We need a lot more data centres in Asia just for AI

We need a lot more data centres in Asia just to power AI. And two-phase direct-to-chip cooling might just work for the tropics.

These are just two of the many compelling insights shared at OCP's Southeast Asia Tech Day, held in collaboration with W.Media in Singapore today.

OCP in Asia

But what's the OCP? The Open Compute Project is a collaborative initiative focused on improving the technologies powering data centres.

• Established in 2011 by Meta.
• Over 400 member companies today.
• "Open source" hardware used in data centres.

The idea is to define open standards for interoperability and compatibility across vendors, reducing cost and avoid vendor lock-in.

The downside, of course, is that it is different: primarily a 21-inch rack width instead of 19-inch, and a 48V DC power distribution instead of traditional AC.

Which means you can only deploy OCP hardware in a data centre that supports OCP standards. For now, there are only 9 facilities across APAC that are compliant.

Or as pointed out by Gavin Chua who highlighted how big OCP is in the US: "We are missing a trick [in Southeast Asia]. I don't know why. Because some of the operators are the same."

We need more data centres

Asia needs more data centres. A whole lot more, according to Daniel Nishball, CFA of Semi Analysis who highlighted the landscape through an AI-centric lens.

Some fascinating snapshots:

• Asia Pacific is the largest region for ChatGPT.
• (Despite) low penetration rates in countries here.
• Projected data centre demand far exceeds capacity*.

In a nutshell, APAC is only just getting started with data centres and will need a lot more. The only question now is where the necessary data centres will be built.

*Photo 3

Liquid cooling

Finally, Lucas Beran of Accelsius in his presentation offered that two-phase, direct-to-chip (DTC) cooling will become a requirement with more powerful GPUs.

Citing an analysis for prospective customers in Singapore, he says that single phase DTC can offer free cooling 24% of the year.

With two-phase DTC, however, Lucas says that it is possible to do free cooling 97% of the year - in tropical conditions (Photo 4).

For now, there's a white paper published in February 2025 as part of the OCP Cold Plate working group about two-phrase DTC. I'll check it out and get back.

Were you at OCP Tech Day today? What caught your attention?

SIJORI Week continues with the Cloud and Datacenter Convention 2025 at MBS on Thursday, 10 July.