Goldman Sachs Research forecasts that India is set to expand its footprint in Asia’s data center market rapidly, citing “favorable demographics,” a deep engineering talent pool, and strategic geographic proximity to the Middle East. The report also identifies Japan and the Philippines as key growth drivers across the region. It characterizes Japan’s expansion as supported by government-backed initiatives, while points to reduced regulatory friction as helping the Philippines. By contrast, it says India stands out because of structural and geographic advantages.
More broadly, the outlook for Asia’s data centers is described as robust, with demand rising not only from traditional cloud workloads but also from GPU-based and “AI-first” demand. Goldman Sachs says AI and GPU needs increase total demand rather than simply reallocating existing capacity.
The report notes that operators in Asia face infrastructure constraints, particularly around power availability, which can delay construction and limit delivery. It adds that some operators use workarounds, such as sourcing treated wastewater for cooling in Mumbai. It also says AI-driven customers tend to commit earlier for customized designs, while regulatory and geopolitical changes raise compliance overhead across the sector.
