MW by 2030. This expansion will see a further $26 billion in infrastructure investment.

Alongside this investment, Australia’s data center workforce is projected to grow by 8,300 to reach 17,900 by 2030, with particular opportunities for new ICT professional and skilled tech trade roles, such as electricians and mechanical engineers.

Data centers have key strategic importance as part of Australia’s digital infrastructure. The digital infrastructure ecosystem is the foundation for digital capability, driving productivity and innovation, and playing a crucial role in reaching the shared tech industry and Australian government goal of 1.2 million tech jobs in Australia by 2030.

Major data center operators and their customers are committed to matching their power use with 100 per cent renewable energy by 2030. This is being driven by renewable energy Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) which create investment certainty in renewable projects.

And of global renewable energy PPAs, 45 per cent involve data center operators, demonstrating the valuable role data centers play in catalysing the energy transition.

NOTEWORTHY NEWS

Equinix expands presence in India Equinix, a global data center major, has recently acquired more land in Mumbai, signalling expansion plans in the metropolis.

Mumbai enjoys a lion’s share of India’s data center market, accounting for around half of it, and the land acquired recently by Equinix is in Chandivalli, a prime location that offers connectivity to eastern and western suburbs.

According to local media reports, the land measures 5,597 sq m (1.38 acres) and was acquired by Equinix from Overseas Packing Industries Pvt Ltd and Warden Hyforce Pvt Ltd. for Rs. 155 crores (~US$ 18 million). The publications cited property registration documents accessed by CRE Matrix.

The transaction was registered on November 21, 2024.

W.Media reached out to Equinix for more details, and in an e-mail response to our queries, a spokesperson for the company explained the recent land acquisition saying, “Today, Equinix operates 3 International Business Exchange (IBX) data centers in Mumbai, called MB1, MB2 and MB4. The recently acquired land is the location of one of our existing data centers, MB2.”

Readers would recall that in June 2022, Equinix had announced that it will build another facility MB3 in

the same vicinity. “With an initial investment of US$86 million, MB3 will provide an initial capacity of more than 1,375 cabinets, and more than 4,150 cabinets when fully built out,” said Equinix, adding, “We will continue to invest in this market to support India’s growing digital economy.” MB3 will be located adjacent to MB2 and just 1.5km from MB1.

Equinix has big plans for India, as it is also planning to expand its footprint in Chennai. “We will invest US$65 million in the first phase, which will provide 850 cabinets, and a total site capacity of 4,950 cabinets when fully built,” said Equinix.

NTT Data to build 290MW data center in Johor Bahru NTT Data has proposed the acquisition of a 27.7 hectare land in Gelang Patah, Johor Bahru to build a new data center with planned 290 megawatts (MW) capacity.

According to NTT Data, the site located in Gelang Patah will become one of the largest data center campuses in Asia Pacific, comprising six dedicated buildings and a substantial IT load capacity.

The first building with an initial capacity of 48MW is planned to launch in April 2027 and the data center project will feature new technologies like direct liquid cooling.

Johor has experienced a phenomenal surge in data center development. In just a few years, the state’s capacity has skyrocketed from a modest 10MW to over 1,000MW, making it a regional powerhouse.

Malaysia’s ambitious goal is to transform Johor into an AI and cloud hub. Major cloud players like AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and Oracle are already establishing or expanding their presence in the state.

Maharashtra to develop 1.5GW Data Center Parks The government of the Western Indian state of Maharashtra is reportedly planning to build data center parks totalling an IT capacity of 1.5 GW in and around Mumbai, all completely powered by clean and renewable energy sources. According to local media reports, the state is aiming to attract investments worth Rs. 1.60 lakh crore (~US$ 20 billion) for the project that will see the development of three facilities of 500 MW each in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai.

The Green Integrated Data Center Park is an ambitious digital infrastructure project that mandates the use of 100 percent green energy for core data center activities, reports

MidDay, citing a note from the Maharashtra Cabinet. The project will also get uninterrupted water supply at a “reasonable tariff”, said the report. It further says that facilities and incentives will only be given when promoters invest at least Rs 10,000 crores and use 100 percent clean energy.

“With the rapid rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the demand for data storage and processing has surged, leading to increased energy consumption by data centers. This has raised concerns over global warming.

In light of India’s goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2070, green technology has become crucial for the future.

Maharashtra’s Green Integrated Data

center Park will address these concerns by promoting eco-friendly practices in the sector,” announced the government, reported The Hindu BusinessLine.

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NOTEWORTHY NEWS

STACK Infrastructure opens first Tokyo data center campus STACK Infrastructure, a leading provider of hyperscale data center solutions, has announced the completion of its inaugural facility in Japan.

Located in the Inzai District of Greater Tokyo, the 36MW campus marks a significant milestone in the company’s expansion in the Asia Pacific region.

The new facility, a joint venture with IPI Partners and Oaktree Capital Management, is designed to meet the growing demand for scalable data center capacity in Japan and

the broader region. The 2.3-hectare campus includes two 18MW buildings, each equipped with advanced security features and AI-ready capabilities.

STACK’s investment in the Tokyo market comes as part of a broader strategy to establish a strong presence in key Asia Pacific regions. The company is also developing an 80MW

Microsoft completes construction of Saudi Arabia data center region Microsoft recently announced the completion of construction on all three Azure availability zones in Saudi Arabia, with availability anticipated in 2026.

These zones will be located in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, and each of them will feature independent power, cooling, and networking infrastructure.

In a press release, Microsoft said, “Once operational, the datacenter region will be pivotal in accelerating progress towards the goals of Saudi Vision 2030 and strengthening the Kingdom’s position as a global hub of innovation, trade, and investment.”

It further said, “The new datacenter region in Saudi Arabia will offer enterprise-grade reliability and performance combined with customer privacy, data residency, and high-speed latency standards on par with the rest of Microsoft’s global cloud infrastructure of more than 60 Azure regions.”

Saudi Arabia’s rapid digital transformation and Cloud First policy have made it one of the fastest growing data center markets in the world. It was in response to this burgeoning demand for digital infrastructure, that Microsoft had first announced its intention to expand Cloud Regions across Saudi Arabia in association with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) in February 2023.

Recently, following a visit from a delegation of government officials from the MCIT, as well as Microsoft executives from the company’s headquarters and Saudi Arabia, Microsoft shared updates on the progress of its data center region

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campus in Osaka to further enhance its footprint in Japan.

Beyond Japan, STACK is expanding its operations in the Asia Pacific region with significant developments in Australia and South Korea. The company has plans for a 180MW campus in Melbourne, as well as facilities in Canberra and Incheon.

in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Turki Badhris, President of Microsoft Arabia, said, “Public and private sector organizations in Saudi Arabia have demonstrated a remarkable appetite to leverage the latest cutting-edge technologies such as AI to thrive in the new digital age and are already relying on Microsoft’s trusted cloud to accelerate their business growth and AI innovation. Now, together with the MCIT, we are excited to share these latest updates on our Saudi Arabia datacenter region, which demonstrate the significant progress we’re making and our commitment to strengthening the Kingdom’s position as a global innovation hub, in line with Saudi Vision 2030.”

Eng Mohammed Al Robayan, Deputy Minister for Technology, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, said, “Saudi Arabia is well positioned to become a thriving global hub of technological breakthroughs, empowering organizations across industries to innovate new cutting-edge solutions that enhance the quality of life for all. We are proud to see the progress on Microsoft’s cloud region, which marks a significant milestone in our journey to achieve our national goals. This infrastructure will enable businesses to unlock new possibilities, harness the power of AI, and drive sustainable growth for the kingdom and the whole region.”

NOTEWORTHY NEWS

Du and AIHostingHub deploy first NVIDIA supercluster in the GCC Du, a renowned provider of telecom and digital services in the Middle East, in partnership with AIHostingHub, has announced the successful deployment of the first-ever NVIDIA supercluster within the GCC. The project will be located in Dubai Silicon Oasis (DSO).

According to a press release, du will introduce a “supercluster” composed of several thousand cutting-edge NVIDIA GPUs, all housed within Supermicro liquid-cooled racks that surpass over 5 MW of power capacity. This project will showcase direct to chip liquid cooling technology in a high-density cluster, reportedly for the first time in the region.

This is significant for two reasons: Firstly, it is a huge step in addressing the Middle East’s growing hunger for Artificial Intelligence (AI), and its impact on the region’s booming Cloud and Data Center industry. Secondly, it aims to walk the talk on sustainability in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where there is a growing consciousness surrounding the need to step away from traditional energy sources and cooling technologies, not to mention water conservation efforts in one of the hottest and driest geographies in the world.

Fahad Al Hassawi, CEO, du said, “The complexity and scale of this implementation prove our capability to deliver innovative, high-performance solutions that not only meet but exceed our customer’s expectations.

The expertly designed system supports AIHostingHub in managing missioncritical AI processing tasks while minimizing environmental impact, making it a significant addition to the UAE’s technological infrastructure.”

Mohamed Taha General Manager, AI Hosting Hub said, “Our collaboration with du to host this NVIDIA supercluster in the Dubai Silicon Oasis (DSO) facility represents a pivotal moment for AI technology and data center capabilities in the GCC. We can ensure optimal performance and efficiency by leveraging this sophisticated technology, setting new benchmarks for energy consumption and sustainability in the industry.”

Malaysia unveils new guidelines for data centers The Malaysian government has taken a significant step towards strengthening its digital infrastructure with the introduction of the Data center Planning Guidelines (GPP).

Approved by the Cabinet on Tuesday, the guidelines aim to standardize and streamline the application and planning approval process for data center development.

Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming announced the guidelines on Thursday, emphasizing their role in supporting the ease of doing business initiative and complementing the overall data center industry ecosystem. The GPP applies to data center developments exceeding one megavolt ampere and covers both new areas and existing buildings.

One of the key objectives of the guidelines is to ensure that data center development is aligned with designated land use zones, preventing disruptions to domestic resource distribution. To achieve this, the GPP introduces planning controls, restricting data center development to commercial and industrial areas.

Additionally, buffer zones will be required near residential areas to mitigate noise disturbances.

The GPP is a strategic move by Malaysia to attract foreign investors

in the digital sector. The country has already secured investments from tech giants like Amazon, Google, and Oracle and aims to become the largest data center hub in ASEAN within the next four to five years.

Nga Kor Ming stated that the guidelines will be presented to the National Council for Local Government Authorities on November 14. The GPP booklet will be distributed to 156 local authorities, and it is available online.

As of May, Malaysia had 32 operational data centers and 19 under construction. The primary focus areas for data center development in the country are Cyberjaya, Kuala Lumpur, and Johor.

SK Telecom to launch AI data centers in Seoul South Korean telecom giant SK Telecom announced plans to expand its AI infrastructure with the launch of a new AI data center in Seoul and an AI data center testbed in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province. These facilities will be powered by Nvidia’s advanced GPUs. The company is also introducing a subscription-based AI cloud service to enhance GPU accessibility for domestic businesses. Additionally, SK Telecom is partnering with Lambda to offer GPU-as-a-Service, leveraging Nvidia’s H100 and upcoming H200 GPUs. To further strengthen its AI capabilities, SK Telecom is integrating edge AI technology into its nationwide communication network. This integration will bridge the gap between centralized AI data centers and on-device AI, enabling real-time, intelligent applications.

As part of its broader strategy, SK Telecom aims to create a nationwide AI infrastructure by combining regional data centers with GPU-as-aService offerings.

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Asset Management

COVER STORY

Building the data center for tomorrow’s AI AI is the new space race of today, driving advancements in technology and data center infrastructure.

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By Paul Mah

Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang at CES 2025.

PHOTO: X/MATTHEWBERMAN

ust a short while ago, highdensity data centers seemed like an elusive dream that never quite came to life.

However, as AI models become more powerful, the need for specialised, high-density data centers is rapidly increasing.

Suddenly, we have an urgent demand for facilities that can support the immense processing power and energy efficiency required to handle AI workloads. What will the AI data center of the future look like?

The golden age of compute In a groundbreaking paper titled “Scaling Laws for Neural Language Models” published in 2020, researchers concluded that AI models will scale predictably with increases in model size, data volume, and compute resources. In a nutshell, the paper demonstrated that larger AI models will continue to yield significant returns in capabilities. Over the last few years, this became one of the anchors for building ever-larger data centers and packing them with powerful AI hardware. The objective? To establish truly gigantic clusters of GPUs and push the boundaries of what AI can achieve.

As improvements start to wane on what is now known as “pre-training,” mainly due to a lack of adequate fresh data, leading AI experts have focused on various “post-training” techniques such as reinforcement learning and supervised learning. Such reinforcement systems help refine an AI model’s capabilities in specific areas to eventually become better at solving problems and performing complex tasks. On this front, DeepSeek,

which shot to global fame early this year, focused heavily on reinforcement learning using automated feedback, eschewing human feedback to dramatically reduce the cost and training time required.

Another approach that has emerged is known as test-time computing, which sees AI models dynamically allocate resources during inference. In effect, the model will apply strategies during the inference phase to improve performance by generating multiple candidate outputs, evaluating them, and selecting the best answer. This technique is heavily used by the latest reasoning models, which leverage adaptive strategies to handle complex queries effectively.

