Connect | APAC // Major Panel: Deep freeze - What’s holding back liquid cooling at scale?

Liquid cooling is no longer experimental; it is becoming central to high-density data center design across Asia Pacific. Yet adoption is outpacing standardisation, with limited alignment on systems interoperability, fluid chemistry, safety practices and operational models. From direct-to-chip to single-phase and two-phase immersion, deployments remain highly customised, creating barriers to scaling liquid cooling and making it difficult to establish a clear industry roadmap. As thermal loads rise, the industry now needs greater alignment between chip manufacturers, system designers and facility operators to ensure reliability and performance across the entire cooling stack. The question is no longer whether liquid cooling works, but what must change to move it from bespoke projects to truly scalable, repeatable deployment across portfolios.

This discussion will explore:

• Where the industry sits on the maturity curve for large-scale liquid cooling adoption
• The pros and cons of diverse approaches including direct-to-chip, single-phase, and two-phase immersion
• How operators, OEMs, and chip manufacturers can collaborate to improve interoperability and integration
• Whether alignment on standards, safety practices, and operating models from chip to facility level is achievable or even desirable
• How partnerships and shared frameworks can accelerate adoption while maintaining flexibility and reliability
• What a realistic industry roadmap for liquid cooling at scale could look like