Asia-pacific Data Center Cooling Market Size & Share Analysis - Growth Trends And Forecast (2025 - 2031)

Asia-Pacific Data Center Cooling Market Trends and Insights

AI/Gen-AI Rack Power Densification

Rack power envelopes have multiplied from 10 kW to well above 100 kW as GPU clusters dominate new server designs, making traditional air routes impractical.^{[1]Lee Aaron & Charlene Chen, Liquid Cooling Trend Drives Taiwanese Firms into AI Server Supply Chain, digitimes.com} Direct-to-chip CDUs maintain 30 °C coolant and handle the steep heat flux with far less airflow and fan draw, thereby reducing facility PUE and prolonging electronics life. Vertiv’s CoolChip exemplifies this shift, while dielectric liquids from ZutaCore enable energy savings nearing 80% compared with air-only baselines. Japanese integrators such as Canon IT Solutions and Fujitsu are pairing immersion tanks with AI servers to push compute density without floor-plan expansion.

Hyperscale Build-outs by US and Chinese Cloud Majors

Amazon, Google, Alibaba, and Tencent together earmarked more than USD 30 billion for new APAC availability zones in Japan, Singapore, and India during 2024–2025.^{[2]CBRE Group Inc., Asia Pacific Data Centre Trends & Opportunities, cbre.com} Purpose-built campuses need chilled-water loops, rear-door heat exchangers, and liquid CDUs sized for multimegawatt GPU clusters, prompting suppliers to bundle hardware with CFD-driven design and remote monitoring software. Capital intensity tilts purchasing in favor of vendors that can guarantee rapid deployment, multi-region parts support, and on-site commissioning expertise.

Edge Data Centers at 5G Micro-regions

Mobile operators deploy hundreds of micro-facilities near radio towers to deliver low-latency content.^{[3]Data Center Asia, Data Center Cooling Solutions in 2025: Challenges, Trends, and Innovations, datacenter-asia.com} Cabinets often sit in utility yards, retail rooftops, or basements where space and airflow are scarce. Compact immersion tanks and sealed rack-cooling modules provide N+1 redundancy in footprints under 2 m² and operate with minimal onsite intervention, aligning well with telecom maintenance cycles.

Corporate Net-Zero and RE100 Pledges

Operators across Australia and Singapore link power-purchase agreements to renewable portfolios, raising the bar for mechanical efficiency. Low-GWP refrigerants, adiabatic chillers, and liquid systems that reclaim heat for district networks support science-based targets. STT GDC and AirTrunk publicly tie expansion plans to cooling designs that achieve sub-1.25 PUE even at 35 °C ambient conditions. Sustainability scoring now influences tenant selection in competitive colocation hubs.

Rising Electricity and Land Costs in Tier-1 APAC Cities

Rental rates topping USD 330 per kW per month in Singapore and premium power tariffs across Tokyo and Sydney squeeze operator margins. Liquid systems that deliver 10–15% PUE gains partially offset utility hikes, but many providers are migrating build pipelines to Seoul, Johor, and Mumbai where grid power is cheaper and parcels larger. Construction inflation averaging 3.8% in 2025 further sharpens focus on cooling capex optimization.

Scarcity of HVAC-Certified Labor in Emerging SEA

Indonesia and Vietnam each graduate fewer than 300 advanced HVAC engineers annually, far below projected maintenance demand. Skill gaps raise service-level risks for liquid immersion deployments that require pump calibration, coolant sampling, and leak-detection protocols. To mitigate shortages, vendors embed remote diagnostics and offer vendor-managed service contracts, although labor scarcity still curbs rollout velocity.

Segment Analysis

By Cooling Technology: Liquid Solutions Drive Innovation

Liquid solutions represented the fastest growing slice of the Asia Pacific data center cooling market, expanding at a 4.76% CAGR, yet air-based systems still held 74% revenue in 2024. Immersion and direct-to-chip schemes allow servers to function reliably above 100 kW per rack, positioning them as the default for GPU-rich clusters. The market size for liquid technologies is expected to more than double by 2031 as hyperscalers retrofit existing halls and specify liquid for all new AI pods.

