Two and a half years ago, custom silicon was crazy talk. AI was NVIDIA. Recorded live at W.Media Sydney 2026 in Darling Harbour, JP Vasquez, founder of AI Foundry, explains why that has changed: purpose-built inference chips can use as little as a quarter of the power while delivering three to five times more tokens per second.   JP breaks down where GPUs excel and where custom silicon takes over, why air-cooled 40kW racks like Positron AI’s can land in data centres that already exist, and how a few gigawatts of legacy capacity across Asia Pacific could be turned into AI factories. He also covers why Australia and New Zealand are well placed to serve both US and Asian markets around the clock, what it takes to get your money back on AI infrastructure, and where to start if you want to learn the space. Plus: Utes, Toyota Corollas, and hot dog or not a hot dog.

Thailand's data center sector is growing fast but the workforce needed to run it is not keeping pace. With 42 data centers currently operating and that number forecast to nearly double within five years, the industry is looking at a potential shortfall of 4,000 to 6,000 trained professionals. There is no data center degree. There is no obvious pipeline. And the people who could fill those roles largely do not know the industry exists. This panel examines where the talent will come from, why Thailand's high-tech manufacturing base may be the most overlooked pipeline in the industry, and what operators, universities, and governments need to do before the silver tsunami hits.

As AI workloads push data center design into uncharted territory, operators are being forced to make infrastructure decisions without knowing who their tenants will be, what cooling technology will be standard, or how fast the next generation of hardware will arrive. This panel examines how to build infrastructure that stays relevant as technology evolves faster than construction timelines, why modularization is becoming a core design principle, and what sustainability demands look like beyond carbon targets.

Thailand's data centers are being asked to do more than ever before. AI workloads are driving demand for infrastructure that didn't exist five years ago, while ESG commitments, cybersecurity requirements, and enterprise expectations are all tightening at the same time. This panel examines what it actually takes to build AI-ready infrastructure at scale, how silicon and networking innovation is reshaping energy efficiency, and whether sustainability commitments can survive contact with the realities of hundred-megawatt deployments.