Whether pre-training, post-training, or test-time computing, the fixation of

Whether pre-training, post-training, or test-time computing, the fixation of the tech giants remains on improving AI performance. the tech giants remains on improving AI performance. The cost? More computational resources are needed than ever to fuel these techniques, further driving demand for massive data centers crammed with powerful GPU infrastructure.

Rack density now matters But does AI require a different kind of data center? Historically, AI infrastructure, despite its

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COVER STORY

substantial energy demands, is easily accommodated within traditional data center environments. Nvidia guidelines for the H200 GPUs – still the mainstay today – emphasise infrastructure capable of delivering more than 40kW per rack. However, a typical strategy to support these GPUs is to spread the GPU servers across more racks and redistribute power in the data hall.

According to a 2023 study by the Uptime Institute, the average global rack density is less than 6kW per rack.

So, expect a lot of almost-empty racks when deploying H200 GPUs in a low power density data center. It worked, albeit in a limited way, as long as there was enough floor space and cooling capacity. However, this approach is becoming increasingly untenable as AI workloads continue to grow, and new, higher-power GPUs such as Nvidia’s Blackwell GPUs appear on the market.

Power aside, there is another consideration: GPUs are specialised chips optimised for parallel processing.

As the number of GPUs required for training the next generation of AI models increases, the challenge now lies not just in raw computational power, but in the intricate dance of inter-node communication. This is because AI training clusters need ultralow latency and colossal bandwidth between compute nodes, so physical proximity is an important consideration.

Moreover, high-speed local networking is also constrained by distance, which requires keeping racks filled up to maintain the shortest possible

connection paths and minimise latency.

The result? Rack densities for AI data centers have now surged from traditional single-digit numbers into the double-digits or even the tripledigits range. One of the newest AI data centers would undoubtedly be the xAI Colossus Cluster, currently the world’s largest AI supercomputer with 100,000 GPUs across four data halls with plans to further scale it up.

The xAI Colossus Cluster Tech giants are highly secretive about the internal workings of their technologies and data centers, and even more so for their AI deployments.

However, Supermicro somehow managed to secure the approval of Elon Musk to publish a detailed walkthrough of Colossus, giving us a never-before-seen glimpse into the architecture and design of a groundbreaking AI deployment billed as the largest liquid-cooled AI cluster in the world.

Instead of the average of more than three years that traditional supercomputers require to plan and deploy, Colossus took a mere 122 days, or around four months, to be retrofitted and operationalised. AI training also started a mere 19 days after the first rack was installed – a record for largescale data center deployments. So what are some notable aspects of a cuttingedge AI data center?

For a start, the facility leans heavily on both direct-to-chip and active rear door cooling. At the rack level, facility

PHOTO: SERVETHEHOME

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water goes into in-rack CDUs with redundant pumps and redundant power supplies. Multiple 1U manifold units channel the liquid via the front to various systems inside each rack.

Within each GPU server, four Broadcom PCIe switches integrated into the motherboard are cooled by a custom liquid cooling block.

Chassis fans in each server ensure that components such as DIMMs, NICs, and management controllers are kept cool. Paired with liquid-cooled active rear door heat exchangers, this eliminates the need for traditional hot aisle containment, and keeps storage servers, CPU compute clusters, and 400Gb Ethernet networking equipment used for both GPU and non-GPU clusters cool. And yes, with up to nine networking ports to each server, the Colossus data halls are packed with an incredible amount of fibre optic cabling.

Interestingly, containers packed with Tesla Megapacks are used to buffer millisecond spikes and drops in power consumption amid AI training runs, as workloads are moved to the GPUs, results collated, and new jobs dispatched. This adds greater reliability to the AI data center deployment, according to Patrick Kennedy of ServeTheHome.

The push to go bigger with AI The race to build AI data centers is only just picking up. In January 2025, OpenAI, Softbank and Oracle announced the Stargate Project, a joint venture to dramatically scale up AI infrastructure in the United States.

The idea is to build the physical and virtual infrastructure needed to power the next generation of AI and keep the United States at the forefront of the AI race. Though it remains to be seen if the touted US$500 billion in investments will materialise, the announcement marks a significant commitment to advancing AI capabilities.

xAI Colossus Data Center Compute Hall.

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Tech giants are highly secretive about the internal workings of their technologies and data centers, and even more so for their AI deployments.

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The race to build AI data centers is only just picking up. In January 2025, OpenAI, Softbank and Oracle announced the Stargate Project.

Other tech firms plan to invest massively in AI infrastructure, too, as they seek to build facilities that can handle unheard-of computational demands. For instance, Amazon has indicated it will spend some US$100 billion on technology infrastructure, with the bulk expected to go towards AI systems and data centers. On its part, Google plans to allocate US$75 billion to technical infrastructure, laying bare its ambitions to expand its AI initiatives such as Gemini AI models and AI services on Google Cloud.

Even Meta plans to invest up to US$65 billion to build huge AI data centers to train the next generations of its Llama foundation model, while Microsoft has earmarked a staggering US$80 billion for AI in its current fiscal

year. And we have merely looked at a small handful of technology firms in the United States. Whichever perspective you take, AI investment in 2025 is reaching unprecedented levels and shows no signs of abating as companies vie for dominance in the AI sector.

The United States currently holds a significant lead in data center capacity. The construction of new AI data centers is expected to solidify this advantage, offering the necessary infrastructure to support rapid advancements in AI technologies.

The road ahead Assuming an unlimited budget and unrestricted access to data center infrastructure, including GPUs, what would be the main obstacle for the AI data centers of the future?

The answer is power. As AI models expand, the energy needed to train and maintain these models has become a significant challenge.

This is why tech giants are doubling down on fossil fuels and turning to

energy sources to meet the energy demands of AI data centers. Often, they are engaging in large, multi-year agreements with power providers to secure more electricity, including from nuclear power plants. There are plans for renewables as well, and one hopes that these will eventually contribute a significant portion to powering these energy-hungry AI data centers.

As AI data centers continue to grow, challenges related to energy efficiency and thermal management are being tackled at every level, accelerating the development of innovative cooling solutions and sustainable energy practices for the data centers industry at large.

Ultimately, the AI data center of the future will require new innovations in power, cooling, and infrastructure.

As the race for AI supremacy speeds up, success will not only depend on computational power but also on our ability to sustainably power and cool these digital giants, ensuring they operate efficiently.

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COVER STORY

AI adoption in India: Exceptional enthusiasm, middling maturity Just like the rest of the world, India too is excited about AI and its various applications, especially GenAI. Indian businesses have shown an appetite for AI adoption, however, when it comes to the maturity of adoption, it appears that they are yet to fully harness AI’s potential.

By Deborah Grey

the government sector is employing AI chatbots for citizen grievance redressal.”

How is India Embracing AI? Boston Consulting Group (BCG)’s AI Radar global survey of 1,803 C-level executives across 19 markets and 12 industries revealed that 71 percent of Indian companies have plans to invest up to US$ 25 million into AI, and another 15 percent plan to invest between US$ 25 – 50 million into it.

The survey findings published in BCG’s report titled From Potential to Profit: Closing the AI Impact Gap further reveal that 34 percent see AI agents playing a central or contemporary role in 2025, while a further 36 percent are exploring the possibility.

“India has not only embraced AI but is rapidly emerging as a global leader in its adoption. Recent data indicates that India is at the forefront of AI implementation, alongside countries like the UAE,” says Rachit Mohan, APAC Lead - Data center Leasing, and India Lead - Data center Transactions, JLL. Shedding light on sectoral AI adoption trends, he says, “The financial services sector is leveraging AI for automated loan processing and fraud detection, while in healthcare, genomics is one of the main focuses along with AI-powered chatbots revolutionising initial medical consultations in multiple Indian languages. The energy sector is using AI to optimise energy usage and extend battery life in electric vehicles. Even

India’s Data Centers getting ready for AI Meanwhile, India’s digital infrastructure industry has been quietly preparing the groundwork necessary to support the impending tsunami of AI workloads.

“We are creating our data center designs on AI-enabled architecture,” says Surajit Chatterjee, Managing Director, Data center India, CapitaLand Investment. “That means tomorrow, when the chips or CBUs enter the server rack, our network, operations, and design are already optimised to support these advanced technologies seamlessly. This proactive approach ensures that we remain at the forefront of innovation, ready to meet the demands of AI-driven workloads and deliver exceptional value to our customers.”

Over the last few years, India has been attracting investments into AI-related digital infrastructure development from both domestic and global players. Many AI-ready data centers have been planned or are in various stages of development across India. These range from the 80MW AI-dedicated facility that RackBank Datacenters is building in Indore in Madhya Pradesh, to the 1GW AI-ready data center Reliance plans to build in Jamnagar in Gujarat. At Davos this year, Sify Technologies announced a US$5 billion investment to expand data

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hubs, add AI ops and GPUs. So, India is getting ready to fully embrace AI. “We are projecting an addition of hundreds of megawatts of data center capacity in India over the next four years, primarily driven by AI,” says JLL’s Rachit Mohan, and goes on to share trends vis-à-vis training and inference data centers. “For large-scale AI model training, which isn’t latency-sensitive, we are seeing significant investments in hyperscale and colocation data centers.

According to JLL research, the industry has expanded 2.5 times over the past four and half years (2019-H1 2024) at a 24 percent CAGR,” he says.

“On the other hand, AI inference, which often requires real-time data processing, is driving a trend towards edge data centers located closer to data sources. This is particularly crucial for applications like autonomous driving or high-frequency trading. The growth in this sector is substantial, with an expected addition of 604MW capacity in the next two and a half years.”

However, in terms of AI maturity, there has only been a marginal improvement over the last few years. Is this because of some systemic impediments, or is India just being cautiously optimistic about embracing AI? Turns out, it’s a little bit of both.

AI Adoption Maturity: What do the numbers say?

According to the recently released AI Adoption Index 2.0 Report by the

COVER STORY

National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) and Ernst & Young (EY), the Indian AI market is set to grow at a 25 – 35 percent Compounded Average Growth Rate (CAGR) through 2027, with the lion’s share from AI software and services, and Generative AI. The report, however, finds that India’s AI adoption has increased only marginally, with its index rising from 2.45 in 2022 to 2.47 in 2024.

The report is based on a survey of 500 companies and finds that 87 percent of the Indian enterprises are in the middle stages of AI maturity – Enthusiast and Expert – with 45 percent at the Expert stage. This was mainly due to a “lack of alignment of AI outcomes with business goals,” something that is “crucial to demonstrate PoC (Proof of Concept) success, quickly move to production, and plan for scalability.”

It further found that there was an “inconsistent supply of standardised, compliant, and quality data.” Then there was the dearth of a skilled AI workforce, with only 13 percent of the respondents having a dedicated AI team.

If we look at the sectoral break up, Manufacturing, Telecom and Media & Entertainment have shown greater AI adoption than sectors like Banking Financial Services & Insurance (BFSI), healthcare, or even Energy and Utilities (E&U). But on a positive note, the same report finds that 60 percent of the respondents in the latter three sectors were also making it a priority to reskill their existing non-AI workforce.

What are Indian digital infrastructure business leaders saying?

Some of the most respected business leaders from India’s thriving cloud and data center industry are being cautiously optimistic, while being acutely aware of the inevitability of AI, and the consequences of ignoring it.

“We still don’t have real data as to how AI has contributed to growth. We expect growth from AI deployments, but the rubber is yet to hit the road,” says Vinod Javur, COO, Digital Edge DC. He compares the AI boom to an “apple in a transparent jar” scenario. “You can see it, but you can’t eat it. But you can’t ignore the apple. You hope that it will come out of the jar one day, and you can eat it. So, you are preparing. If you don’t prepare, someone else will open the jar and eat the apple,” he says.

Some other business veterans

encourage potential adopters to first think things through, and gain clarity of purpose.

“Everybody wants to join the AI bandwagon, but you need to understand first what you are doing, what problem you are solving,” advises Kalyan Muppaneni, Founder & CEO, Pi Datacenters. “What are the use cases, what are the models, what business problem will the AI implementation solve, will you have a return on investment?” are some questions he advises business leaders to ask themselves. Muppaneni feels that AI is a journey. “It isn’t something everyone will implement over the next 12 or 24 months. I think it’s an evolution that will take place over the next ten years,” he says.

But the private sector cannot do it alone. The world over, we have seen examples of governments playing a proactive role in shaping the digital futures of their countries. Now, let’s have a look at what the Indian administration is doing to create an environment conducive for AI to thrive.

Government support for AI adoption Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has held meetings with top technology leaders such as Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft chairman and CEO Satya Nadella, among others.

Then there is the IndiaAI Mission, an initiative of India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITy). This Mission “aims to build a comprehensive ecosystem that fosters AI innovation by democratising computing access, enhancing data quality, developing indigenous AI capabilities, attracting top AI talent, enabling industry collaboration, providing startup risk capital, ensuring socially impactful AI projects, and promoting ethical AI.” In March 2024, the Indian Parliament approved Rs 10,300 crores for supporting projects under the IndiaAI Mission.

