Across Asia, the race to build data centres has never been faster. Fueled by cloud computing, AI, and an explosion of digital services, the region now represents one of the world’s most dynamic data infrastructure markets. From Johor and Batam to Tokyo, Sydney, and Bangkok, new facilities are rising to meet surging compute demand.
But as power-hungry AI models and high-performance chips multiply, a critical question looms: How will Asia’s data centres stay cool enough to perform efficiently and more sustainably?
For decades, air cooling has been the default approach. Yet as rack densities climb beyond 50 kilowatts and toward 1,000 in the near future, old methods of cooling simply can’t keep up. The industry has reached an inflection point. Liquid cooling is no longer an experimental idea; it’s fast becoming essential to the region’s digital future.
What makes this transition so significant is that it’s not just a technological shift; it’s a strategic one. A cooling fluid is no longer just a product; it’s part of a living system that interacts with every critical component in a data centre. From servers and pumps to heat exchangers and control systems. Managing that ecosystem over time will define long-term success.
That’s why forward-looking data centre operators are adopting end-to-end approaches that consider the full lifecycle of cooling systems, from design and start-up to testing, predictive maintenance, and responsible disposal. This evolution transforms cooling from a one-off product decision into a long-term operational strategy, one that aligns engineering reliability with sustainability goals.
Reducing risk and downtime through lifecycle management
In traditional air-cooled systems, the biggest risk was usually mechanical fans, filters, or power supply units. In liquid-cooled environments, the fluid itself is a critical factor, interacting with multiple aspects and components of the infrastructure. If its chemistry changes or contamination occurs, performance can drop, or downtime can follow.
That’s where lifecycle management becomes essential. Through ongoing monitoring, testing, and fluid diagnostics, operators can spot early signs of degradation and take action before system health is compromised. Predictive maintenance and smart sensing are now critical capabilities for any data centre adopting high-density computing.
This shift, from reactive maintenance to intelligent, data-informed operations, reflects how the industry is evolving to safeguard uptime and efficiency as AI workloads intensify.
Lessons from the field: Johor, Batam, and Australia
In Southeast Asia, early adopters are already showing what this evolution looks like in practice. Recent hyperscale projects in Johor and Batam have begun implementing liquid cooling to support AI workloads, while a 3-megawatt site in Melbourne has deployed full immersion cooling, one of the region’s first production-scale deployments.
These projects reveal a clear insight: the real challenge of liquid cooling begins after installation. Designing for high fluid volumes, ensuring correct flow dynamics, and preventing issues such as corrosion or bio-growth requires collaboration across multiple disciplines, including chemistry, mechanical engineering, and data center operations.
Partnerships across the ecosystem, from chipmakers and system integrators to infrastructure specialists, are now key to ensuring that cooling solutions can scale efficiently across Asia’s diverse climates and regulatory environments.
The business case for end-to-end thinking
The economic case for liquid cooling is increasingly clear. According to Castrol ON’s The Dipping Point Report, data centres adopting immersion or direct liquid cooling save, on average, 15,000 megawatt-hours of energy and 3.5 million liters of water per year, compared with those that rely entirely on air cooling. The majority of survey respondents expect a return on investment in under three years, and 74 percent believe liquid cooling reduces the total cost of ownership.
Yet those savings are only fully realized when the entire lifecycle is managed — not just the installation. Fluid conditioning, safe disposal, and recycling all play vital roles in lowering total environmental and operational costs.
For context, data centres already account for around 2 percent of global electricity consumption. With AI and High Performance Computing (HPC) accelerating power demand, end-to-end efficiency is not just an engineering issue; it’s a key consideration for sustainability.
Future-proofing Asia’s digital backbone
Asia’s digital economy is expanding at a breakneck speed. The pressure on data centres to modernize their cooling infrastructure will only intensify. To remain resilient, the industry must move decisively toward integrated, scalable liquid cooling solutions. This shift requires partners who specialize in both the fluid technology and the entire service lifecycle it demands.
By leveraging decades of specialized fluid expertise and a global network, Castrol is uniquely positioned to be the partner that helps operators drive Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) transformation, support operational confidence, and build the foundation for Asia’s continued leadership in the AI-driven decade ahead.
Peter Huang is Global President of Thermal Management & Data Centres at Castrol.
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