Asia’s AI buildout is increasing pressure on power, compute and data-center capacity while organizations also contend with connectivity, skills, regulation and cybersecurity. The challenge becomes more complex for companies operating across markets with very different infrastructure and data-governance conditions.
Following TNGlobal’s coverage of Tech Week Singapore 2026, we asked Andy Kiwanuka, Managing Director for Asia Pacific at CloserStill Media, which infrastructure constraints are becoming most significant, where regional collaboration could help, and what it takes to move from AI pilots to deployment at scale. Here are his insights.
As AI and other emerging technologies move from experimentation toward wider deployment, what infrastructure constraints are becoming most significant for organizations across Asia?
Energy demands are rising across Asia as businesses across sectors accelerate the adoption of AI and other emerging technologies. Alongside the need for more energy is a new infrastructure challenge. Across the industry, we are seeing growing pressure on compute, power and data-center capacity as organizations look to deploy AI more reliably and at scale.
For increasingly intensive workloads, the biggest constraints span a range of factors including power availability, compute capacity and data-center infrastructure. In fact, data shows that Asia-Pacific’s data-center development pipeline reached a record 19.4 GW in 2025, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s latest APAC Data Centre Update, with AI-driven workloads accelerating hyperscale investment and infrastructure deployment across the region.
The growing challenge is ensuring that reliable, lower-carbon power and high-density infrastructure can be delivered at the pace required by AI workloads. To truly move from experimentation to productive deployment, infrastructure can no longer remain a boardroom discussion. It must become a strategic priority.
AI-driven workloads are increasing demand for data centers and compute, but infrastructure also depends on power, connectivity, talent and policy. Which of these areas do you think is most at risk of becoming a bottleneck over the next few years?
Power is certainly emerging as one of the most significant pressure points.
Companies are working hard to keep pace on the talent and policy front, with new roles emerging in AI governance, infrastructure planning and data-center operations. Yet the physical infrastructure crunch remains unresolved.
What we’re consistently hearing from the operators and infrastructure providers in our community is that as data centers become increasingly power-intensive, grid infrastructure and transmission capacity are struggling to keep pace. Further, the global AI buildout is driving a sharp uptick in energy demand, with data centers requiring more robust infrastructure that can support a steady, reliable power supply around the clock.
Asia is a highly diverse market, with very different levels of digital maturity, energy availability and regulatory development. How should organizations think about infrastructure strategies that need to operate across multiple markets rather than within a single country?
Compliance, regulations and data sovereignty are all key considerations for organizations working across multiple markets. In today’s digital landscape, infrastructure strategies cannot be siloed, especially when different markets have different infrastructure capabilities and data policies.
What we see across Asia is that there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Markets differ significantly in digital maturity, infrastructure availability, regulation and data sovereignty. For businesses operating regionally, that makes flexibility increasingly important.
These considerations need to be factored into regional strategies from the outset rather than treated as a compliance exercise later on. Businesses need an approach that can adapt to the regulatory requirements, infrastructure capabilities and wider ecosystem of each market, while still supporting their ambitions across the region.
Where can stronger regional collaboration make the biggest practical difference, particularly around areas such as interoperability, data governance, skills and infrastructure resilience?
Stronger regional collaboration can make the greatest practical difference in solving regulatory or infrastructure challenges that no single organization or country can address alone.
One advantage of working across different technology communities is seeing how often the same challenges surface in different markets. Greater alignment around technical standards and interoperability can help technologies and systems work more seamlessly across borders. Clearer approaches to data governance and sovereignty can also help businesses navigate different regulatory requirements.
With AI and other emerging technologies reshaping every sector, greater regional collaboration will be crucial to helping Asia scale its digital transformation sustainably. Platforms that bring businesses, technology companies, policymakers and other stakeholders together can help create opportunities to exchange ideas and address shared challenges.
There is often a gap between technology announcements or pilot projects and infrastructure that can support deployment at scale. What tends to cause that gap, and what can enterprises, governments and technology providers do differently to close it?