These include improving India’s compute capacity by deploying over 10,000 Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) through strategic public-private collaborations. Other initiatives under the mission include setting up the IndiaAI Innovation Centre (IAIC), an academic institution that will aim at streamlined implementation and retention of top research talent. Funds

In March 2024, NVIDIA delivered 4,000 H100 Tensor Core GPUs to India’s Yotta Data Services, the data center business of the Hiranandani Group. approved by the Cabinet will also enable IAIC to develop and deploy foundational models, with a specific emphasis on indigenous Large Multimodal Models (LMMs) and domain-specific models, leveraging Edge and distributed computing for optimal efficiency.

So, how has this translated into actual investments or developments on the ground? Has it empowered domestic players adequately? Are global tech majors making a beeline for India the way they are looking at say, East Asia and the Middle East?

International interest in India’s AI landscape In March 2024, NVIDIA delivered 4,000 H100 Tensor Core GPUs to India’s Yotta Data Services, the data center business of the Hiranandani Group. Yotta will use these chips to power ShaktiCloud, its comprehensive AI platform that aims to empower users to build, train, and deploy AI models seamlessly.

In September 2024, G42, a UAEbased technology holding group, announced that it will soon launch NANDA, a Hindi Large Language Model (LLM). NANDA is a 13-billion parameter model trained on approximately 2.13 trillion tokens of language datasets, and it could offer over half a billion Hindi language speakers the opportunity to harness the potential of generative AI. Google already has ongoing investments in AI in India. The plans include partnerships with various state governments for the use of AI solutions in sectors like agriculture, healthcare, and education.

In January 2025, Microsoft announced an investment of UD$3 billion into Cloud and AI infrastructure in India. The plan involves the establishment of new data centers, as well as training 10 million Indians in AI skills over the next five years.

With AI-ready digital infrastructure being developed, it appears that AI adoption is likely to pick up pace in the near future in India.

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COVER STORY

Middle East betting big on renewable energy The Middle East is one of the hottest places on earth, with temperatures known to often surge north of 40 degrees Celsius. But it isn’t just the people who need air conditioning to survive here. This region is also one of the fastest growing digital technology hubs in the world, and this poses a challenge when it comes to cooling data centers.

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By Deborah Grey

ith the advent of AI, the pressure is only going to grow as AI workloads need more of everything: compute power, cooling, and energy to fuel the insatiable appetite of AI. What do the numbers say?

According to research by McKinsey, the application of GenAI to 63 use cases could generate global annual economic value worth between US$ 2.6 trillion and US$ 4.4 trillion. In its report titled The state of gen AI in the Middle East’s GCC countries: A 2024 report card, McKinsey finds that in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the same GenAI cases could generate between US$ 21 billion and US$ 35 billion.

All these AI applications are going to need a robust digital infrastructure and a reliable connectivity ecosystem to pave the path for digital revolution in the region. To understand the impact on demand for power, let us take the case of two of the biggest markets in the region, namely the United Arab PHOTO: ACWAPOWER.COM

Al Shuaibah Solar Park.

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Emirates (UAE) and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

According to Mordor Intelligence, the UAE data center market size is estimated at 495.7 MW in 2025, and is expected to reach 917.7 MW by 2030. Meanwhile, the Saudi Arabian data center market size is estimated at 0.44 GW and is estimated to grow to 1.19 GW by 2030.

Now, one could argue that these power guzzling data centers could quench their thirst with traditional fossil fuel-based energy sources that the Middle East is abundant in. But in wake of growing concerns surrounding climate change, decarbonisation, and sustainability, using these power sources is no longer a viable option.

Investing in renewable energy sources is, therefore, the only way out.

Luckily, most of the GCC countries are showing a renewed commitment to sustainability, as was evidenced during their ambitious pledges made during COP 27 and 28. This has translated into large investments in renewable energy generation. Let’s take a closer look at how the Middle East is upping its renewables game to keep up with AI, and what is contributing to its goal to reduce oil dependence.

Creating a Favourable Regulatory Environment Almost all governments in the GCC have a clear vision about their digital transformation and related sustainability goals, and have clear policies on how to achieve these goals. Many of these governments have interwoven AI into these policies to ensure that the mad scramble

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for AI adoption does not derail their sustainability related plans.

For example, Saudi Arabia is one of the fastest growing data center markets in the Middle East. This is powered by two key government initiatives: Vision 2030 and Cloud First Policy. Vision 2030 was launched in 2016 and aims to create a technology-driven, business-friendly economy that empowers citizens and also attracts foreign businesses and investments. As part of the wider plans under Vision 2030, the Kingdom has also set up the Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA) which is the national reference in all matters related to the organization, development, and handling of data and AI. SDAIA’s subentities are National Data Management Office (NDMO), National Center for AI (NCAI), and National Information Center (NIC). Meanwhile, the Cloud First Policy launched in 2020 encourages cloud adoption in the Kingdom by mandating that any new IT investment, civilian government entities should consider cloud solutions as opposed to internal or traditional solutions.

When it comes to sustainability goals, Saudi Arabia aims to ensure that by 2030, half of its overall energy comes from renewable sources.

Therefore, in 2021, it launched the Saudi Green Initiative (SGI) which unites environmental protection, energy transition and sustainability programs with the overarching aims of offsetting and reducing emissions, increasing afforestation and land restoration, and protecting the Kingdom’s land and sea.

Saudi Arabia also has a National Renewable Energy Program (NREP)

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that aims to make the most of the region’s solar and wind energy potential, and has identified almost three dozen places across the country to establish solar parks and wind farms.

Many of these projects are backed by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), which is Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.

And it’s not just Saudi Arabia; other Middle Eastern nations also have similar programs and policies. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), different emirates have their own strategies.

For example, Dubai has Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 and the Dubai Net Zero Emissions Strategy 2050, that aim to provide 100 percent of the energy production capacity from clean energy sources by 2050.

Then there is the Abu Dhabi Environment Vision 2030 that aims to minimise the impact of climate change, better manage and conserve water resources, among other sustainability goals. Then there are Bahrain’s Economic Vision 2030, Oman’s Vision 2040, Qatar’s National Vision 2030, among other plans.

So, what exactly are they doing to achieve their environmental sustainability goals? Where are the investments going? What are they building?

Developing Solar Power generation infrastructure Both UAE and KSA are investing heavily into solar energy. Though many of these projects are mainly aiming to cater to household users, some have carved a niche in powering digital infrastructure projects.

UAE’s most significant initiative in this regard is the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. It has a planned production capacity of 5,000 MW by 2030, with investments totalling AED 50 billion. When completed, it aims to save over 6.5 million tons of carbon emissions annually. It is already the power source for Moro Hub, the internationally acclaimed green data center supporting the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA).

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has multiple solar parks in various stages of development. Most of these projects are backed by the PIF and spearheaded by a consortium led by ACWA Power.

These projects range from the 1.5 GW Sudair Solar PV plant in the Sudair Industrial City, to the 300 MW solar

Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park (Phase 4).

Saudi Arabia is also developing a Wind Garden in NEOM’s Oxagon to provide clean energy to its Green Hydrogen Plant.

PHOTO: MBRSIC.AE

plant in Sakaka. But Saudi Arabia’s most ambitious and largest solar park is in Al Shuaibah near the digital infrastructure hub of Jeddah in the Meccah province.

The project comprises two photovoltaic plants that will ultimately have a combined capacity of 2060 MW. It is expected to become operational by the end of this year.

Meanwhile, Qatar has the 800 MW Al Kharsaah PV Power project. Further, two more upcoming projects in the Ras Laffan and Mesaieed industrial cities are expected to have a combined capacity of 875 MW. In September 2024, the state-owned petroleum company QatarEnergy announced plans to build a new 2GW solar power project in Qatar’s Dukhan area. The project aims to elevate Qatar’s photovoltaic (PV) solar power production capacity to 4GW.

the program claims, is the equivalent to removing more than 26,000 petrolpowered cars from the road annually.

This is in line with the UAE’s goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has the Dumat Al Jandal Wind Farm, located 900 kilometres north of Riyadh in the Al Jouf region of northwestern Saudi Arabia. Equipped with 99 turbines and a total capacity of 400 MW, this project aims to displace approximately one million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year. It is developed by a consortium comprising EDF Renewables, Masdar, and Nesma.

Saudi Arabia is also developing a Wind Garden in NEOM’s Oxagon to provide clean energy to its Green Hydrogen Plant. The Wind Garden, located near the Gulf of Aqaba, will feature 250 wind turbines and will work in conjunction with another onsite renewable energy (solar power) facility to supply 4 GW of energy.

Investing in Wind Energy This part of the world is not only blessed by sunshine, but is also rather windy.

And countries across the wider Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region are actively looking to make the most of it by setting up wind farms.

The UAE Wind Program is a 103.5 MW program with projects located in Abu Dhabi and Fujairah. Developed by Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar), the project aims to displace 120,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, which,

Conclusion With all these big investments and renewable energy mega projects, it appears that for now the Middle East is actually committed to walking the talk on sustainability. But one cannot ignore that oil and natural gas are abundant in this region, and much like a new vegan resisting the urge to grab a quick kebab from the neighbourhood deli, the temptation to slide back into old habits will always lurk quietly in the background.

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Fukushima’s shadow: A haunting reminder as the data center industry seeks nuclear power A decade later, the scars remain.

n March 11, 2011, a cataclysmic event unfolded in Japan. A powerful 9.0 magnitude earthquake triggered a devastating tsunami, inundating coastal regions and leaving a trail of destruction. Among the hardest-hit was the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, where a series of failures led to a catastrophic nuclear accident.

According to the World Health Organisation’s comprehensive assessment, this event, caused by a

combination of natural disasters and human error, led to widespread public fear of nuclear power and significant environmental impact. Radioactive materials were released into the environment, contaminating land, water, and air. Evacuations were ordered, and entire communities were displaced. The accident ignited global concerns about the safety of nuclear power, casting a long shadow over the industry.

A decade later, the scars of the disaster remain, and the specter of nuclear power looms large, particularly as the data center industry turns its gaze towards atomic energy to fuel the insatiable appetite of AI.

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Research from the International Energy Agency (IEA) indicates that data centers consume approximately 1% of global electricity demand.

Energy-hungry data centers Data centers, filled with thousands of servers, operate 24/7, consuming electricity to power their operations.

Research from the International Energy Agency (IEA) indicates that data centers consume approximately 1% of global electricity demand, with AI-specific operations showing exponential growth.

The heat generated by these servers is immense, requiring robust cooling systems that can consume up to 40% of the total energy usage.

To mitigate the environmental consequences of AI, there’s been a push to power data centers with renewable energy sources like solar and wind.

While these are promising options, they have limitations, such as intermittent power output and geographical constraints. Thus the growing interest in nuclear power.

However, the Fukushima disaster ignited a global debate about the safety and sustainability of nuclear power. Critics point to the potential for accidents, the long-term risks of radioactive waste, and the challenges

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of decommissioning nuclear plants.

The specter of another Chernobyl or Fukushima haunts the industry, raising concerns about the potential consequences of a nuclear mishap, especially one that could impact vast regions and generations to come.

power plant safely shut down and cool itself without electricity? This is where passive safety systems come into play.

These systems are designed to work without electricity, relying on natural forces like gravity and the properties of water to cool the reactor.

A risky proposition As the data center industry grapples with the energy demands of AI, nuclear power presents an alluring solution. It is now being reconsidered as a potential solution to the energy needs of AI. Tech giants like Google, Microsoft and Amazon have announced plans to utilise nuclear energy to power their data centers as the advancements in nuclear technology have made it a safer and more efficient energy source.

A report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) shows that Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) are gaining significant attention due to their inherent safety features, modular design, and scalability. These reactors are designed to be safer than traditional nuclear power plants, with passive safety systems that can automatically shut down the reactor in case of an emergency.

Picture the nuclear power plant as a pot of boiling water on a stove. When you turn off the stove, the water will eventually stop boiling. However, the pot will still be hot for a long time. This residual heat is called “decay heat.”

A nuclear power plant, even after it’s shut down, continues to produce decay heat. This heat needs to be cooled down to prevent the reactor core from overheating and potentially melting.

The cooling systems rely on electricity to function.

• Gravity-driven cooling systems: These systems use gravity to move water from tanks located high above the reactor to the reactor core. The water flows naturally, without the need for pumps, to cool the reactor.

Passive safety systems The benefits of nuclear power for AI data centers are well established. For a start, nuclear power plants provide a consistent and reliable energy supply, ideal for the energy-intensive operations of AI. Moreover, a single nuclear facility can generate sufficient electricity to power multiple large-scale data centers.

On the sustainability front, nuclear power produces zero direct carbon emissions during operation, contributing to a cleaner energy mix. Finally, nuclear power plants require significantly less land compared to solar or wind farms to generate equivalent amounts of power.

The big question: Can a nuclear

• Natural circulation: This system relies on the difference in water density between hot and cold water.

Hot water, being less dense, rises to the top of the reactor vessel, while cooler water sinks to the bottom. This natural circulation helps to remove heat from the reactor core.

• Containment structures: These are strong, airtight structures that enclose the reactor. In case of an accident, they prevent the release of radioactive materials into the environment.

These advancements in nuclear technology, particularly in passive safety systems, have made nuclear power a safer and more reliable energy source. This is especially beneficial for the demanding energy needs of data centers.

