The first InnoVEX Saloon 2024, Revolutionizing Data Centers: Integrating Clean Energy and Advanced Compute Technologies for a Sustainable Future, was held on July 12. Organized by one of the organizers of InnoVEX - Taipei Computer Association (TCA) and the State of Virginia Taiwan Office as the co-organizer; the event featured speakers including Bill Brown, CEO of New Waters Capital LP and Dave Menacher, Portfolio Manager of New Waters Capital LP with Clark Hsu, Portfolio Manager of Paramita Capital Management as the moderator.

The speakers discussed the feasible solutions to the green power needs for AI data centers and advanced computing while aiming to find partners in Taiwan’s green energy and data center focused supply chains for future projects in the US.

Data Center 2.0 as a Source of Opportunities and Sustainability

The world today faces increased demands in both AI and sustainability. While there are concerns that the rapidly growing number of data centers built or planned might put a significant strain on power grids; not only to power the data centers but also to cool it down.

In his keynote speech, Bill Brown shared that while cleantech currently still has issues but a demand pull for clean energy might emerge specifically because of the increasing demand for energy to power data centers around the world. One way to achieve this is to utilize the waste heat generated by the data centers for other purposes. In addition, while renewables have grown in recent years; such as wind or solar; they are often used to provide more capacity to the grid rather than replacing the existing energy supply from fossil fuel or conventional sources. As such, if data centers will still rely on fossil fuel, it is important to rely on more efficient fuels such as natural gas and to add carbon capture to make that gas clean.

he growing demand for AI will inevitably lead to the building of more data centers, which currently follows a design that Brown referred to as Data Center 1.0. This design still has several issues which was summarized as “wrong place, yesterday’s design”, which focuses on placing the data centers between the closest power plant and the users. This severely limits the possible locations for data centers, often closer to users in city centers, which also have high energy costs. For the data center operator, this means a severely high operating cost in addition to the high starting investment price.

Brown instead proposed a different concept which he called Data Center 2.0 which will need a “net zero” location, balancing 3 key factors of sufficient computing power, sustainability, and cost. As such, new data center locations will need to consider where the generated carbon can be sequestered, the price of land, price of fuel and electricity, and distance to the end users; preferably placing them on top of the power plant to minimize line loss, fuel/ electricity transport cost, etc. This concept essentially opens up more opportunities for data center operators to not only generate their own electricity such as by a small solar farm, but also sell it back to the grid (if possible) and create a demand pull for clean energy.

This concept also offers international opportunities as operators can place their data centers in the right territory to significantly reduce their operating cost and split their compute load. The heavy computing can be done in data centers at a different location to the more sensitive processes.

The Data Center 2.0 concept can be achieved by collocation in which the data centers are placed as close as possible to the power plant. This opens up business and patent opportunities for as the new data centers can be placed virtually where ever they need to be, instead of where they can be placed.

Comprehensive Energy Sources as Key to Net Zero

During the panel discussion, the panelists shared how existing data centers will face new challenges as retrofitting them to be Data Center 2.0 will be difficult and expensive. In addition, as AI data centers will require more power; it is very likely that the local community will be against such endeavors.

Data centers, especially the ones made for AI not only consume a lot of power, they also generate a lot of heat. While liquid cooling systems now exist, most of them typically focus on the chips instead of the power supply or other components which will instead use air cooling.

Taiwanese companies already have strong track records in the data center industry and there are various opportunities for them in the future data centers. By leveraging the idea of collocation and tailoring the cooling systems to fit the users’ need, they can invent new systems that properly utilize the generated waste heat.

As stated, future data centers will consume a high amount of power and will need to achieve net zero by 2050, which will require a combination of various energy sources of renewable and clean energy. At the moment, one of the main drawbacks of renewable energy is how the issue of availability which may suddenly drop or exceed capacity. For example, wind farms will not be able to generate any power when there is no wind and solar farms will be non-operational at night. To solve this issue, comprehensive energy sourcing will be vital not only for data center operators, but every organization aiming to achieve net zero.

Connecting Global Industry Players with InnoVEX

Since 2016, InnoVEX has been a reliable startup-focused platform, connecting startups from around the world with various resources including investors, manufacturers, media, users, buyers, and more. InnoVEX also creates real business opportunities and connects global industry players. The first InnoVEX Saloon 2024 gathered industry players in the data center ecosystem for an opportunity to expand their business globally and leverage the opportunity made by the Data Center 2.0 concept.

About the Co-Organizer State of Virginia - Taiwan Office

Virginia is home to the largest data center market in the world, hosting over 35% of all known hyperscale data centers. Virginia's densely packed fiber backbones and massive network of data centers currently move an estimated 70% of the world's Internet traffic daily. Discover Virginia's Data Center advantages.

Virginia's top business climate offers companies excellent foundations for success. It is named "America's Top State for Business 2024" by CNBC. Key industries include data centers, semiconductors, aerospace and defense, batteries, automotive, electronic vehicles, agtech, advanced manufacturing, etc.

The Virginia State - Taiwan Office invites Taiwan companies to select Virginia as their next destination for investment and provides comprehensive services to facilitate the expansion. Learn Why Virginia is the right choice for your business: https://vedp.org/why-virginia.

Contact Sarah Liu, Director of Virginia Taiwan Office at sliu@vedp.org to discover how Virginia can support your success in the U.S. market.

About InnoVEX

Started in 2016, InnoVEX is a startup-focused exhibition organized by the Taipei Computer Association (TCA) and the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA). Positioned as the innovation hub of Asia, InnoVEX is held alongside Asia's leading ICT B2B Tradeshow, COMPUTEX, to connect startups and their innovations to global VCs, CVCs, manufacturing partners, buyers, and media.

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