Nope. You probably can't cash in by turning your office or farm into a datacenter

Bit barn developer says your real estate can't take the heat, and forget nuking it to change that

APRICOT Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but if you own real estate and think you can cash in by using it to host an AI datacenter, you're probably wrong.

That's the opinion of Billy Lee Kok Chi, chairman of Malaysian datacenter builder and operator CSF Advisers, as expressed on Wednesday during the closing plenary of the Asia Pacific Regional Internet Conference on Operational Technologies (APRICOT) in Kuala Lumpur.

In his talk, Lee shared the questions he's often asked about the suitability of different facilities to be repurposed as AI datacenters that require 230 kW of available energy per rack. Here's our summary of the types of land he's often asked about, and his assessment of whether they can be used to house a bit barn.

Multi-story commercial building

99 percent likelihood of noncompliance because the floors aren't strong enough to hold fully loaded racks, layout restrictions mean you can't get enough racks inside, and there's insufficient space for mechanical and electrical services that keep datacenters cool and power flowing.

Empty land in a city center

80 percent chance it won't be feasible due to high land and construction costs. Datacenters also don't need to be near customers, so investors won't be keen.

Existing large industrial factory

70 percent likelihood of compliance, because factories allow flexible layouts, robust flooring, and probably have plenty of space for mechanical and electrical services.

A 40-acre-plus (16+ hectares) plot in the suburbs

65 percent chance of success, with timely upgrades to power and data infrastructure the biggest challenges.

200 acres (80 hectares) of land in a rural area

60 percent chance of success, if data connectivity and power are available.

Enterprise datacenter or colocation facility built before 2022

50 percent chance of successful conversion because they're already designed to be datacenters and may have the headroom that allows denser racks and higher power consumption.

Large warehouse or logistics facility

40 percent chance of success as major modifications will be required, and power supply constraints are likely given the facility was designed for less energy-intensive uses.

Land near a power transmission station

In 80 percent of cases you can't get power directly from the transmission station, and may end up having to source it from far away. So it is not a great option.

Rural land next to a power transmission line

50 percent chance of viability depending on whether the passing power line has capacity. If it does, you'll need to build a voltage switchyard to bring juice to a datacenter.

Rural land next door to another property that has a power transmission line running through it

Not viable as the power line would need to cross your neighbor's private land to reach your plot and that won't happen.

Any sort of land in a nation that is fast-tracking datacenter approvals

50 percent chance of success because infrastructure upgrades may not be ready in time to meet demand.

Lee also pointed out that the next generation of AI datacenters will be enormous and vastly complex.

He said CSF Advisers has been asked to create a design for a gigawatt-scale datacenter, and came up with a plan that will require 634 acres (256 hectares) of land, almost 300 of which are devoted to a solar farm and batteries. Additionally, the facility will need a large voltage switching yard, and a large outdoor reservoir to store all the water needed for cooling.

Lee also commented on colocating nuclear power plants and new datacenter builds, and said that's not a feasible approach because it takes a decade or more to build a reactor. The investors funding the $50 billion-plus pipeline of datacenter builds he currently sees in Malaysia alone won't wait for nuclear plants to come online. ®