The future of AI and nuclear power While nuclear power offers a promising solution, the “what ifs” still haunt the minds of many. What if another disaster strikes a nuclear power plant?

Could the consequences be as severe as Fukushima? What if there are unforeseen technical failures or human error? How can the industry ensure the safety of nuclear power plants? These questions underscore the inherent risks of relying on nuclear power, especially as the stakes continue to rise with the increasing reliance on AI. The data center industry must carefully weigh the potential benefits of nuclear power against the risks. The legacy of Fukushima serves as a stark reminder that the pursuit of sustainable energy must be tempered with caution.

As the industry looks to the future, it must learn from the past and strive to minimise the risks associated with nuclear power.

As AI continues to evolve and expand, so too does the demand for

These advancements in nuclear technology, particularly in passive safety systems, have made nuclear power a safer and more reliable energy source. energy. The surge in AI workloads requires increased data center capacity, significantly contributing to the global rise in electricity consumption. Goldman Sachs Research projects a 160% increase in energy demand by 2030. Nuclear power, with its potential to provide clean, reliable, and abundant energy, could play a crucial role in powering the AI revolution.

Even Japanese Industry Minister Muto Yoji emphasized the importance of nuclear power alongside renewables to reduce fossil fuel reliance. Key sectors driving Japan’s future economic growth, including steel, chemicals, semiconductors, and data centers, heavily depend on electricity from non-fossil fuel sources. Securing a stable supply of clean energy is essential for Japan to strengthen its economy.

However, public perception of nuclear power remains a significant challenge, with concerns about safety persisting. If these negative perceptions continue, can the industry overcome public fears and doubts and achieve widespread acceptance?

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EXPERT INSIGHTS

Embracing AI: Vision, apprehensions and solutions AI has dominated the conversation at all of W.Media’s Cloud & Datacenter Conventions, as well as the W.Media Podcast. Here are a few select excerpts from what veterans and experts from across the global cloud and data center industry have been saying about AI: how it can change the way we do things, how we must prepare for it, and what we need to be mindful of as we prepare for increased AI adoption.

“AI has been in data centers and has continued to grow and evolve. AI has enhanced the Digital Twin journey in energy management, and we are seeing more widespread adoption. Power distribution, scheduling, management, and so on will lead to more successful operations for data centers.”

Chang Tsann, Senior Director, Dell Technologies Services at the Singapore Cloud & Datacenter Convention

“Making sustainable energy available to data centers is still a big challenge.

There are policies on paper, but implementation has been difficult. A lot more intervention is required from the government.”

“What is not quite in place just yet is the real depth of understanding within the data center community of really what a mission critical, high performance connectivity infrastructure looks like. It’s not just a couple of carriers; it’s something much more diverse.”

Kalyan Muppaneni, Founder, Chairman & CEO, Pi Datacenters at CenterStage, Mumbai Cloud & Datacenter Convention

“I believe the value AI generates will far outweigh its costs, and that’s what we should focus on. It’s not about following traditional methods that consume large amounts of energy with little return. AI is a disruptive technology that will create massive value for society.”

Guo Dongliang, Vice President, Product and Solution, Alibaba Cloud International at the Singapore Cloud & Datacenter Convention

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Milan Radia, CEO, Connected Compute at the Dubai Cloud & Datacenter Convention

“Trying to keep up with the technology details in the AI space involves (kind of) jumping into a fast-moving time vortex. Getting up to speed is a very big challenge right now; staying at speed also requires a ridiculous amount of time and effort.”

David Forden, SVP, Sales Procom Solutions on W.Media Podcast

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“AI allows users to interact with databases and data warehouses using natural language queries. So, the bottom line with that is that it reduces the reliance on technical expertise. It makes the data and the insights more accessible to users.”

Jack McCauley, Co-Founder of Oculus on W.Media Podcast

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Eye on SEA’s interconnected digital landscape As Southeast Asia’s digital economy accelerates, Malaysia is well-positioned to become a key hub in the region’s interconnected digital ecosystem.

By Weng Yew Wong, Founder and Group Managing Director, Extreme Broadband With datacenter (DC) capacity that not only meets local demand but has the potential to serve broader regional needs, Malaysia has established a foundation to support extensive data processing and hosting for neighbouring nations. To maximise the impact of this infrastructure, datacenter operators should prioritise interconnectivity, ensuring that data moves seamlessly across borders with resilience, high performance, and cost efficiency.

By setting high standards for regional connectivity, Malaysia has a unique opportunity to lead Southeast Asia in cross-border digital collaboration, creating a model for efficient and sustainable growth. Additionally, by building expertise in this sector, Malaysia can drive broader economic benefits, enabling diverse industries to leverage advanced digital infrastructure. This strategic focus could enhance digital access and fuel innovation across Southeast Asia, making Malaysia a leader in the digital transformation of the region.

The rapid expansion of Malaysia’s datacenter infrastructure is positioning the country not only to fulfil its own digital needs but also to serve the entire Southeast Asia region. With a strategic overbuild that exceeds domestic

demand, Malaysia is establishing itself as a digital powerhouse, ready to support regional connectivity across SEA. To fully leverage this capacity, the growth of Malaysia’s DC industry needs to be supported by advanced interconnection solutions, like those provided by DE-CIX, one of the world’s leading Internet Exchange operators. By developing a robust interconnectivity framework, Malaysia can enable seamless, resilient, and cost-effective cross-border data flows, reinforcing its position as a central digital hub for Southeast Asia.

With an anticipated 4 GW of datacenter capacity expected to come online in Malaysia over the next four to five years, the country is on track to surpass Singapore as Asia’s largest datacenter hub. Leading this growth, Johor Bahru has rapidly become Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing DC market, with 1.6 GW of total capacity, bolstered by Nvidia’s substantial investment of approximately RM20.24 billion. This expansion supports key industries such as semiconductors, finance, e-commerce, telecommunications, and logistics, which are already well-established in Malaysia. By fostering local expertise and leveraging Malaysia’s industrial strengths, the country can create a more inclusive digital ecosystem that encourages innovation and growth across Southeast Asia.

With a network of over 7,000 individual data centers globally, the data infrastructure ecosystem is vast, yet Malaysia is positioned as one of the leading countries in SEA with significant contributions in the region’s data center market. Malaysia currently boasts a total live IT capacity of approximately 280 megawatts (MW). Collaboration between

datacenters, connectivity providers and Internet Exchanges (IX) is essential to maintain uninterrupted connectivity.

While there are sizable datacenter facilities with IX points, Malaysia still has room to increase its number of IX meeting points to enhance data interconnectivity across the country.

With a robust electricity infrastructure that ensures operational stability, Malaysia stands out as an ideal location for DC industry expansion within SEA. The accelerating adoption of technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), 5G, and e-commerce reinforces the critical role of data centers across sectors.

By 2028, Malaysia’s datacenter market is projected to generate approximately RM10 billion ($2.25 billion) in revenue.

Additionally, Malaysia’s strategic submarine cable landings offer both efficient domestic and international connectivity, enabling its datacenter to complement major regional hubs with expanded peering, networking, and computational resources.

In summary, Malaysia is uniquely positioned to become a cornerstone of Southeast Asia’s digital infrastructure.

With substantial DC capacity, proactive infrastructure planning, and strategic investments in connectivity, the country is equipped to support not only its own digital demands but also those of neighbouring countries. As technological advancements continue to reshape economies, Malaysia’s datacenter and interconnection capabilities will be instrumental in driving these transformations. By closing connectivity gaps through a focus on scalability, expertise, and resilience, Malaysia is well-poised to lead an inclusive digital economy that fosters regional growth and innovation across Southeast Asia.

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HIGHLIGHTS

The impact of AI on power and cooling in the data center AI data center operations will mean big changes for power delivery and thermal management at a scale not seen before.

By Ed Ansett, Global Director of Technology & Innovation, Ramboll

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oes this mean engineers are being asked to accommodate known and unknown unknowns? In some ways, the answer is yes, but a picture is emerging of what needs to be accommodated at a component level.

Smart design engineers tasked with producing power chain topologies and cooling systems in a rapidly growing power draw are embracing the challenges of higher rack densities and liquid cooling. Top of the list is how the power design accommodates high-performance server GPU chipsets running at 1,200W and beyond, finding headroom for powering and cooling networking kits that run at speeds of 400Gbps today (and 800Gbps and beyond soon) that could result in 20°C temperature jumps?

performance and TCO. In the case of AI GPU architecture, it is a measurement of TFLOPS or PFLOPS per GPU watt. In watts per GPU terms, Nvidia’s Hopper H100, H200, and Blackwell B100 chips draw 700W. Nvidia’s latest Blackwell GPU architecture, such as the recently announced B200 and GB200NVL72 draw 1,000W and 1,200W, respectively.

Nvidia says its NVLink switching technology delivers groundbreaking 1.8TB/s bidirectional throughput per GPU, ensuring seamless high-speed communication among up to 576 GPUs for the most complex LLMs. When scaled out to thousands or tens of thousands of chips rack

Of microprocessors and networks Let’s start with the chips. All processors (GPU, CPU and TPU) are measured in

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deployed in clusters and connected switchgear, this indicates the power density and scale required. Which brings us to cooling: The GPU roadmap from Nvidia certainly points to there being no alternative to liquid. Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia was quoted as saying: “Coolant enters the rack at 25°C at two liters per second and exits 20 degrees warmer.” What happens to that heat?

Another chip designer to consider is Google. As well as being an Nvidia customer, Google has its own TPU chip, which it works with ARM to design. As a provider, Google will be deploying its own TPU v5p technology in pods within

HIGHLIGHTS

New AI workloads are set to push systems to their limits because of the concentrated heat generated by GPUs and TPUs during intensive AI computations. its data centers and selling services off the back of it. It also announced the general availability of TPU v5p for training large AI models.

On the networking side, the pods that Google is deploying use switching technology known as Jupiter. This is built on OCS (Optical Circuit Switching) networking architecture which promises 40% less power use than previous networking design. But it brings serious design challenges.

Google uses liquid cooling in its data centers. Exactly how much heat is being generated is unknown. But in a paper detailing the design, researchers at Google wrote: “[Two] primary challenges for hyperscale data centers remained.

First, data center networks need to be deployed at the scale of an entire building – perhaps 40MW or more of infrastructure. The data center network needs to evolve dynamically to keep pace with the new elements connecting to it.”

Conclusion There is no longer (if it ever existed) one size fits all in data center power and cooling. The examples above show just some of the considerations for power and cooling design in the rapidly evolving world of AI infrastructure.

New AI workloads are set to push systems to their limits because of the concentrated heat generated

by GPUs and TPUs during intensive AI computations. This is challenging the effectiveness of existing cooling infrastructure, potentially leading to overheating issues and reduced hardware lifespan. In response, data centers are typically deploying a variety of cooling techniques such as air cooling,

liquid cooling, or a combination of both.

But the pace of change is accelerating how commercial data center operators are gearing up for AI. That means designing mechanical systems to accommodate some form of liquid cooling such as rear-door heat exchangers (RDHX) or direct-to-chip (DTC) liquid cooling.

To a large degree, what is needed will depend on the GPU model being deployed and in what configuration.

Building for the latest and future GPU models that require 1,200W per unit certainly means that some form of direct-to-chip liquid cooling is a must.

For a data center designer, the question becomes, how do I rise to the challenge of designing power topologies and cooling schemes that can flex to accommodate today’s known GPU, networking and storage architectures and the likely configurations that will be deployed in the white space? And how can we prepare for future architectures that haven’t been developed yet?

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FEATURE

DIG shakes up Thai market with ambitious 1.5GW plan for data center parks Doma Infrastructure Group (DIG) has announced plans to develop 1.5GW of data center parks in Thailand.

ositioning itself as a developer of master-planned data center parks, DIG has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Silicon Tech Park (STP), a Thai technology park operator. Together, they will jointly develop three AI-ready data center parks with a planned power capacity of 1.5GW by the third quarter of 2026.

This joint venture will see the acquisition of 300 acres of freehold land across the provinces of Chachoengsao, Chonburi, and Rayong, all parts of Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC). The EEC is a key economic development initiative that covers these three eastern provinces. Launched in 2017, it aims to modernise the industrial base for the digital age under the Thailand 4.0 vision.

Data from DC Byte shows that Thailand has around 110MW of data center capacity currently, when data center projects under construction are included. If the proposed 1,500MW of capacity is fully realised, it will completely transform the data center landscape in the country.

Building data center parks In an exclusive interview with W.Media, Clement Goh, the CEO and co-founder of DIG, shared about his firm’s business model, which he says is unique in the Asia Pacific. Goh is a seasoned data center veteran with two decades of experience; he was previously the managing director of Equinix in South Asia and also served as the CEO of STT GDC in Southeast Asia.

According to Goh, DIG will be the master developer for establishing and managing data center parks.

This means it will secure the requisite permits, negotiate access to utilities, get fibre networks in place, and construct the data center core and shell for its customers. The idea is to dramatically speed up the development of new data centers for data center operations and hyperscalers, he says.

“We are not getting into operations.

We do not want to compete with any of the operators. We just want to make sure that we provide the ability for them to operate,” Goh said, noting that his firm is open to various financing models to support data center operators.

