Japanese cable and electronics maker Furukawa Electric said it will invest at least 55 billion yen ($345 million) to expand production of data centre cooling products in the Philippines, Thailand and China, as demand rises from the rapid buildout of generative AI infrastructure.
The company said the investment will cover both water-cooling modules and air-cooling heat sinks, which are used to manage heat generated by increasingly powerful servers and processors in data centres.
In the Philippines, Furukawa Electric said it will expand its water-cooling module factory at Furukawa Electronic Thermal Management Solutions & Products Laguna, or FTL, with mass production targeted from January 2027. It said total investment in the Philippine operation has reached 74 billion yen since fiscal 2024, which ended in March 2025.
In Thailand, the company plans to invest 51 billion yen in a new water-cooling module factory through Furukawa FITEL (Thailand) Co., Ltd., with mass production scheduled to begin in January 2028.
Furukawa Electric also said it will spend 4 billion yen to expand manufacturing capacity for air-cooling heat sinks at Furukawa AVC Electronics in Suzhou, China, and at FTL in the Philippines. Mass production at both sites is due to start in July 2026.
The company said demand for cooling products has risen as data centres face greater heat density from more advanced computing workloads, particularly those linked to generative AI.
While air-cooling systems remain the dominant technology and continue to see growing demand, Furukawa said water-cooling systems are expected to gain wider adoption because they offer stronger cooling performance. Water-cooling systems circulate liquid coolant through cold plates attached to processors, while air-cooling systems rely on fans and heat sinks to dissipate heat.
The expansion underscores how Asian manufacturers are increasing capacity to support the global race to build AI-ready data centre infrastructure.
Business News Asia
