Key Takeaways
- • Actis, a growth market investor, argues data centres have become core economic infrastructure, with demand structurally outpacing supply in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.
- • The article states that the 'rest of the world' holds about 70 percent of global GDP outside North America and Western Europe but less than 30 percent of current global data centre capacity.
- • Forecasts by PwC cited in the piece project Asia Pacific data centre capacity growing at a compound annual rate of over 20 percent before 2028.
- • Actis reports an average PUE of 1.3 across its total-design IT capacity and says power strategy, energy efficiency and sustainability are now core investment requirements.
- • Epoch Digital, Actis's pan-Asian hyperscale platform in South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan, currently holds roughly 260 MW of IT capacity.
Summary
In a piece co-authored by Brian Chinappi, global head of real estate and data centres, and Barry Lynch, head of operations for energy infrastructure, Actis argues that data centres have evolved from a specialist real estate subsector into essential infrastructure underpinning cloud computing, financial services, ecommerce, streaming and artificial intelligence. The article, republished in Institutional Real Estate Inc., frames the sector as a convergence of real estate, digital infrastructure, energy and sustainability, and says this convergence is central to Actis's approach as a growth market investor in sustainable infrastructure.
The authors describe the demand drivers as structural rather than cyclical, citing cloud migration, mobile usage, digital services and AI deployment. They identify a significant structural undersupply in growth markets across Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. Forecasts by PwC cited in the piece project Asia Pacific data centre capacity growing at a compound annual rate of over 20 percent before 2028. Data sovereignty requirements and low-latency needs for cloud and AI inference are, according to the authors, pushing hyperscalers toward locations with scalable power, connectivity and regulatory certainty.
Energy is presented as the defining constraint. The authors note that electricity is typically the largest operating cost for a data centre and that power availability increasingly determines whether projects proceed. They cite Johor Bahru, Malaysia, as an example of a market gaining traction because of its proximity to Singapore, land availability and capacity for colocated renewables. A power supply agreement between two Actis portfolio companies is highlighted, under which renewables platform Serena supplies an average of 7.5 MW to cover NextStream's Tamboré data centre in Brazil.
On operations, the article emphasises that facilities must run continuously with minimal downtime and that PUE is a widely recognised efficiency benchmark. Actis reports an average PUE of 1.3 for its total-design IT capacity, including in hotter regions. The authors argue that sustainability has shifted from a differentiator to a baseline requirement, noting net-zero targets among hyperscalers such as Microsoft, Meta and Amazon for 2030 or 2040, and framing early sustainability integration as protection against stranded-asset risk.
The article concludes by pointing to Epoch Digital, Actis's pan-Asian hyperscale platform developing, owning and operating data centres in South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan, with roughly 260 MW of IT capacity. The authors say the platform targets markets with strong demand visibility where Actis can overcome land and power constraints that act as barriers to less specialised investors. The piece is a thought-leadership article from the sponsoring investor and its performance claims are the firm's own.
The authors describe the demand drivers as structural rather than cyclical, citing cloud migration, mobile usage, digital services and AI deployment. They identify a significant structural undersupply in growth markets across Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. Forecasts by PwC cited in the piece project Asia Pacific data centre capacity growing at a compound annual rate of over 20 percent before 2028. Data sovereignty requirements and low-latency needs for cloud and AI inference are, according to the authors, pushing hyperscalers toward locations with scalable power, connectivity and regulatory certainty.
Energy is presented as the defining constraint. The authors note that electricity is typically the largest operating cost for a data centre and that power availability increasingly determines whether projects proceed. They cite Johor Bahru, Malaysia, as an example of a market gaining traction because of its proximity to Singapore, land availability and capacity for colocated renewables. A power supply agreement between two Actis portfolio companies is highlighted, under which renewables platform Serena supplies an average of 7.5 MW to cover NextStream's Tamboré data centre in Brazil.
On operations, the article emphasises that facilities must run continuously with minimal downtime and that PUE is a widely recognised efficiency benchmark. Actis reports an average PUE of 1.3 for its total-design IT capacity, including in hotter regions. The authors argue that sustainability has shifted from a differentiator to a baseline requirement, noting net-zero targets among hyperscalers such as Microsoft, Meta and Amazon for 2030 or 2040, and framing early sustainability integration as protection against stranded-asset risk.
The article concludes by pointing to Epoch Digital, Actis's pan-Asian hyperscale platform developing, owning and operating data centres in South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan, with roughly 260 MW of IT capacity. The authors say the platform targets markets with strong demand visibility where Actis can overcome land and power constraints that act as barriers to less specialised investors. The piece is a thought-leadership article from the sponsoring investor and its performance claims are the firm's own.
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