“You can start with a lease, because you want to make sure that the utilities come online as promised. And once that happens, and the asset becomes

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By Paul Mah

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Data from DC Byte shows that Thailand has around 110MW of data center capacity currently, when data center projects under construction are included. stabilised, we are happy to sell it and then we move on; we recycle the capital in other markets.”

All ready to roll Goh confirmed that the land, water, and the majority of the planned 1.5GW of power have already been secured and will be available from “day one”. Beyond access to renewables such as solar, negotiations are ongoing to access hydroelectric power across the Thai border from Laos.

FEATURE

But what about the drought that Thailand is currently facing and ongoing water shortages in parts of the Land of Smiles? Goh says this isn’t an issue with the current locations: “We have a reservoir within the park at Rayong, so water is not an issue there. The other two locations are all close to mature industrial estates in the area, [so] the supply of water is not an issue either.”

Indeed, should an operator or hyperscaler sign on today and the data centers are constructed in parallel with the clearing of land, Goh says that the first data centers can go live as soon as 2026.

Why did Goh and his team opt to build their first data center parks in Thailand? There were several reasons, says Goh, who says many data center operators are already evaluating

Thailand for its supportive government policy, affordable power, and access to renewables. He cited several major ongoing Request for Proposals (RFPs) for new data centers as evidence of demand in Thailand.

Regional aspirations “Thailand is a core market for DIG’s Asia Pacific strategy, and our gigawatt plan reflects our commitment to driving transformative projects in the region.

Collaborating with STP, a partner with deep local resources, reinforces our confidence in building a sustainable digital infrastructure ecosystem,” said Goh in a statement.

DIG has regional aspirations that extend far beyond Thailand, though.

In the interview, Goh says he is looking at Southeast Asia, Australia, and

potentially North Asia. He divulged that discussions are ongoing in Australia, and that DIG is backed by a United States real estate fund, which is working with DIG as its platform for Asia.

While not mentioned, DIG is likely close to a deal in Malaysia, too. The firm has hired Gary Goh, who was formerly the CEO of publicly listed companies Paragon Globe Berhad and Hexza Corporation Berhad in Malaysia, as the Managing Director for Malaysia.

Gary Goh, who has an avid following on LinkedIn where he is known for his posts about new data center construction in Malaysia, announced his new role on the social media platform last night. In a post that has since been “liked” hundreds of times, he wrote: “In this role, I will help with Malaysia site acquisition and accelerating data center sites.”

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Dates are subjected to changes, please visit our website for latest schedule.

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Awards 2024 Inside: Liquid cooling, the hidden water-saver in modern data centers

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Revolutionising AI with OneAsia’s award-winning solution

Cloud and Datacenter Magazine |

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More than meets the eye: Inside the world of data center intelligence with DC Byte

AWARDS 2024

Liquid cooling, the hidden water-saver in modern data centers

By Paul Mah

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he advantages of liquid cooling are well-known, but did you know it can significantly cut down the water usage in data centers?

The reason is simple: As the superior thermal performance of liquid cooling lowers a data center’s energy footprint, traditional cooling towers need less water, leading to reduced water consumption, according to Dr. Lee Poh Seng.

Lee is the founder of CoolestDC, which along with DBS Bank won W.Media’s “Innovation in Data Center

Cooling” Award for the bank’s liquid cooling project. As DBS preferred to keep the details of its deployment private, we approached Lee for his expert insights on liquid cooling in general.

Liquid cooling in the data center Lee believes liquid cooling is perfect for both traditional computing or advanced AI workloads. He ticked off several benefits for air-cooled data centers that roll out liquid cooled racks: increased reliability, better space utilisation, and maximised capital expenditure as current cooling systems are repurposed for liquid cooling.

“Liquid is a more efficient heat transfer medium than air, so it can remove heat more effectively, allowing components to operate at lower and more stable temperatures. This enhances reliability, reduces thermal

throttling, and extends hardware lifespan,” he observed.

But how does liquid cooling optimise space? “The elimination of bulky air cooling infrastructure such as raised floors and air ducting helps to optimise space utilisation. This frees up more space for the hosting of racks and equipment,” said Lee. It is worth noting that a data center retrofitted for liquid cooling typically taps into water diverted from return lines instead of supply lines. Lee says using water that is due to be re-cooled maximises the efficiency of existing

Lee believes liquid cooling is perfect for both traditional computing or advanced AI workloads.

Rear rack view of a directto-chip cooling deployment.

Manifold wall.

Heat sink for direct-to-chip cooling.

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An immersion cooling tank.

A StatePoint Liquid Cooling unit at the Sustainable Tropical Data Centre Testbed (STDCT) in Singapore.

chiller systems and allows the data center operator to reuse their existing chilled water network for liquid cooling.

The growing interest in liquid cooling, driven by the rise in AI, has spurred advancements in liquid cooling technology. Lee pointed to improvements in the dielectric fluids used in some solutions and the emergence of new modular designs that he says is making liquid cooling more accessible and scalable. “We hope technological advancements will make liquid cooling even more cost effective,” he quipped.

Potential challenges Liquid cooling can support far higher compute density, including AI workloads, without the risk of overheating. As with every technology, however, there are potential pitfalls to it that must be addressed. For instance, data center operators can expect variations in the temperature in the return line, says Lee, noting that it may not always meet the precise temperature requirements to effectively cool high-performance IT equipment.

“Existing chilled water supply may not always have sufficient capacity to support additional heat load being

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injected into the return line,” added Lee, who noted that thermal modelling and infrastructure assessments can help to mitigate this risk to ensure a successful liquid cooling implementation.

In addition, the relatively nascent nature of liquid cooling means that interoperability issues can be expected to rear their head. Considerations include variations in piping types, liquid flow rates, and compatibility between components from different vendors.

“Achieving a vendor-agnostic liquid cooling infrastructure will require careful and thoughtful planning… there’s a need to actively involve multiple suppliers during the planning stage to identify compatibility issues and develop flexibility in the sourcing of parts,” said Lee. “To ensure seamless operations, there is a need to vigorously test the components from different manufacturers in a controlled environment first, before putting deployment.”

Currently, there are no global standards for liquid cooling, though guidelines exist from organizations like ASHRAE and OCP.

Navigating unfamiliar waters Managing liquid cooling is quite different from traditional air cooling, requiring a shift in responsibilities. Lee emphasised the need to develop new shared operational and maintenance procedures, especially in areas where there are overlaps in duties.

“There are overlapping areas of responsibility, such as managing the coolant quality system. [In direct-to-chip cooling,] liquid will be circulating in the secondary loops: all the way from the CDU to the in-rack manifold, going into the servers. There will be areas where shared operational and maintenance

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issues will be encountered that should be jointly assessed by both the IT and facilities teams,” he explained.

Lee highlighted the importance of cross-training to equip both teams with the necessary knowledge about liquid cooling. This will encourage collaboration and ensure effective problem-solving during emergencies.

He added: “There is also a need for dedicated oversight. We can look into assigning the cross-functional team or manager to oversee liquid cooling operation and mediate between facilities and IT teams.”

Currently, there are no global standards for liquid cooling, though guidelines exist from organizations like ASHRAE and OCP. China has its own standards, but they aren’t internationally recognized, Lee noted.

As Singapore aims for greener data centers, efforts are underway to develop liquid cooling standards suitable for tropical climates. “In Singapore, I’m collaborating with over 30 colleagues across the data center ecosystem to create liquid cooling standards for the tropics. We hope that, in time, these standards can be adapted and implemented globally,” Lee said.

AWARDS 2024

Revolutionising AI with OneAsia’s award-winning solution

By Paul Mah

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verything began when sharpeyed company founder and CEO of OneAsia Network, Charles Lee, spotted a market opportunity amid the surge of interest in AI three years ago.

One thing led to another, before culminating in the creation of OAsis, a platform designed from the ground up to orchestrate GPUs in multitenanted environments.

OAsis helped OneAsia clinch W.Media’s Digital Technology Inside The Data center Award (Northeast Asia) at the 2024 Asia Pacific Cloud & Datacenter Awards in December. To learn more about OAsis, we spoke with Darryl Chiew, country manager for Thailand and Singapore at OneAsia about OAsis and its highly distinctive capabilities.

Versatile platform for GPU While the bulk of OneAsia’s business comes from the data center space, the firm has diverse capabilities that expand beyond the data center, explained Chiew. This made it much easier – and natural – to leverage their strong in-house developer team to create a platform that can orchestrate GPUs and manage the infrastructure OneAsia is building for its customers.

“The development of OAsis comes from our internal demand; we needed to orchestrate our own GPU cloud.

The software layer could be made available as a standalone product to our customers, whether universities or GPU-as-a-service providers,” he said.

Designed for multi-tenanted environments, OAsis comes with integrated billing and fine-grained resource allocation needed by paying tenants or research scientists. Chiew

While the bulk of OneAsia’s business comes from the data center space, the firm has diverse capabilities that expand beyond the data center. noted: “I don’t think there’s many in the market that offer the breadth of features and the end-to-end capabilities of OAsis.”

Under the hood, OAsis has the ability to manage GPUs from both Nvidia and AMD. It also supports Slurm

and Kubernetes on the software side of things. The former is a workload manager for Linux clusters commonly used to manage high-performance computing (HPC) environments, while Kubernetes is a popular platform for managing and automating containerised applications.

“The ability to manage different types of GPU is something we are quite proud of. On top of that, OAsis provides

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The OAsis Portal.

Slurm and Kubernetes with the same software. We have many customers tell us how they benefitted from being able to use both with a single subscription, allowing their developers to choose whatever they want to choose without having to spend more,” said Chiew.

Complete data privacy Organisations have no shortage of options when it comes to accessing cloud-hosted GPUs, which are available on practically every public cloud platform. But GPU-as-a-service providers and organisations that deploy their own GPU infrastructure will

appreciate the features OAsis offers for private, multi-tenanted deployments, says Chiew, who added that data privacy is a hallmark of OAsis.

“We license the OAsis software to our customers. OAsis doesn’t tap into any of the data that sits on the GPU; we manage the system through API calls and the command line interface. We do not see or access the data that is sitting on their server, just like any software you install.” “[The customers’] administrators will be the ones doing user privilege assignment. And those assignments will work with Active Directory. We tell them the features of OAsis and we show them how to do it. But once it’s deployed, it is their [cloud].”

In that sense, OAsis lets users build a private GPU cloud with all the bells and whistles for managing it. To be clear, OAsis also manages storage and the network, which means organisations can manage their entire deployment from a central console.

Moving ahead with AI How does Chiew see OAsis shaping AI adoption? While Chiew won’t say his firm’s technology will play a key role in driving AI, he sees definite market demand for the niche it occupies: “I think the positioning of OAsis remains strong for GPU providers

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The standalone OAsis software was launched barely two years ago but already has almost a dozen customers today. and any industry that requires GPU orchestration.”

The standalone OAsis software was launched barely two years ago but already has almost a dozen customers today. What’s next? OneAsia plans to work with Chinese GPU makers to add support for additional GPU models to make OAsis into a ubiquitous platform for private GPU cloud deployments.

“Whatever server they may have, the front end will remain the same to users.

We are trying to make OAsis agnostic to the actual hardware, so the underlying hardware won’t matter to the customer.

And administrators can seamlessly provision Nvidia, AMD, or Huawei GPUs.” OneAsia plans to release major upgrades to OAsis every year and roll out various feature enhancements throughout the year from customer feedback. OneAsia is also bringing OAsis to more markets, says Chiew: “Thailand is our first international stop in Asia. We are launching in Japan; we are launching in South Korea.

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AWARDS 2024

More than meets the eye: Inside the world of data center intelligence with DC Byte

By Hazel Moises

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or outsiders, the data center industry might just seem like a world of servers, cables, and blinking lights, one that is far removed from the hustle and bustle of daily life.

Yet this seemingly obscure industry is a cornerstone of our digital age.

And in Southeast Asia, this sector is experiencing explosive growth, fuelled by rapid digitisation, cloud adoption, and the insatiable demands of AI. But how do we make sense of this complex and ever-evolving landscape?

That’s where DC Byte comes into the picture. The data center research and analytics firm is the winner of the “Data center Market Intelligence Team” Award

for Southeast Asia at the W.Media Asia Pacific Cloud & Data Center Awards in December.

Behind the sleek reports and confident market predictions lies a world of meticulous research, on-theground investigation, and constant adaptation. We sat down with Vivian Wong, the senior analyst for Southeast Asia, and James Murphy, managing director for the Asia Pacific, to delve deeper into the world of data center research and uncover the secrets behind their success.

Detective work “Press release announcements in the media are often the first point of contact for most of the projects we encounter.” Wong explains, “But we go much further, we attempt to verify the

information by contacting the company directly to understand their perspective on the project.” DC Byte adopts a stringent process where every data point is verified against a minimum of three sources. This entails not just reviewing media announcements, but also having direct conversations with company representatives, industry stakeholders, and even conducting site visits to verify the status of projects.

“The DC Byte team’s results are driven by detailed primary research, combining robust data collection with on-the-ground inspections,” adds James Murphy. “We are committed to regular site visits, critical for accurately understanding demand and supply dynamics. For instance, visiting a

Behind the sleek reports and confident market predictions lies a world of meticulous research, onthe-ground investigation, and constant adaptation.

