A gathering of ‘beautiful minds’

December 6, 2025

By Jan Yong

Jan is an experienced journalist having written on a diverse range of subjects including property and travel in the last 15 years; and business, economy, law, luxury, health and lifestyle. He is currently immersed in cloud, data centers and artificial intelligence, and thinks quantum computing is the next big thing.

w.media Southeast Asia & Northeast Asia Awards Ceremony and Gala Night feted the best and the brightest in the digital infrastructure industry.

By Jan Yong

Stellar. Virtuoso. Masterful. Distinctive.

Only superlatives are good enough to describe the cohort of exceptional people who have worked very hard not because they want to win awards but because they want to push the envelope to reach the cutting edge of innovation.

‘Innovation’ is a beautiful and bold word – it speaks of limitless possibilities, of making science fiction today become practical reality tomorrow. But more than groundbreaking invention, it is about the small, incremental improvements to existing products, services or processes that advance our industry and push us to a future that can only be constantly reimagined.

The fact is today we stand at the convergence of multiple historic breakthroughs in technology especially in artificial intelligence. Underpinning that is the digital backbone without which any progress is impossible. And what we see here is a group of very brilliant and talented people whose dedication to sustainable, transformational and unconventional solutions knows no boundaries. They are truly the best and the brightest in our industry.

Last night was the night we celebrated them – the culmination of all their efforts.

It was a beautiful night to remember, spectacularly executed, with a pervasive feel good atmosphere in an elegant setting as winners and guests mingled and networked. This once-in-a-year black-tie event saw the industry’s who’s who, top innovators and super-achievers from Asia descending onto Sentosa Island in Singapore for a high-level get-together. A reunion of sorts but also welcoming to those new to the fraternity. It was in moments like these that lifelong friendships were made, ideas born, and collaborations struck.

Adrian McPaul, who delivered the welcome address, gave an excellent backgrounder: “Over the past seven years, w.media has built a platform that has grown exponentially across Asia Pacific, bringing together professionals from both mature and emerging markets, to share ideas, do business, and learn from one another. These Awards are a reflection of that journey – a moment each year when we pause to recognise the people and projects building the digital backbone of our economies.” McPaul is also a representative of the panel of judges for the awards.

The industry is probably at the cusp of another cycle of superboom, or in a worst case scenario, organic demand in Asia could protect us against a possible global crash, opines Paul Mah, Executive Editor of w.media in his opening speech. In any case, even without taking into account AI workloads, the figures show that we need a lot more data centers simply to meet our own digital demands, he said.

One thing is for sure though – whichever way the tide goes, w.media’s annual awards will continue regardless.

This year marks the 5th anniversary of w.media’s Cloud & Datacenter Awards, with an emphasis on the three pillars that define where our industry is headed: Projects, Planet, and People. Every year, w.media receives close to 300 hopeful nominations, and this year was no exception. Out of that, only 10 per cent had the opportunity to stand at the stage last night.

But rest assured, opportunities to get on stage abound. As the industry continues to evolve and expand, w.media looks forward to recognising more groundbreaking achievements in the years to come. Congratulations to all winners and nominees for their outstanding contributions to shaping the future of digital infrastructure in Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia.

Acknowledgements

w.media extends its gratitude to our sponsors Huawei, Bridge Data Centres, Onion Technology, ZTE, GLP, and CESE2 for making the event a tremendous success.

We also want to thank the following for presenting the awards: Dennis Uy (CEO of Converge ICT Solutions Inc.), Steve Kim (President of Huawei Data Center Facility & Critical Power Business), Adrian McPaul (Senior Technical Director, Cushman & Wakefield), Chang Cho (CEO, ONION Technology), Eric Ho (Site Selection Manager, Microsoft), and Hee Chee Kong (Head of Infrastructure, Sea Limited).

The 2025 winners

PROJECTS

Northeast Asia

Excellence in Digital Technology Inside the Data Centre – Castrol Shanghai Management Company

Innovation in Internet Exchange (IX) Deployment – Shanghai new-type Internet Exchange Point Co, Ltd

Excellence in Data Centre Design and Build – GLP / rednote