The demand in Northeast Asia for high-performance computing (HPC), artificial intelligence (AI), and data-intensive applications continue to increase rapidly, putting an increasing pressure on traditional heat management methods. Against this backdrop, liquid cooling technologies are emerging as a viable and innovative new cooling system.
In our previous feature on liquid cooling, we had taken a closer look at its enthusiastic adoption across South Korea. Today we take a deep dive into how other data center markets in Northeast Asia, namely – Japan, Taiwan, China, and Hong Kong – are taking to liquid cooling, in a bid to address the rising power densities, heat loads, and sustainability goals.
Japan: Sustainable infrastructure advancement
Japan has long been a global leader in advanced engineering as the country’s strong semiconductor, robotics, and supercomputing sectors demand highly efficient thermal management solutions.
Japan’s supercomputer, Fugaku, developed by RIKEN and Fujitsu, uses a sophisticated liquid cooling system to maintain operational efficiency while achieving optimal performance levels.
The Japanese firm Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) is investing in immersion cooling research to reduce energy usage and carbon footprint in their data centers.
Government incentives promote green IT infrastructure as high energy costs drive demand for efficient cooling methods and liquid cooling integration becomes a necessity for modular and edge data centers in urban areas. The Japanese government plans to invest US$ 11 billion into carbon neutral infrastructure, and subsidize zero-carbon data centers, which includes 50 percent construction costs and facility modernization. Since 2020, Japan has committed to lower 46 percent of greenhouse gas emission and formulated the Green Growth Strategy to become net zero by 2050, through sustainable practices introduced into multiple technology sectors as overviewed by the Ministry of Economy,Trade and Industry(METI).
Data center providers in Japan, KDDI and NTT Data, are exploring liquid immersion technology to significantly reduce the energy wasted on cooling server hardware. KDDI’s recent field tests have achieved an impressive 94 percent reduction in electricity consumption for temperature control compared to traditional air cooling systems. Masato Kato, an expert at KDDI’s solutions business, explained that while IT equipment is often thought to be the major power consumer, about half of the overall power consumed by data centers is used for cooling as reported by W.Media in 2023.
Taiwan: Liquid Cooling enhancing digital infrastructure functionality
As a semiconductor manufacturing powerhouse and headquarters of multiple key players in the semiconductor supply chain, Taiwan holds a unique position in leading liquid cooling adoption for high-density compute environments.
Reader would recall that in 2024, W.Media had reported that Vantage Data Centers had established its first hyperscale Taipei data center (TPE11) located in the Taoyuan district of Taiwan. The 16MW facility accommodates both cloud and high-density deployments, enabled with liquid cooling technology to manage and support the intense heat emitted by AI and data-intensive applications.
Demand for efficient cooling in high-performance chip testing facilities coincides with the emergence of start-ups that require modular liquid-cooled racks and AI-focused server farms. This collaboration between academia and industry on two-phase and direct-to-chip cooling methods incentivizes the ability to develop secure infrastructure operations.
China: Cooling cloud and AI infrastructure
China is rapidly becoming one of the largest markets for liquid cooling, driven by a national push for AI, 5G, and cloud infrastructure. With hundreds of hyperscale data centers across the country, the pressure to manage energy consumption and heat is intense.
Alibaba Cloud is a leading cloud provider in mainland China that has deployed direct-to-chip and immersion cooling in select facilities since 2015 and has been developing immersion cooling that fully submerges server components in dielectric coolant. This is known as Alibaba’s “soaking server,” which has reduced data centre energy use by 70 percent as mentioned in Alibaba’s blog.
Shell China and Alibaba Cloud began a strategic partnership in 2023 to enhance the efficiencies of commercial immersion cooling fluids and energy management. In 2024, Alibaba revealed ‘Cube DC 5.0’ a prefabricated modular data‑center architecture that combines air and liquid cooling to support 200 kW power loads.
Government policies such as ‘Green Data Center’ initiatives incentivize liquid cooling due to the rapid rise in AI training workloads and accelerates deployment.
Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA) announced in a press release that the Tier R&D and Production Base for Liquid Cooling Intelligent Computing (Tianjin) Integrated Equipment settled down in TEDA. The project, invested by Anhui Tier Liquid Cooling Technology Co., Ltd. with 470 million yuan, will include the Production Base for Integrated Immersion Liquid Cooling Intelligent Computing Equipment, a 2000P Immersion Liquid Cooling AI Computing Power Center, as well as a Demonstration & Technology Promotion Center at TEDA Yat-sen Intelligence & Innovation Park.
The project will adopt Tier’s independently developed single-phase immersion liquid cooling technology, which can significantly enhance computing power while reducing energy consumption of equipment. The project will also provide GPU computing power support and equipment demonstration for local enterprises. Its hardware products and computing power services can cover the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the entire North China. This project will further strengthen TEDA’s intelligent computing power, enrich the AI industry service ecosystem in the region, and promote the collaborative development in intelligent computing across the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.