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construction site provides insights into the RFS timeline, which feeds into our projection work. This focus on granular data and accuracy ensures our insights are reliable and closely aligned with market realities.”

This “detective work” can be challenging. Companies are often discreet about their plans, and information can be scarce. Wong even recounts an instance when they turned to satellite images and traditional ground exploration to determine the probable location of a new data center project by a Malaysian hyperscaler.

When the company finally announced the location, the team was gratified to confirm that the early estimate was spot-on. This dedication to accuracy is what sets DC Byte apart – they put the pieces together and make use of all the resources at hand to create a comprehensive and reliable picture of the data center landscape.

Ahead of the curve The data center industry is dynamic, with trends constantly shifting and new technologies emerging at a rapid pace. “When we first started DC Byte Singapore,” Wong says, “it was all about cloud decentralisation. Now, it’s AI.” This rapid evolution requires analysts to be nimble, constantly learning and adapting their methodologies to keep pace with the industry.

A decade ago, data centers were measured according to the number of racks they contained. The focus has since shifted to capacity in megawatts, which reflects the growing power demands of modern computing.

DC Byte has had to adapt, refining their categorisation to include an “early stage” category for speculative projects, providing a more nuanced view of the market.

“It’s about staying ahead of the curve,” Wong emphasises. “Failing to keep pace with these trends could lead to misinterpretations of current market phenomena like “GPU-as-a-service,” which will potentially impact the accuracy of our future data reporting on emerging technologies. Therefore, we must remain adaptable while maintaining the stability of our existing database methodology.”

What impact does DC Byte hope to achieve? According to James Murphy: “We aim to support highimpact decision-making in the data

The data center industry is dynamic, with trends constantly shifting and new technologies emerging at a rapid pace. center industry by delivering accurate and reliable insights. Our work helps operators and developers identify opportunities, address challenges, and contribute to the growth and advancement of the industry.”

Looking ahead, Murphy predicts a greater reliance on data and a need to understand new technologies. “Given the rapid growth of the data center industry, market intelligence will increasingly rely on real-time data and to meet the demands of understanding new technology and development. It will also play a critical role in helping stakeholders across different verticals –

such as sustainability, suppliers, and government agencies – stay informed about emerging trends and challenges.”

Knowledge transfer The rapid growth of the industry has resulted in DC Byte expanding its team significantly. But how do they ensure that new colleagues are brought up to speed quickly in such a specialised field? Wong highlights the importance of internal training, knowledge sharing among the team, and meticulous record-keeping.

“We’ve been diligent in tracking everything,” she says. From news articles to their own estimations and

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The combination of mentorship from experienced analysts and on-site visits ensures a smooth transition for a culture of continuous learning within the team. assumptions, which allows new analysts to quickly understand the context and history of the market.

“It’s all about getting the current team to really show the ropes to the newcomer. And it’s important to take really good notes and keep track of everything that’s been going on. That way, when someone new comes in, they can easily get up to speed on what’s been happening in the market, what everyone was thinking before, and what the reports were saying. Basically, they can get the full picture really quickly.”

The combination of mentorship from experienced analysts and on-site visits ensures a smooth transition for a culture of continuous learning within the team.

A diverse and dynamic landscape Southeast Asia presents a distinct mix of challenges and opportunities for the data center industry. Although AI is a

major driver, the industry is also being shaped by trends like decentralization and the growth of e-commerce.

Wong points out the increasing importance of local expertise, citing the example of data centers being built near volcanoes in the Philippines.

“Western cloud providers need to understand the local context,” she explains. “Factors like prevailing wind direction can be crucial in site selection.”

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Aside from decentralisation, sustainability is another growing concern, with Malaysia leading the way in exploring green energy solutions.

Wong observes that every country is different. There’s so much diversity in Southeast Asia, and that makes it an incredibly interesting market for them to analyse.

Since she started at DC Byte three years ago, the company has changed significantly, from a startup to a more established organisation with formal procedures and support from investors. This prompted additional efforts, like conducting surveys on pricing sentiment to better understand market dynamics in real time. “We want to accurately reflect the current pricing,” Wong says, “and that requires understanding the sentiment of the key players in the market.”

DC Byte is also expanding its data collection efforts to include supplier information, providing a more holistic view of the industry ecosystem.

Despite the changes and challenges, some things have remained constant at DC Byte. “The team is still driven by the same passion and dedication to accuracy,” Wong says.

It’s this human element that ultimately drives their success. It’s about the meticulous research, the on-theground investigation, and the constant pursuit of knowledge that allows DC Byte to provide valuable insights into the dynamic world of data centers.

AWARDS 2024

Highlights from the Asia Pacific Cloud & Datacenter Awards 2024 On December 5th, W.Media hosted the fourth annual Asia Pacific Cloud & Datacenter Awards at the luxurious W Hotel Sentosa in Singapore.

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his event brought together some of the industry’s most outstanding companies, leaders, and innovators to celebrate their excellence and remarkable achievements in the cloud and datacenter sectors.

A Night of Celebration and Networking The elegant black-tie gala, held in the Great Room of the W Hotel, welcomed over 200 C-level executives and award nominees. While the evening celebrated the accomplishments of the award winners, it also provided an opportunity to network and enjoy an evening of fine food, drinks, and entertainment.

To immortalise the evening, guests were encouraged to pose in front of the AWARDS backdrop, dressed elegantly in their tuxedos and ball gowns. Adding to the excitement, champagne ladies mingled with attendees, posing for photos before leading the crowd into

the Great Room with a lively cabaret dance performance.

The Evening Unfolds As the buzz from the dance performance settled, the official program commenced with an opening address by Deborah Grey, Editorin-Chief of W.Media. Following her speech, Desmond Deng, represented ourDiamond Sponsor, Huawei, with an inspiring address. With glasses refilled and appetisers enjoyed, the evening seamlessly transitioned into the awards presentations.

Recognising Excellence Project Category Awards After the main course, the awards for the Project Category were announced.

Vincent Liew, Co-Founder, W.Media and Mr Chang Cho, CEO, Onion Technology, joined the emcees on stage to present trophies to the deserving winners.

Planet Category Awards The next set of awards, recognising achievements in the Planet Category, were presented by Mr Teng Chee Chye, Director, Data Center Services Management (Asia Pacific), UBS and Mr Callum Dunn, APAC IT Director, Moët Hennessy. As nominees became winners, the atmosphere grew increasingly celebratory, with cheers and congratulations resounding across the ballroom.

During dessert, guests mingled, posed for photographs, and exchanged business cards, reflecting the spirit of collaboration and camaraderie that defined the evening.

People Category Awards The final awards of the night celebrated individuals in the People Category. Mr Hee Chee Kong, Head of Infrastructure, Sea Limited joined W.Media’s Mr Paul Mah, Executive Editor, Ms Elaine Teo, Media Director, and Ms Yvonne Leong, SEA Director, to present the last round of trophies.

Deborah Grey concluded the official ceremony with a heartfelt closing speech before joining sponsors and winners on stage for a champagne toast and group photos, marking a memorable moment of the evening.

As the last glasses of champagne were enjoyed and tables cleared, guests began to disperse - some continuing the celebrations with a nightcap, others heading to rest after a rewarding evening.

We look ahead to the next Asia Pacific Cloud & Datacenter Awards in 2025, where we will once again celebrate the brilliance and innovation of the industry.

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W.Media Awards: Recognising stalwarts from Middle East & South Asia W.Media’s Middle East Awards returned to Dubai on October 22.

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he glittering gala took place right after the Dubai Cloud & Datacenter Convention, at The Conrad, Dubai. W.media rewarded the excellence and expertise of data centers and industry professionals across the Middle East, even as over 700 of their digital infrastructure and connectivity peers cheered on.

Here’s the complete list of award-winners!

• Data center Design & Build: Gulf Data Hub • Digital Technology Inside the Data center: Equinix Middle East • Innovation in Data center Cooling: Du EITC • Sustainability in Design & Build: Khazna Data Centers • Technology Leader: (Joint Winners): Walid Salem (IT Lead, Middle East, Zurich Insurance Company); Mohamed Arshad (Group Head of IT, Alserkal Group)

• Business Leader: (Joint Winners): Hussain Sajwani (Edgnex by DAMAC); Mahmoud Qashou (Director of Channel & Alliances, Huawei Middle East) • Data center Design and Engineering Team: Khazna Data Centers • Data center Operations Team: e& enterprise Cloud • Data center Market Intelligence Team: Knight Frank On November 22, 2024, we returned to Mumbai for the fourth edition of the Mumbai Cloud & Datacenter Convention. The day-long Convention that drew over 1,500 industry professionals, concluded with a glittering awards show where W.Media recognised the crème-de-la-crème of South Asia’s digital infrastructure industry across three key areas: Projects, Planet and People.

Here’s the complete list of award-winners!

Projects: 1) Delivering the Edge: Pi Datacenters 2) Data Center Build & Design: CapitaLand

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3) Skills Development Initiative: ST Telemedia Global Data Centers, India People: 1) Technology Leader: Hariharan Subramanian, Vice PresidentInformation Technology, Shriram Properties 2) Technology Leader: Bipin Lokegaonkar, Head Cloud & OT Security Product Management, Tata Communications

3) Network & Interconnect Initiative: Ramco Cements Ltd.

3) Business Leader: Sridhar Pinnapureddy, CMD, Ctrls Datacenters

4) Digital Technology inside the Data Center: AdaniConnex

4) Business Leader: Seema Ambastha, CEO, L&T Cloudfiniti

Planet:

5) Data Center Design & Engineering Team: ERO Power

1) Innovation in Energy Efficiency: Equinix

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2) Sustainable Transformation Strategy: CtrlS Datacenters

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6) Data Center Operations Team: Pi Datacenters

Awards 2024

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INTERVIEW

I strive to absorb as much knowledge as possible: Jeremy Deutsch

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echnology industry veteran Jeremy Deutsch was recently appointed as the new President of APAC at Vantage Data Centers. W.Media’s Hazel Moises caught up with him for this exclusive tête-à-tête, where Deutsch delves into what shaped his career, his leadership style, as well as the myriad aspects of the future of the data center industry.

Could you take us through your journey; what led you to specialise in data centers?

My career in the ICT industry began in the early 2000s when I started working for a technology company in the United States. During that time, I developed a strong foundation in software development and gained valuable experience in various aspects of technology. A pivotal moment in my career came when a mentor of mine encouraged me to explore a new startup focused on a burgeoning sector—data centers. At that time, data centers were not well understood, and the field was still in its early stages. This opportunity intrigued me, as I recognised the

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potential for growth and transformation within this area.

Fast forward to today, and data centers are at the very heart of digital transformation, enabling the myriads of services we rely on daily. With advancements in AI, the role of data centers has become even more critical in delivering transformative outcomes across industries. This evolving landscape continues to excite me and reinforces my decision to specialise in this field.

What were some of the most significant lessons you’ve learned throughout your career, and how have these shaped your approach to leadership?

Throughout my career, I’ve learned several significant lessons that have profoundly shaped my approach to leadership and decision-making. One of the most important is the necessity of being a domain expert. I believe it’s crucial to master your craft and ensure that you can perform at the highest level in your field. This foundation not only builds credibility but also instills confidence in your team.

Transitioning from a technical role to management, I quickly realised the importance of embracing continuous learning. Understanding the intricacies of both technology and management has been vital. I strive to absorb as much knowledge as possible, which allows me to make informed decisions and guide my team effectively.

Another key lesson is the value of considering the broader context— understanding customer perspectives, business operations, and how digital transformation can bring value. This holistic view enables us to connect the dots between technology and business needs, ensuring our solutions are comprehensive and impactful.

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How have you continuously developed your expertise in the data center industry?

As mentioned, it is key to maintain domain expertise by staying informed about emerging trends and technologies. One of my strategies to do so has been to maintain an open and outward mindset. This involves actively engaging in conversations within the industry and with peers, which helps me gain diverse perspectives and insights.

I also read extensively about developments in the field, including industry reports and articles that highlight innovations and changes both locally and globally. Understanding that different markets have varying levels of maturity has allowed me to appreciate a broader context and adapt my strategies accordingly.

How do you envision AI transforming the operations and management of data centers?

We all witnessed firsthand how the internet transformed the world, and I believe AI is poised to have a similarly profound impact in the long term.

As data center operators, our role is crucial in ensuring that these facilities are equipped to support the evolving landscape of applications driven by AI. One specific use case with significant potential is in the life sciences sector, particularly in disease research and management. AI can help analyze vast amounts of data to identify patterns and insights that were previously unattainable, leading to breakthroughs in treatment and prevention.

Moreover, across various verticals, AI’s pervasive technology will influence different paths of business, enhancing operational efficiencies, predictive maintenance, and resource management in data centers. The longterm impacts of these advancements

INTERVIEW

will not only optimise our operations but also drive innovation across industries, making AI an essential ally in the future of data center management.

Given the growing concerns about climate change, what are the most pressing sustainability challenges facing the data center industry?

