Why the Future of AI Belongs to Fungible Data Centres
The AI-era and the Rise of the Fungible Data Centre.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping the tech industry, and with it, the IT infrastructure that powers our digital world.
Traditional data centres—often built for uniformity and static use cases—are struggling to keep up with the evolving demands of customers AI workloads.
A new generation of data centers is transforming the industry, offering innovative solutions to modern challenges. Designed for unparalleled flexibility and adaptability, fungible data centers are redefining how to approach design and operations in a rapidly evolving world.
What is a fungible data centre?
A fungible data centre is a facility designed to be highly flexible and adaptable, capable of supporting different types of workloads, cooling methods, and power requirements without major reconfiguration.
It’s a data centre that isn’t locked into a single use case or static demands. Instead, it’s built to adapt as AI and other High Performance Compute (HPC) infrastructure evolves.
Fungible Data Centres & Cooling: A Mix of Air and Liquid Cooling.
AI workloads are pushing rack power and weight densities to new heights. Higher power densities mean significantly more heat. This has led to an increasing demand for liquid cooling solutions such as Direct-to-Chip or Immersion Cooling. However, not every customer has a need to go all-in on liquid just yet. A fungible data centre can accommodate both traditional air cooling and liquid cooling in a way that allows for an easy transition back and forth between different requirements.
Some cloud and AI customers are requesting splits in the range of 80/40 from their data centre providers —80% liquid cooling capacity, 40% air cooling. If that math doesn’t seem to add up, that’s because this represents an over-provisioning of cooling resources to provide maximum flexibility. This approach allows for current medium density environments to be deployed with the ability to migrate as needed to higher-densities and enables customers to dynamically shift their cooling strategy as their AI infrastructure scales.
De-Risking IT Strategy with a Fungible Data Centre.
Uncertainty is the enemy of IT planning. Businesses investing in AI and HPC infrastructure know their requirements will shift over time—what they need today might not be what they need in five, or even three years.
A fungible data centre eliminates this uncertainty by ensuring multiple options are available within the same environment.
Customers can start with air-cooled racks and transition to liquid cooling when the time comes. They can adjust densities and power requirements without major overhauls. And, because fungible data centres like are designed for agility, they can move between AI and cloud workloads with ease.
The Future is Fungible.
The AI revolution is here, and traditional data centres aren’t built to support it. Fungible data centres provide the flexibility, cooling, floor loading and scalability required to power the next wave of technological innovation.
At Macquarie Data Centres, we’re leading the way with IC3 Super West—a facility purpose-built for AI and cloud. By embracing fungibility, we’re not just keeping pace with technological change; we’re enabling our customers to stay ahead of it.
For businesses looking to de-risk their IT strategy and build for the future, the answer is clear: the future is fungible.
By removing constraints and future-proofing infrastructure, a fungible data centre isn’t just about meeting today’s needs—it’s about staying ahead of what’s next.
