Hyperscalers Kick Off Mingtiandi Data Centre Forum on Tuesday

Speakers from Nuveen, STT Global Data Centres, Baker McKenzie and Yardi will take on the opportunities and challenges of Asia’s hyperscale market as Mingtiandi’s fifth annual data centre forum begins on Tuesday.

With data centre operators having brought on line 6.7 gigawatts of live IT capacity in Asia Pacific from 2018 through 2023, according to information provider DC Byte, the region’s digital infrastructure market has averaged 19.8 percent growth annually over that period, outstripping both the Americas and the Europe, Middle East and Africa market over the period.

To look at the factors driving this upswing, and some of the obstacles threatening future expansion, the hyperscale panel is one of five sessions in this year’s data centre forum, which is sponsored by Yardi. The panel will be aired free of charge on Mingtiandi’s MTD TV platform and you can register for access at the link above.

In addition to the hyperscale panel, which happens at 10:00 AM Hong Kong time on Tuesday, this week’s programming includes an interview with Princeton Digital Group CEO, chairman and co-founder Rangu Salgame on Wednesday, followed by a panel exploring Southeast Asia’s data centre markets on Thursday.

Hyperscale Heats Up

With Blackstone and CPPIB last month leading a consortium which acquired Australian hyperscaler AirTrunk for $16 billion, investors are looking to see which players will lead the next megadeal with Mingtiandi’s Tuesday panel set to look at some of the likely candidates.

Joining the panel from STT GDC is Michael Tanujaya, head of investments and strategy with the Singapore-based investor and operator; Jing Zhou, senior director for alternatives and strategic transactions with Nuveen; Bernie Devine, senior regional director for Asia Pacific with Yardi and Baker McKenzie partner Edwin Wong.

In the Wednesday session, PDG’s Salgame will join a special edition of MTD TV for an interview with Jonathan Atkin a managing director from RBC Capital Markets after Princeton Digital recently announced a 500 megawatt expansion across Malaysia, India and Indonesia.

With live IT capacity in Southeast Asia having nearly tripled in the past three years, Mingtiandi’s Thursday panel will look at what has led to that surge, including the growth of data centres in the Malaysia market, which has led the region this year.

Appearing in the Thursday programme will be Woon Teng Koh, director of corporate development with Equinix; Ben Chow, head of research for Asia at MSCI Real Assets and Ai Leen Tang, a Malaysia-based partner with Baker McKenzie member firm Wong & Partners.

Digital Realty, Japan and Korea

With some analysts betting that the Tokyo market could become the northern Virginia of Asia Pacific, Mingtiandi’s Japan and Korea panel comes your way on Thursday, 17 October.

That session features Diarmid Massey, chief executive for data centres with ESR; Phillipa Weber, director of business development for the IDC division at Gaw Capital Partners and Jingwen Ong, Asia Pacific research manager with data centre market intelligence provider DC Byte.

Before bringing you that panel, the second week of the forum will boot up with a spotlight interview session at 10:00 AM on Tuesday, 15 October with Serene Nah, managing director and head of Asia Pacific with Digital Realty.

Digital Realty started work on a 31MW Greater Tokyo area data centre in May and also has established a joint venture in India as it builds out its Asia Pacific platform.