At Vantage, we are deeply committed to the pledge to achieve net zero emissions by 2030, particularly concerning scope 1 and 2 emissions. To this regard, we integrate sustainability considerations from the very beginning of each project, evaluating factors such as location, operational practices, and facility design.

By prioritizing energy efficiency and renewable energy sources, we aim to minimise our environmental footprint.

Our goal is not just to meet regulatory requirements but to ensure that we leave the planet in a better place for future generations. By leading in sustainable practices, we can contribute to a more responsible and resilient data center industry.

How do you plan to address the skills gap in the APAC data center industry?

We aim to foster local talent development by forming partnerships with tertiary institutions. This collaboration will allow us to create tailored training programs that align with industry needs, ensuring that graduates are well-equipped with the skills necessary for success in the data center sector.

We recognise the importance of cultivating a supportive and engaging work environment within our company.

By promoting a strong culture of learning and development, we can create pathways for employees to scale their capabilities. Overall, our approach is centered on empowering individuals and creating a robust talent pipeline that will drive innovation and excellence in the data center industry across the APAC region.

What are your predictions for the future of the data center industry, particularly in the APAC region?

I believe the APAC region is positioned for significant growth in the data center industry, particularly as demand for cloud services and AI technologies continues to surge. We are at a critical moment where the convergence of

these technologies presents enormous opportunities. Providers that can scale efficiently and effectively will be key players in this evolution. With Vantage Data Centers operating globally, we have strong capabilities in both the US and EMEA regions, which we can leverage to enhance our offerings in APAC. How do you see Vantage contributing to the evolution of the industry?

I see Vantage playing a pivotal role in the evolution of the data center industry by providing hyperscale-ready campuses that prioritise sustainability and efficiency. For instance, our KUL2 facility is ready for AI deployment, which shows our commitment to scaling and supporting large deployments in the market. We are prepared for the shift toward liquid cooling to address the higher cooling demands for AI deployments.

We are implementing design changes in our data centers, specifically by integrating cooling distribution units (CDUs) and adapting to the operational impacts these systems introduce. Unlike traditional air-cooled solutions, CDUs present unique design considerations. At Vantage, we are actively engaging with the community to develop an optimal design that can evolve in response to the increasing power densities associated with AI technologies.

We are implementing design changes in our data centers, specifically by integrating cooling distribution units (CDUs) and adapting to the operational impacts these systems introduce.

What is your personal vision for your role in shaping the future of the data center industry?

My vision for my role in shaping the future of the data center industry is rooted in my 20+ years of experience, particularly as Chair of the APAC Data Center Association. I am committed to ensuring that Vantage Data Centers, alongside the broader industry, leads in providing sustainable digital infrastructure.

I believe we stand at a pivotal moment where we can harness the potential of AI to drive efficiencies and innovations that not only meet the demands of our customers but also address pressing environmental concerns. My focus is on integrating sustainable practices into every aspect of our operations and leveraging AI to optimise resource management and energy use.

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SPECIAL FEATURE

The Middle East’s voracious appetite for AI As AI becomes an increasingly integral part of the global digital technology ecosystem, there has been a surge in AI adoption across the world.

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By Deborah Grey his trend is not limited to only established large markets in America, Europe and East Asia. The Middle East is also racing to embrace AI, especially Generative AI (GenAI) with countries like the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) leading the way.

Governments here not only have clear and precise policies surrounding digital transformation and AI, but they are also using their own sovereign wealth funds to invest in big-ticket AI projects. Let us take a closer look at what is fuelling the AI boom in the region.

AI adoption: What do the numbers say?

A survey by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) found that 78 percent of respondents in the UAE were planning to invest up to US$25 million into AI. The survey titled From Potential to Profit: Closing the AI Impact Gap, also found

that another 15 percent were willing to invest between US$ 26 million to US$ 50 million into AI. According to a PwC study the Middle East is expected to accrue 2 percent of the total global benefits of AI in 2030.

This is equivalent to US$ 320 billion. The report titled The potential impact of Artificial Intelligence in the Middle East, further found that “the largest gains are expected to accrue to Saudi Arabia where AI is expected to contribute over US$ 135.2 billion in 2030 to the economy, equivalent to 12.4 percent of GDP. In relative terms the UAE is expected to see the largest impact of close to 14 percent of 2030 GDP.” Meanwhile, a McKinsey study finds that the application of GenAI to 63 use cases has the potential to generate between US$ 21 billion to US$ 35 billion a year in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The GCC comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The study titled The state of gen AI in the Middle East’s GCC countries: A 2024 report card, further found that “the value potential is the biggest by far in the energy sector, where annual gains of between US$ 5 billion and US$ 8 billion are possible, followed by capital projects and infrastructure and financial services.” According to the study the top three functions where GenAI adoption is most common are - Marketing & Sales, Software Engineering & IT, and Service Operations.

Recent investments into AI in the Middle East Needless to say, AI, and especially GenAI, are attracting billions of dollars in investments in this region, and new ventures, collaborations and

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Needless to say, AI, and especially GenAI, are attracting billions of dollars in investments in this region. partnerships in the AI space are being announced every month. The goal isn’t just limited to encouraging AI adoption; companies are actively facilitating AI related skill building, while also investing in building AI-ready data centers of the future.

At the recently held LEAP 2025, announcements about investments and new initiatives were made by all major technology, telecom, interconnectivity and digital infrastructure companies including Databridge, DataVolt, Equinix, Google Cloud, Grok, Gulf Daha Hub (GDH), Mobily, Tencent Cloud, Zoom, and many others. LEAP is the flagship technology summit of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Communications and Technology’s (MCIT). Announcements about AI related investments worth over US$ 14 billion were made on just the first day!

Similar pledges were made at LEAP 2024 last year. Microsoft announced the launch of an AI Centre of Excellence in Riyadh in association with PwC Middle East. Then in April 2024, Microsoft announced that it was investing a whopping US$ 1.5 Billion into G42, an AI technology holding company from Abu Dhabi.

In September 2024, Aramco Digital, the digital and technology subsidiary of Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s state-owned petroleum and natural gas company, entered into a partnership with Groc,

SPECIAL FEATURE

an AI Inference company, to set up one of the world’s largest inferencing data centers in Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA) and Microsoft signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen their ongoing collaboration and advance innovation in the Kingdom’s Generative AI sector.

This includes the development of a joint Center of Excellence dedicated to accelerating innovation in the field of Generative AI, with a special focus on Arabic Large Language Models.

The enhanced partnership will also see “ALLaM” – SDAIA’s Arabic LLM – generally available on Microsoft Azure.

In October 2024, Public Investment Fund (PIF), which is Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, and Google Cloud, announced a strategic partnership to create a new global AI hub, that will be based near Dammam, in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.

Around the same time, e&, a UAEheadquartered global technology group, announced a strategic partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to invest over US$ 1 billion (AED3.7 billion) to accelerate the impact of cloud-driven innovation and digital transformation across the region over the next six years. The two companies will focus on delivering core cloud services like storage, computing, networking, cybersecurity, as well as AI and machine learning (ML).

Meanwhile, Khazna Data Centers, one of the most prominent providers of hyperscale wholesale data centers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), announced plans to construct a 100 MW AI optimised data center in Ajman in the UAE. Previously in the same year, it had launched a 31.8 MW AI ready data center in Masdar in Abu Dhabi.

In December 2024, Gcore, a global provider of edge AI, cloud, network, and security solutions, and Ezditek, one of the largest players in the data center and digital infrastructure space in Saudi Arabia, launched a joint venture focused on providing high-performance AI infrastructure in the Kingdom. The joint venture will develop an ‘AI factory’, which can be used for building, training, and deploying generative AI solutions locally and across the globe.

All these are of course distinct from the AI-driven giga projects that are dotting the landscape in the region, the most prominent of which is NEOM.

This futuristic city and its sister project Oxagon, a floating industrial city, have a dedicated digital infrastructure service provider in Tonomus, that aims to leverage accurate, protected data shared by residents to deliver predictive and personalized services based on their day-to-day needs.

AI as a tool for empowering SMEs and Start-ups It isn’t just technology giants or big companies that are dabbling in AI, even small and medium enterprises (SMEs), individual entrepreneurs, as well as start-ups across the GCC are showcasing tremendous enthusiasm for all things AI. “As a technology entrepreneur in Saudi Arabia, I leverage AI in various ways, primarily focusing on enhancing operational efficiency and decisionmaking processes,” says Fadwa AlBawardi, Founder & CEO, FSAB Consulting. “For instance, I utilize AIdriven analytics to gain insights from data, in my website, allowing me to learn more about the visits and hits, which helps me to tailor my consulting services to better meet client needs.”

Explaining what drew her to give AI a shot, she says, “Automation tools powered by AI streamline routine tasks, freeing up my time to focus on strategic initiatives. This dual

approach not only improves productivity but also enhances client satisfaction through informed, data-backed recommendations.”

AlBawardi has participated in W.Media’s Dubai and Saudi Cloud & Datacenter Conventions and has spoken at length about how different sectors of her country’s economy are embracing AI. “Key sectors witnessing rapid AI adoption include healthcare, where AI is used for diagnostics and patient management. Finance is another sector with AI-driven risk assessment and fraud detection. Logistics is a third sector optimizing supply chains through predictive analytics,” she lists, adding, “The push for Smart Cities, such as NEOM, and digital transformation across various industries further highlights this enthusiasm. Many other sectors are actively adopting AI, as well, including Education, Military, Transportation and others.”

In Conclusion It isn’t just UAE and Saudi Arabia, even emerging markets like Bahrain, Oman and Qatar, are slowly but steadily embracing AI. Therefore, the AI boom in the Middle East is far from over.

But enthusiastic adoption aside, what remains to be ascertained though is the nature and maturity of adoption. Watch this space for more.

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FEATURE

Can our networks keep up when disaster strikes?

Whenever heavy rain or storms occur, I often find myself jolted awake in the middle of the night or startled by emergency alerts on my phone. This typically happens when I’m in an area directly impacted by severe weather conditions like flooding or strong winds.

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By Hazel Moises

systems behind these alerts are equally resilient?

Why are early warnings important?

Early warning systems are the first line of defense. These emergency alerts are typically sent through a combination of networks such as cellular networks for wireless emergency alerts (WEAs) sent to mobile phones; broadcast networks for alerts sent to televisions and radios via the Emergency Alert System (EAS); and, of course, the Internet for alerts sent to computers and other Internetconnected devices.

These systems rely on a network of sensors, data centers, and communication infrastructure to detect impending disasters and send alerts to at-risk populations. But these networks themselves need to be resilient, able to weather the storm and deliver critical information when it’s needed most.

While the primary systems for delivering emergency alerts are designed to be resilient, they are not entirely immune to damage from disasters. While these alerts help us prepare for and achieve resilience during catastrophic events, what measures are taken to ensure the

Building network resilience Southeast Asia is among the regions most prone to natural disasters, particularly the Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam. In recent years, Vietnam has experienced firsthand the impact of natural disasters on its telecommunications network, particularly during severe typhoons that can disrupt critical subsea cables.

Subsea cables, while essential for global connectivity, can become vulnerable during extreme weather events.

The potential disruption of these cables can significantly impact Internet access and hinder emergency communications. To mitigate such risks, Vietnam is increasingly turning to diverse connectivity solutions, including satellite communication and terrestrial networks.

In a panel discussion on “Establishing Disaster-resilient Networks in Asia Pacific” at ITW Asia 2024, Binh Vu, representing the Vietnam Internet Association (VIA), emphasizes the multifaceted nature of network resilience. He highlights the importance of various factors, including cable support systems, cable tracing capabilities, and satellite communication infrastructure.

“In Vietnam, it’s really related to support cables, tracing cables, and satellite communication.

Everything mentioned is relevant to the Vietnamese situation, especially considering Vietnam’s frequent typhoons and natural disasters. These are important considerations not only for Vietnamese telecom providers but

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atural disasters are a frequent occurrence in the Philippines, striking at least once or twice a month. As a whole, the Asia Pacific region is no stranger to these events.

In fact, 29% of global natural disasters occurred in the region over the 30 years leading up to 2019, totalling 2,845 events. This highlights the urgent need for robust networks that can endure even the fiercest storms.

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Vietnam’s telecommunications industry is characterized by a strong collaboration between major players, including state-owned enterprises and private sector companies. also for the government,” he said.

Vietnam’s telecommunications industry is characterized by a strong collaboration between major players, including state-owned enterprises and private sector companies. This collaborative approach is essential for sharing resources, coordinating efforts, and ensuring a swift response to disasters. The major telecom providers in Vietnam are all state-owned or government-controlled. This strong government involvement facilitates collaboration and coordinated efforts.

For instance, during the severe typhoon last September, the government swiftly mobilized resources and coordinated the response among telecom providers, says Vu. This included sharing frequencies, towers, and even power resources. While this collaborative approach has been effective, the industry is still working on developing models to improve capacity sharing and disaster recovery efforts.

The importance of resilient infrastructure will only grow as climate change continues to intensify, and countries must work together to address these challenges and ensure the continuity of essential services.

FEATURE

Under the sea: Powering global connectivity through subsea cables

By Kristelle Razon

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very time you send an email, watch a movie online, or video call someone, your data takes an extraordinary journey – one that likely involves data converted into light traveling thousands of kilometers under the sea.

