[20 Sep 2023], Singapore, Singapore – Keeping pace with rapidly expanding data centre demand in Asia Pacific requires expertise in running facilities efficiently and the ability to secure renewable energy, according to the top executives of Singapore startup Empyrion DC and its parent firm, Seraya Partners
Speaking in the final segment of Mingtiandi’s APAC Data Centre Forum, James Chern, managing partner and chief investment officer of Seraya Partners said he expects major hubs in the region, including Singapore, Tokyo, Seoul and Taipei to experience energy constraints over the long term, making it even more critical for data centre operators to design for efficiency and secure renewable power sources.
Established by Seraya Partners in late 2021, Empyrion DC has already established facilities in Singapore and Seoul and aims to build a regional portfolio with 300 megawatts of capacity across 10 to 12 assets within the next four to five years, the executives said.
After acquiring a 12.5 megawatt data centre in Singapore in late 2021, in August 2022 Empyrion entered the Korean market with a $400 million data centre project in Seoul’s Gangnam district, with groundbreaking for the facility held in June of 2023.
To meet growing customer demand, Empyrion DC aims to add more locations in their two existing cities while also planning to enter Japan and Taiwan, as well as emerging markets in Southeast Asia such as Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia.
Adding to the already brisk demand for server capacity in the region is an upswing in requirements driven by artificial intelligence, the two executives said, with Mark Fong, CEO, Empyrion DC, pointing to a sudden increase in requirements driven by AI and machine learning applications over the past few months – a trend which he expects to accelerate.
Fong noted that the growing prominence of AI players is placing a premium on data centres able to support the high power density needed to support the computing intensive processes involved.
To help meet the increased server rack density requirements from AI, Fong said Empyrion DC employs liquid cooling technologies and is exploring direct-to-chip cooling while also procuring additional power in other markets.
“We’re built to support the future as opposed to having to retrofit some of our existing legacy data centres to support the new requirements,” he said. “So I think there is a real opportunity for providers like us, Empyrion DC, where we are working closely with our customers in terms of technology, locations and sites that they want to be in.”
Watch the full event video recording on Mingtiandi TV, first published on 20 Sep 2023.