Polling open · responses pending
The survey · the room, polled

Where does the next hotspot land?

Put to the people deciding the answer – the 90 leaders across ten markets who power, fund, permit and build it.

90 leaders polled 6 parts of the chain 10 markets responses pending
Group
Readers’ request · on request

Where is the density, and who is on liquid?

A continental president of data centres at a hyperscaler – whose board is weighing half a trillion dollars of cloud orders – put two questions to the desk: how widely is direct liquid cooling actually used today, and where are the high-density projects landing. The short read, on the public record. Open any highlighted panel to go deeper.

Liquid cooling · adoption today
20–22%

of operators run any direct liquid cooling, and among those nearly half use it on under 10% of racks. It stays surgical, reserved for AI and HPC islands. Surveys put adoption at 35–40% by 2026.

Today21%
By 202638%
Racks, if any<10%
Why it stays surgical
Uptime 2024 Cooling Systems Survey · n=964
Rack density · by band
  • Traditional, air≤20 kW70–80% of racks today
  • Transitional, hybrid20–40 kWenhanced air and rear-door exchangers
  • AI, high density40–135 kWliquid, run in dedicated pods
  • Frontier200 kW–1 MWdesigned liquid-first from day one
Uptime · AFCOM · Ramboll
The AI rack · scaling
In mass production110–135 kW
Next generation150–240 kW
Frontier designup to 1 MW

Average racks still sit near 8–12 kW. The head of the curve is what moves the cooling decision.

Practitioner and vendor disclosures
Where the density is landing
  • North America
    The fastest-moving lab. Hyperscale and AI colo set the bar; rear-door plus direct-to-chip lead.
  • China
    High liquid penetration on new AI builds; immersion strong in state-backed clusters.
  • Europe
    Catching up fast as regulation and power prices make liquid efficiency pay. FLAP–D plus the Nordics.
  • Asia–Pacific
    Singapore, Tokyo, Sydney and now Johor; heat and grids push hybrid and liquid earlier.
  • Latin America
    Late but leapfrogging on greenfield megawatts. Brazil and Chile lead the AI-ready builds.
  • Middle East & Africa
    Early stage, but new AI campuses are designed liquid-ready against hot climates and tight grids.
LeadingFast followerEarly stage
Case · Ascenty, Brazil
USD 1.2bn · 150 MW

A new AI build-out across Sumaré and Vinhedo, designed from the outset for liquid cooling and densities up to 1 MW per rack – a clear marker of how far new campuses are now pushed.

Open the case
The read for the boardroom

Density is rising everywhere; liquid is still surgical. Above 50–100 kW per rack, air stops being a real choice. The hedge most operators are taking is the hybrid campus – traditional halls alongside liquid-ready AI pods – timed to the local grid rather than committed all at once.