Innovation momentum is visible in patent filings, with Inventec ranking fourth globally for liquid-cooling IP and LG Electronics launching CDU lines tailored for AI workloads. Rear-door heat exchangers continue to serve as a bridge until operators complete full liquid rollouts, especially in brownfield expansions. Castrol’s entry shows cross-industry migration as lubrication specialists pivot into dielectric fluids, intensifying supplier competition.

Note: Segment shares of all individual segments available upon report purchase

By Cooling Component: CRAC/CRAH Systems Face Liquid Transition

Computer-room air conditioner and air handler (CRAC/CRAH) systems accounted for 38.9% of the Asia Pacific data center cooling market share in 2024, underscoring their long-standing role in legacy facilities. Even so, operators tasked with supporting AI racks that exceed 100 kW are phasing these air units into hybrid layouts that pair aisle containment with rear-door heat exchangers to stretch installed capacity. Chiller banks and cooling towers still underpin multi-megawatt campuses where centralized loops remain cost-efficient, but their pipelines increasingly feed secondary liquid circuits rather than direct CRAH coils.

Specialized liquid components—including Coolant Distribution Units (CDUs), immersion tanks, and direct-to-chip cold plates—represent the fastest-growing segment, registering a 5.1% CAGR through 2030. Suppliers such as Vertiv have broadened portfolios with CoolChip CDUs that sustain coolant temperatures near 30 °C while servicing 100 kW racks, a performance level unreachable by conventional precision air conditioners. 

By Data Center Type: Colocation Leads Market Share

Colocation captured 48% of the Asia Pacific data center cooling market share in 2024 because multi-tenant providers offer turnkey infrastructure that spreads cooling capex across diverse clients. The hyperscale cohort, however, will post the highest 5.20% CAGR through 2031 as cloud majors localize AI compute in key metros. The market size attached to hyperscalers is forecast to eclipse USD 3 billion by 2031.

Colocation firms are upgrading to hybrid air-plus-liquid floors, enabling tenants to install 30 kW racks without facility-wide retrofits. Amazon’s USD 15 billion Japan commitment and Alibaba’s Shanghai expansions underscore hyperscale momentum, while edge operators deploy modular pods to satisfy latency-sensitive 5G applications in suburban districts.

Note: Segment shares of all individual segments available upon report purchase

By End-User Industry: IT and Telecommunications Lead Adoption

IT and telecommunications held 43% revenue and will grow at a 4.86% CAGR as operators fortify networks with AI-assisted traffic management. Banking and finance leverage rear-door exchangers to cut latency in trading cores, while healthcare outfits adopt immersion tanks that fit small radiology labs. Market share gains within life sciences relate to machine-learning diagnostics that spike compute density during image rendering.

Government cloud projects in Korea and Australia specify low-GWP refrigerants and liquid CDUs to meet public-sector emissions targets. Across verticals, the preference is shifting toward turnkey packages bundling chillers, pumps, sensors, and software under a performance-based warranty, aligning vendor incentives with operator uptime objectives.

Geography Analysis

China remains the single largest buyer, channeling state subsidies into liquid-cooling R&D that supports AI supremacy goals. Local OEMs collaborate with global fluid suppliers to deliver immersion platforms tuned for Mandarin-language large-language-model training.

Japan follows with early-adopter momentum as utility tariffs encourage energy-efficient cooling. Partner alliances between Canon IT Solutions, Fujitsu, and telcos streamline immersion deployments in Tokyo and Osaka campuses. Singapore sustains hub status through district-cooling tie-ins and green loan frameworks that reward low-PUE designs.

India exhibits rapid greenfield growth but faces water-use restrictions, prompting closed-loop liquid adoption. Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia register double-digit capacity additions yet grapple with HVAC technician shortages. Mature Australia and South Korea focus on retrofits that up-convert air aisles to rear-door exchangers without service interruption. Rest-of-APAC markets—Taiwan, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Bangladesh—benefit from spillover investment as hyperscalers hedge location risk and chase tariff arbitrage. Taiwan’s strong patent portfolio positions it as a component export hub for CDUs and fluid manifolds.