Power & Sites · Asia-Pacific

AirTrunk plans additional $1bn investment in data center campus in Inzai, Japan

Credited to Data Center Dynamics · datacenterdynamics.com · 2h ago

Photograph · Data Center Dynamics

Company plans to triple overall investment in country to $30bn

AirTrunk is planning to invest a further $1 billion in its data center campus in Inzai, Japan.

As reported by Nikkei Asia, the investment will be used to expand capacity and deploy liquid cooling technology at the campus, thus enabling the running of high-density AI workloads.

To fund this, AirTrunk has secured a $1bn green loan, led by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, MUFG Bank, and United Overseas Bank, among others.

AirTrunk's CEO, Robin Khuda, said that the campus - dubbed TOK1 - is likely to be the first in Japan able to host large-scale AI deployments. He added: "Due to geopolitical reasons, we are seeing more ⁠and more customers looking to Japan from a North Asian perspective."

The new investment will bring AirTrunk's total investment across its Japan sites to $9 billion. During the next five years, it is targeting between $27bn and $30bn. The company also intends to increase its capacity in Japan from the current 530MW, to more than 1GW.

Founded in 2018, AirTrunk was acquired by Blackstone and the Canadian Pension Plan (CPP) for US$16.1bn in 2024, in what was the largest-ever deal in the space at the time. AirTrunk has data center campuses in operation and under development in Sydney (x3) and Melbourne ( x2 ) in Australia, as well as Singapore; Hong Kong; Johor, Malaysia; Tokyo (x2), and Osaka ( x2 ), Japan.

Earlier this year, the company announced it had acquired Indian operator Lumina CloudInfra, officially marking its entrance into India. It secured $2.3bn in funding for its campus in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, in July.

CapitalAsia-Pacific

Firmus, CDC end planned $51B Australian AI buildout

Credited to Light Reading · lightreading.com4h ago

Useful

CDC exits $51 billion AI data center project in Australia after its partner, Firmus, embarks on aggressive Asian expansion.

Nvidia-backed Australian data center alliance Project Southgate has broken up after just 12 months with a fraction of its planned 1.6GW buildout completed. CDC Data Centers has ended its partnership with Firmus – claimed to be worth as much as 73 billion Australian dollars (US$50.7 billion) – due to fears over Firmus' aggressive Asian expansion plans.

CDC CEO Greg Boorer told financial news site Rampart: "We're certainly not planning on doing 1.6GW of rollout with them because they made other choices regarding doing their own data center developments, which is slightly different to what we envisaged."

The partnership built just 42MW of data center capacity, all of it in a CDC facility in Melbourne.

Project Southgate was unveiled in October 2025 by Firmus, CDC and Nvidia as a planned rollout of Firmus' "AI factories" built on CDC data center infrastructure. It was intended to scale to 1.6GW by 2028, with Firmus claiming total investment could reach AU$73 billion ($50.7 billion).

Firmus Co-Chief Executive and Cofounder Oliver Curtis said the two partners had "mutually agreed earlier this year" to end their partnership, W.Media reported Tuesday.

He said the decision did not affect Firmus' current development plans. But it seems a string of major deals Firmus embarked on in the last four months, none of which has involved CDC, has administered the death blow to the CDC alliance.

These include a 360MW Nvidia-backed data center on Batam Island, Indonesia, as well as two sites in Malaysia for OpenAI, and another two sites in South Australia. Additionally, Firmus is partnering with Subco to build a new subsea cable from the Australian mainland to Tasmania.

The collapse of the giant project comes as Firmus, in a rare step, looks set to cut the price of its pending IPO because of risks over its mostly unbuilt data center capacity. Jun Bei Liu, portfolio manager at Ten Cap, criticized the company for an "unprecedented" lack of disclosure, ABC News reported.

Firmus had originally set the price at AU$A11 ($7.65), valuing the company at around AU$44 billion ($30.6 billion). But the IPO price is reportedly set to drop to AU$9 ($6.26) because of weak demand from investors.

Meanwhile, CDC’s valuation has declined, primarily due to higher interest costs following a series of rate rises in Australia this year. CDC is 49.7% owned by listed New Zealand and Australian infrastructure investor Infratil, which also owns New Zealand mobile operator OneNZ. Infratil says the latest independent valuation of its CDC stake declined by A$45 million ($31.3 million) in the third quarter from AU$9.21 billion ($6.4 billion) to A$9.17 billion ($6.37 billion).