With the AI boom, many businesses are seeing adoption accelerate across their industry and feeling increasing pressure to keep pace with their peers. But it’s one thing to see a successful proof of concept generate enthusiasm among stakeholders and build eagerness to deploy AI at scale; it’s another to actually scale it successfully.
What we’re increasingly hearing from businesses is that moving from experimentation to deployment is not simply a technology challenge. It brings questions around infrastructure, skills, governance, security and investment with it. Without those foundations in place, organizations risk falling into the AI pilot trap, where they struggle to move from proof of concept to production.
Closing that gap will require businesses, governments and technology providers to work more closely together. Infrastructure, sustainability, security and skills all need to be part of the conversation as organizations look at how they can move from experimentation to wider deployment.
Industry events are often measured by attendance, leads and announcements. From your perspective, what would demonstrate that a technology or MICE platform is actually helping create the partnerships and knowledge exchange needed for longer-term infrastructure development?
Attendance, leads and announcements are important measures, but they only tell part of the story. For me, the more meaningful question is what happens because those people came together.
The longer-term value of technology and MICE platforms lies in the collaborations and partnerships that emerge from meaningful conversations and networking. This is particularly important when so many of the challenges businesses face today cut across industries, markets and areas of expertise.
Ultimately, it is about bringing together the right stakeholders from across the ecosystem and creating opportunities for knowledge exchange, new relationships and collaboration. A platform demonstrates longer-term value when those conversations continue beyond the event itself and translate into sustained partnerships and practical outcomes.
As Tech Week expands its footprint across Asia, what differences are you seeing in the infrastructure priorities of markets such as Singapore and China, and what can they learn from one another?
What has been particularly interesting as we expand Tech Week’s footprint is seeing how these conversations differ from market to market. While Singapore and China are at different stages of industrial digital maturity, both markets recognize infrastructure development and effective governance as important enablers of technological growth.
The launch of Tech Week Shanghai earlier this year came at a time when organizations were facing increased pressure to build cloud, data-center and governance architectures capable of supporting large-scale AI adoption, while also meeting stricter requirements around cybersecurity and cross-border data flows. China’s evolving cross-border data-transfer requirements are also raising important questions around how organizations manage data, infrastructure and governance when deploying technology at scale.
Similarly, infrastructure and architectural considerations are becoming an important priority for Singapore, which is expanding its digital infrastructure through investment in AI-ready data centers, green energy integration and high-speed connectivity.
The two markets face very different conditions, but that also creates opportunities to learn from one another. As Tech Week expands across Asia, facilitating that exchange of ideas and experiences between markets will become increasingly valuable.
Looking ahead three to five years, which part of Asia’s digital infrastructure ecosystem do you think is currently receiving less attention than it should?
Cybersecurity is one area that I believe deserves greater attention as part of the digital infrastructure conversation.
While much of the infrastructure discussion centers on physical infrastructure, including power and compute capacity, cybersecurity must be considered alongside these foundational elements.
As systems become more advanced and interconnected, so too will the complexity and sophistication of cyber threats, making cybersecurity capabilities and greater collaboration across the ecosystem essential. It’s a theme we’re seeing echoed by the cybersecurity providers and speakers across our community, and one that technology providers and policymakers will need to work on together to stay ahead of emerging risks.
Cybersecurity cannot be treated as an afterthought to technology deployment; it needs to be embedded into infrastructure planning to ensure organizations can scale emerging technologies securely, resiliently and with confidence.
Andy Kiwanuka is Managing Director, Asia Pacific at CloserStill Media, where he leads the strategic growth and expansion of the company’s event portfolio across the region. His portfolio includes Tech Week Singapore, Tech Week Shanghai and Passenger Terminal Expo Asia.
Editor’s note: This Q&A has been lightly edited for clarity and TNGlobal house style. The substance of the interviewee’s responses has been preserved.
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Tech Week Singapore 2026: Charting the next phase of “The Infrastructure Era” across Asia