Anhui Tier Liquid Cooling Technology Co., Ltd. provides advanced, low-carbon, and green digital infrastructure and intelligent computing power operations to global users. The company specializes in the sales of single-phase immersion liquid cooling data center equipment, data center construction, and computing power operations. Its full-stack integrated immersion liquid cooling solution, through energy storage, enables intelligent computing clusters to absorb green electricity and recover residual heat at a low cost, achieving carbon-negative operations for data centers.
Hong Kong: Scaling AI infrastructure and HPC data loads
Hong Kong is a data and finance hub in Asia experiencing rapid development resulting in High-Performance Computing (HPC) systems being deployed in numerous data centers which require highly advance cooling systems.
Global Switch in partnership with HKBN Enterprise Solutions announced the introduction of liquid cooling technology to its Hong Kong Tseung Kwan data center in Q3 2024. The initiative aims to deliver a scalable, resilient infrastructure that meets the demand surges of modern workloads caused by AI and high-performance computing. Located in the Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate and adjacent to major submarine cables that provide adequate connectivity to the Global Switch data center which covers over 70,000 square metres with a 100MVA power supply. The facility provides colocation, cloud, and managed services.
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has launched the city’s largest Liquid Immersion Cooling system in its new research computing facility. This new technology reduces energy consumption for cooling by over 80 percent and creates an optimal operating environment that can enhance computing performance at lower temperature. High Performance Computing (HPC) is vital for scientific research that involves analysing vast amounts of data or complex algorithms. However, they consume significant electricity, and excessive heat can hinder their performance.
HKUST has become the first local university to implement liquid immersion cooling in its data center, featuring an initial batch of eight tanks capable of housing up to around 280 CPU and GPU servers for HPC. This immersion cooling technology will also be applied to a new eight-story data center for HPC set to be completed on the HKUST campus in 2026. With a more powerful computing system, a broad spectrum of AI-driven tasks that previously required days to process, for example data analysis for vaccine development, personalized medicine, cancer genomics, and model training in astrophysics and materials science, will now be accomplished in hours.
With the adoption of the new cooling technology, the University anticipates that 900 tons of carbon emissions can be avoided each year, resulting in a 45 percent reduction of carbon emissions compared to traditional rack-level air cooling. There will be an annual HK$3 million saved in electricity costs, while achieving over 10 percent improvement in performance per watt. Additionally, the non-corrosive, biodegradable water coolant has a lifespan exceeding 10 years, further reducing the ecological impact of the infrastructure.
APAC Data Center market outlook
According to a report from Research and Markets the Asia-Pacific Data Center Market was valued at US$ 26.95 billion in 2024 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 12.70 percent from 2025 to 2033, reaching US$ 79.05 billion by 2033. This growth is driven by rapid digital transformation, increased cloud adoption, and rising data consumption across key countries in the region. Investments in hyperscale data centers, widespread 5G rollouts, and the expansion of AI-based infrastructure are also major contributors to market expansion. The market is analyzed across various segments, including data center size (small, medium, large, mega, massive), tier types (Tier 1 & 2, Tier 3, Tier 4), absorption models (non-utilized, utilized, hyperscale, retail, wholesale), and end-user industries such as BFSI, cloud, e-commerce, government, manufacturing, media & entertainment, telecom, and others, with detailed insights by country and company from 2025 to 2033.
High-frequency trading platforms and financial data centers increasingly require highly stable, low-latency cooling solutions, driving investment in direct liquid cooling (DLC) technologies. Sustainability targets and LEED certification are becoming strategic priorities in data center development. Cross-border partnerships with mainland Chinese firms are facilitating the integration of mature immersion cooling solutions. As land availability becomes more constrained, compact, and high-efficiency cooling systems offer a compelling value proposition for operators seeking to optimize performance and footprint.
Conclusion
Across Northeast Asia the transition to AI, high-performance computing (HPC), and edge computing is acting as a major incentive for change, while government and energy policies are accelerating the shift towards greener infrastructure. Simultaneous collaboration between academia, industry, and government is becoming prominent. Future progression is expected to result in greater standardization for cooling technologies across borders as regional leaders and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) in liquid cooling are increasing the number of cross-national Research and Development (R&D) efforts that focus on advanced fluids, new materials, and innovative system designs. As Japan, Taiwan, China, and Hong Kong continue to modernize their digital infrastructure, liquid cooling is a regional imperative for technological and environmental sustainability.
Sign up for KRCDC now!
All this and more will be up for discussion at W.Media’s Korea Cloud & Datacenter Convention ( KRCDC 2025 ) that will take place on September 19, 2025 at COEX Convention & Exhibition center, Seoul, South Korea. This event will explore the latest trends and developments in the South Korean data center industry, and bring together experts, thought leaders and key stakeholders to discuss the challenges and new opportunities that are shaping future digital ecosystems.