Infratil's ASX stock declined 0.72% Wednesday.

About the Author

Robert Clark is an independent technology editor and researcher based in Hong Kong.

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Power & Sites · Asia-Pacific

India to Invest 500 Billion Rupees in BESS by 2033

Credited to TheElec · thelec.net · 23h ago

India is stepping up investment in battery energy storage systems (BESS) to stabilize its power grid. The government plans to invest 500 billion rupees to deploy 50 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of BESS by 2033.

According to industry sources on Oct. 6, the Indian government approved the third phase of the Green Energy Corridor (GEC-III) on Sept. 30. The project will expand transmission networks and BESS in line with the country’s growing renewable energy capacity. India plans to build transmission infrastructure capable of accommodating up to 135 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy by 2033. It will also install 50 GWh of BESS.

The total project cost is 1.864 trillion rupees. Of that amount, 500 billion rupees has been allocated for BESS deployment. The government has not disclosed detailed conditions for the batteries to be used in the project, including battery chemistry, storage duration and procurement methods. The actual amount spent on batteries and systems could vary depending on those conditions.

On a simple calculation, India will need more than 7 GWh of batteries annually for grid-scale energy storage systems (ESS) alone. But local battery production capacity is only about 2 GWh a year, meaning the country will have to rely heavily on imports. India has largely met demand through imports as it was late to establish a lithium-ion battery manufacturing base. Chinese-made batteries accounted for 75.2% of India’s lithium-ion battery imports in fiscal 2024-25.

According to the India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA), India’s lithium-ion battery production capacity could reach 60 GWh to 70 GWh by 2030 if announced investment plans are implemented as scheduled. Over the same period, capacity for assembling battery packs and BESS using imported cells is expected to rise to 180 GWh to 220 GWh. Local cell production is therefore expected to lag well behind the expansion of BESS manufacturing capacity.

Wood Mackenzie estimates that it will take India 10 to 15 years to build a self-sufficient battery industry with competitive pricing. It estimates that locally produced battery cells will cost 25% to 40% more than imported cells. High financing costs and an underdeveloped battery-materials supply chain are among the reasons. As India needs time to expand domestic battery production, it will have to rely on overseas technology and supply chains for the time being. That could create an opportunity for Korean companies to enter the market.

Indian companies have traditionally worked mainly with Chinese battery makers because of their price competitiveness. But the business environment is changing as political tensions between India and China persist. Korean companies are also seeking opportunities to enter the Indian market. AI battery startup DeltaX signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Toptec in July to cooperate on targeting India’s ESS market.

“India is expanding localization across its renewable energy industry, including requiring the use of domestically produced solar panels,” DeltaX Chief Executive Kim Soo-hoon said. “Local solar and renewable energy companies are also expanding into assembling and selling battery modules and packs for ESS, and are actively considering cooperation with companies outside China.”

The growing adoption of Korean-made battery equipment in India is another positive factor. A key example is a battery plant with annual capacity of 40 GWh being built in India by Agratas, a Tata Group company. A number of Korean battery-equipment makers, including Yunsung F&C, PNT, Philenergy, Hana Technology, J's Robotics and Axvis, have been selected as suppliers for the project.

Business by Korean battery manufacturers in India remains limited. LG Energy Solution and Samsung SDI operate local sales subsidiaries, but their main business is supplying small batteries for smartphones and other information-technology devices. Their operations in India remain small in both scope and scale compared with major overseas markets such as North America and Europe. LG Energy Solution leads among companies in energy-related patents, having filed 2,225 patents in India.

“Indian ESS companies have traditionally sourced battery cells mainly from Chinese companies,” an industry official said. “They also prefer lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, so opportunities for Korean battery companies to enter the Indian market could expand as they increase their LFP-related businesses.”

India also built a large-scale power grid under previous phases of the Green Energy Corridor program. Phase I involved about 9,100 kilometers of transmission lines, while Phase II is adding about 7,900 kilometers across seven states. As transmission investment expands under Phase III, demand is also expected to rise for power equipment from HD Hyundai Electric, LS ELECTRIC and Hyosung Heavy Industries, alongside BESS.