The Open Compute Project (OCP), despite its altruistic intention and widespread acceptance in the US, is still at a very early stage in Asia Pacific, with only nine facilities that are compliant, according to Gavin Chua speaking as a panellist at the Open Compute Project Southeast Asia Tech Day on 9 July. This is because OCP hardware can only be deployed in data centers that support OCP standards, meaning 21-inch rack width instead of 19-inch; and a 48V DC power distribution instead of traditional AC.
Chua expressed bafflement as it’s the same data center operators that are running OCP hardware in the US but had missed out adopting it in Southeast Asia. “We are missing [something here] as some of the operators in the US running OCP hardware are also the same ones in Southeast Asia,” he said.
Established in 2011 by Meta, the OCP is a collaborative initiative focused on improving the technologies powering data centres. The idea is to define open standards for interoperability and compatibility across vendors, reducing cost and avoiding vendor lock-in. Today, there are over 400 member companies that adopt OCP hardware.
On another note, an even bigger question mark was posed when Daniel Nishball, CFA of Semi Analysis, highlighted in his speech that APAC is only just getting started with data centres and will need a lot more. The only question now is where the necessary data centres will be built. Nishball supported his conclusion by saying that Asia Pacific is the largest region for ChatGPT despite the low penetration rates in countries here. “Projected data centre demand far exceeds capacity so Asia Pacific needs a whole lot more,” he told the audience of more than 400 people.
The OCP SEA Tech Day is part of SIJORI Week which ends tomorrow. It is co-organised by W.Media together with OCP.