en.Wedoany.com Reported - Vertiv has inaugurated its first manufacturing base in Southeast Asia in Senai, Johor, Malaysia, beginning localized production of power and cooling equipment in the region to address the rapidly growing demand driven by artificial intelligence (AI). The company unveiled the facility on July 1, aiming to align with changes in customer rack power density.
Paul Churchill, Vice President and General Manager of Vertiv Asia, stated that the company collaborates with NVIDIA on power and cooling before each chip launch, with rack density rising from 10 kilowatts (kW) to 100kW and beyond. He noted that at this power level, it is physically impossible to supply sufficient power to the rack without adopting a higher 800V DC design. This design first emerged in the United States and is expected to follow in the Asian market.
The approximately 236,000-square-foot facility primarily produces CoolChip coolant distribution units (for liquid-cooled AI racks), prefabricated power systems, and the SmartRun series. Vertiv claims the SmartRun series can reduce on-site deployment time by up to 85%. Andrew Whall, Vice President of Operations and Service Operations for Vertiv Asia, stated that the factory has been in production since the first quarter and has shipped its XDU liquid cooling product line for several months. Phase one is now operational, with additional liquid cooling production lines and larger-scale SmartRun manufacturing to be added, expected to reach full technical capacity by the second or early third quarter of 2027.
Vertiv did not disclose the investment amount. Churchill described the facility as the first step in the company's future development in Johor. Once fully operational, the factory aims to provide 500 high-skilled jobs. Churchill revealed that there are currently about 100 to 150 employees, approximately 98% of whom are Malaysians. He said the company initially expected to need to bring in labor from outside, but local recruitment has met the demand.
The impetus for local manufacturing stems from speed. Churchill stated that customers want shorter lead times, and shipping products from abroad carries risks of delays and costs, as evidenced by freight disruptions in recent years. He mentioned that Malaysia meets Vertiv's standards in terms of connectivity and local talent, and the support from state government agencies has made the factory setup process smoother. Serving the Asian market from within Asia at the current scale of demand is the underlying logic.
Vertiv's entry into the Johor market comes as data center approvals in the region are tightening. A representative from the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) stated that Malaysia has approved 52 data center projects, 17 of which are operational, with the rest under construction or in the approval stage. The Johor Investment Authority noted that the state government is more cautious about new data centers, weighing their power and water needs against other priority industries, and urging new projects to source from local suppliers. Johor bears the brunt of the country's data center construction, and the pressure on the power grid and water supply system is precisely the reason for the tightening of approvals.
When asked about warnings of capital expenditure cuts by hyperscale cloud providers and a potential bubble in AI infrastructure, Churchill said he could not comment, but customer demand remains "very healthy," with an investment cycle of 3 to 5 years in Asia. Vertiv is building for demand and expects it to continue rising. Meanwhile, Johor is currently weighing how much of this demand for power and cooling it can supply.