Subsea cables are the lifelines of the internet, carrying over 99% of international data. These underwater cables power the digital age, enabling everything from cloud services to AI applications. As the world’s dependence on digital connectivity widens, subsea cables face challenges, offer new opportunities, and undergo transformative changes driven by technological advancements.

The backbone of the Internet Subsea cables are composed of fiber-optic threads encased in layers of protective armor, they lie on the ocean floor, connecting continents and facilitating global digitisation. From e-commerce to telemedicine, these cables connect the modern world.

However, as the saying goes in one of my all-time favorite movies, “With great power comes great responsibilities.” As subsea cables power decades of generations and the forthcoming, what challenges do they face and how do operators and owners plan to navigate the demand?

Subsea cables are not without vulnerabilities. Natural threats such as earthquakes, landslides, and deep-sea wildlife pose risks to these vital systems.

Human activities, including fishing and anchoring, account for most cable breaks, resulting in costly repairs and service interruptions.

Geopolitical and security concerns also loom large. Cyberattacks and regulatory debates have placed subsea cables at the center of global security discussions. For instance, the Pacific Light Cable Network (PLCN) faced significant hurdles when its direct connection between the U.S.

and Hong Kong was denied due to national security concerns. Although restructured and eventually granted licenses for certain segments, such incidents underscore the regulatory and political complexities of subsea cable projects.

Moreover, the growing demand for bandwidth, driven by streaming platforms, cloud computing, and 5G technologies, is outpacing the capacity of existing cables. Telstra International’s Vish Vishwanathan emphasised in an ITW Asia 2024 panel discussion the importance of new systems like the South Pacific and Pacific Connect cable networks, which are under exploration to meet regional data demands.

“Discussions will continue, and as time progresses, things will come out of that,” said Vishwanathan, suggesting that these projects are still evolving but crucial for future growth.

Opportunities for subsea cables Despite the challenges, subsea cables present unparalleled opportunities for global connectivity and economic growth. Regions like Africa and parts of Southeast Asia, which remain underserved by reliable internet, could unlock their digital potential through new subsea routes. This connectivity could transform economies and improve lives.

The rise of hyperscalers like Google, Meta, and Amazon has also reshaped the industry. These companies not only consume vast amounts of bandwidth but are now building their own subsea cable systems. Google alone has invested in 33 subsea cables, underscoring the shift in industry dynamics. While this trend drives innovation, it also raises questions about the collaboration between hyperscalers and traditional telecom operators.

Byron Clatterbuck, CEO of Cross Pacific Data Network, in the same ITW Asia panel noted: “Super users have their own network designs and financial models, which differ from those of telcos.”

This raises the question of how telecom companies and hyperscalers collaborate.

In addition, next-generation technologies such as IoT and AI require ultra-fast, low-latency connections, and modern subsea cables are being designed to meet these demands.

Regions investing in cable infrastructure and landing stations can position themselves as digital hubs, reaping both economic and geopolitical benefits.

Looking ahead While there’s plenty of buzz about AI enhancing productivity, it’s also transforming the subsea cable industry.

From route optimisation to real-time monitoring, AI is creating efficiencies that were once unimaginable.

Smarter route planning, powered

by AI, analyses vast datasets to ensure cables are laid along the safest and most efficient paths. Real-time monitoring tools detect and predict cable damage, allowing operators to address issues proactively and minimise downtime. AI also optimises traffic flow across networks, reducing congestion during peak usage periods and enhancing user experiences.

Security is another area where AI can be found. Machine learning algorithms can identify and mitigate cybersecurity threats in real time, safeguarding the data through these underwater pathways.

The subsea cable industry is embarking on a new era, defined by innovation and collaboration. As digitalisation accelerates, these cables will play an even more critical role in global commerce, communication, and culture.

To secure their future, collaboration between governments, private companies, and international organisations will be essential in navigating the complexities of subsea connectivity. In the coming years, subsea cables will become smarter, more diverse, and more resilient, ensuring that the world stays connected in an increasingly digital age.

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HAPPENINGS

Malaysia and Thailand CDC 2024: Industry leaders share insights CDC 2024

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he Malaysia Cloud and Data Center Convention 2024 successfully brought together industry leaders to explore the latest advancements in cloud technology and data center trends in Malaysia.

As a representative of Datumstruct noted, “Malaysia Cloud and Data Center Convention 2024 was a valuable experience, offering insightful sessions

on cloud technology and data center trends. The event excelled in both content and networking, fostering connections with industry leaders and showcasing innovative solutions. MYCDC 2024 set a high standard for cloud and data center conventions, and W.Media’s organization was commendable. I hope we can do it again.”

Following the Malaysia Cloud and Data Center Convention

(MYCDC) 2024, let’s shift our focus to the Thailand Cloud & Datacenter Convention (THCDC) 2024 where industry leaders f rom across Thailand’s tech sector came together to share insights and discuss the latest advancements in AI and cloud computing.

Here’s a glimpse into what attendees had to say about the event:

“What an event! Thank you W.Media for providing the platform for talent development and Women in DC to have the ability to share our perspectives in this fast growing and ever evolving landscape in the DC industry!”

Jessica Ho Training and Membership Program Manager IDCA “I attended the Thailand Cloud & Datacenter Convention 2024 today!

Impressed by the innovations and future tech shaping the data center industry. Exciting times ahead for cloud and infrastructure!”

Kantorn S. Data Center Engineering Operations EOT, AWS “Thank you for inviting me to join Rhys Morgan for a fireside chat on the topics of real-time IoT processing with hashtag #EdgeComputing. Fun to share my previous IoT-related work with Honeywell Industrial IoT, Nokia Cloud & Commerce, and Motorola Solutions.”

Panot Kanjanasoon Digital Group Director United Information Highway

Lynn Huang VPGM Asia Pacific PRÆSIDIAD

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“The THCDC 2024 was a remarkable platform that brought together industry experts and innovators to discuss the evolving landscape of AI and cloud computing in Thailand. I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to share insights and exchange ideas with both panelists and attendees. The event was exceptionally well-organized, and the diverse perspectives presented were truly valuable.”

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HAPPENINGS

Interconnect World: W.Media brings together Connectivity Ecosystem stalwarts

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he digital infrastructure industry does not exist in isolation, it relies on the wider connectivity infrastructure ecosystem to successfully conduct its operations. This includes a dense network of subsea cables that spans the globe and allows data to flow freely. It also includes global telecommunications networks, internet exchanges, and peering infrastructure.

W.Media recognises the important role that connectivity infrastructure plays, and this year, we will host a series of industry conventions, titled Interconnect World, where we will bring together some of the biggest players from the global connectivity industry.

Our very first Interconnect World forum will be held in Melbourne, Australia, on April 3 at the Centrepiece at Melbourne Park. The event is expected to draw over 100 connectivity industry veterans and experts, who will take a closer look at the fast-paced growth across the industry in the wake of the digital transformation tsunami and AI boom, especially their impact on key investment, marketing, and R&D decisions. Melbourne Interconnect World is tailored to looking at effective ‘real world’ business, tech and customer strategies for adding value and for navigating the organisation through an increasingly unpredictable future.

Next, we head to the sun-kissed metropolis of Chennai, India, on May 22. Chennai is not only India’s secondlargest data center market; it is also host to five in-service submarine cable networks, as well as a further three in development. Chennai Interconnect World will be held at the ITC Grand Chola, and will see participation from over 300 leaders from telecommunications companies, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Internet Exchanges (IXs), technology, media, and telecom (TMT) investors, and representatives from relevant government agencies. Chennai Interconnect World will also feature a series of presentations and panel discussions where industry veterans will showcase innovation and share their wisdom.

Our third IW event will be held in Tokyo on June 5 this year. Asia Interconnect World will be held at the Hilton and is expected to bring together over 150 participants spanning data centers, TMT industry and asset management. Japan is not only a critical hub in the region’s subsea cable network, it is also uniquely positioned as a gateway between Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia. Japan facilitates connections between major economic regions such as China, South Korea and ASEAN countries. Asia Interconnect World will take a closer look at subsea networks, data centers, peering and interconnection infrastructure.

In July, it’s time to be amidst sun, sea, surf and sand in Batam, an emerging interconnectivity hub located in the Riau Islands of Indonesia. Batam Interconnect World will be held on July 7, and the next day, on July 8, we head to Malaysia for Johor Interconnect World. Both events are part of the wider SIJORI Week, where we showcase the best of the digital and connectivity industry in Singapore (SI), Johor (JO)

and Riau Islands (RI), given how SIJORI is one of the largest and fastest-growing digital infrastructure markets and connectivity hubs in the world.

Next, we take off for the Manhattan of the Middle East and the queen of the Gulf – Dubai. Dubai Interconnect World will take place on September 11 at the JW Marquis Hotel and bring together over 300 participants from across the region’s connectivity ecosystem. They will discuss and share their experience about a variety of subjects such as the impact of AI on network development and management, what to expect from 6G, cybersecurity challenges, regulation and cross-border collaboration.

Our final Interconnect World convention will take place in Auckland, New Zealand on November 6 at the International Convention Center.

New Zealand Interconnect World will bring together over 100 connectivity industry specialists and experts from across Australasia to examine key trends and directions as they impact the key commercial, technological and operational decisions that are shaping the future of the telecommunications ecosystem.

To learn more about Interconnect World, please visit: https://interconnectworld.com

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IN CLOSING

It A.I.n’t going away, so let’s play nice AI elicits rather extreme reactions and opinions from people across the world.

As a journalist and writer, I was one of those people. But over time, and as I looked deeper into it, I have come to appreciate AI more.

Creative community’s concerns Readers would recall how Hollywood screenwriters and actors went on multiple strikes protesting the use of AI. The writers had apprehensions about plagiarism and even the possibility where AI could be used to just replace actual human writers. Meanwhile, actors, including video game performers, feared that their likeness could be made common and their voices could be replicated, and used without their knowledge, consent, due credit or compensation.

As a journalist and a creative professional, I too have some very real concerns about plagiarism. I recently came across a LinkedIn post which featured a slide presentation that I suspect was made using AI, given how it was copied word-for-word from an article I wrote for the W.Media website!

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate AI, but I have drawn a line in the sand about what I will and won’t do with AI. For example, while I’m open to referring to AI transcriptions of interviews I conduct via video calls, I refuse to use AI to write my news reports or feature stories. This is because AI just aggregates content from multiple sources, where it is often impossible to verify the authenticity of information or even determine the original source.

I’m particularly concerned about its implication vis-a-vis fake news, where hate and propaganda often masquerade as news stories. We have all come across such stories, sometimes complete with fake images or videos, and unless you have a keen eye, it is impossible to separate the grain from the chaff. This can have catastrophic consequences, especially in times of natural calamities, political crises or armed conflicts.

Moreover, AI-generated content is also rather bland and soulless when it comes to the style of writing itself.

Aren’t you tired of reading generic, dull, and lifeless posts on social media and even professional networking sites?

A recent study by Originality.ai found that 54 percent of all long-form posts on LinkedIn were likely AI-generated!

Moreover, there has been a 198 percent increase in AI posts on LinkedIn since ChatGPT launched.

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By Deborah Grey

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ver the last few years, AI has demonstrated that it has value in terms of how it can streamline processes, improve efficiency, save time and money, and aid a variety of sectors ranging from manufacturing to financial services to e-commerce.

I’m particularly optimistic about its potential use in healthcare. From aiding and improving diagnostic processes, to simplifying the mundane but necessary tasks related to administration, record keeping, and patient data management, AI can add tremendous value.

Now, with DeepSeek and other similar players giving NVIDIA a run for its money, AI is bound to become ubiquitous.

Truth be told, I don’t mind my grocery delivery app suggesting what I should order based on how frequently I purchase specific items. But I can understand why millions of people have some amount of anxiety about the misuse of AI.

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Need for common sense guidelines See, AI is just like any other technology – it can be dangerous in the wrong hands, but in the right hands, it can actually be a force for good. The problem is that AI is now in all hands – so how do we regulate its use without hindering innovation?

How can we learn to live with it without developing a panic disorder?

Would “common sense” guidelines help? What would these comprise, and will these guidelines be able to keep up with AI’s rapid evolution?

The EU AI Act was the world’s first example of laws and guidelines that regulate the use of AI. It took a hard look at risk level, and laid down transparency requirements, setting an example for the world to follow. Meanwhile, all eyes are now on the Trump administration to take a stand on AI regulation in the US, though prima facie it appears that regulatory oversight will be reduced in favour of industry self-regulation.

China first introduced AI regulations in 2021 and then new rules in 2023 and 2024. Meanwhile, India has been contemplating a regulatory framework for AI, given several high-profile cases where the technology was abused to defame and discredit people, including a viral deepfake video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The concerns and apprehensions are real. There are many questions we need to ask, and there are no easy answers.

But as we work towards finding these answers, let’s not overlook the problems AI is already solving in the real world.

Let’s stop vilifying AI and find new and exciting, yet ethical ways to use AI to make life better for all of us. In short, let’s play nice, but be ready to pull the plug if things go sideways.

W.Media is a Technology Publisher & Community Hub. We serve the cloud/IT, data centers and network infrastructure professionals through media solutions and business events.