数据中心的未来：人工智能时代的行业将如何变化？

Strategic design for water-consciousdata centres ForesightSeptember 2025 Data Centre Futures – looking beyond the asset Twenty first century life – fromthe smallest everyday interactionsto large-scale international andeven extraterrestrial systems – isincreasingly reliant on flows ofdata. All of us would notice if thoseflows were disrupted, yet relativelyfew of us are thinking deeply aboutthe critical, digital infrastructurethat translates data into somethingmeaningful: the communications,services, operations that improveour lived experience. our field of vision and limitsthe potential for wider, positiveimpact through their design. They could also be detrimentalto our experience; destabilisingother essential flows in the shortand longer-term. So, what would a data centrelook like that is both a ‘goodneighbour’ and a ‘goodancestor’? Within an ‘urban metabolism’, data centres are hubsthrough which flows of water, energy, materials, andpeople – as well as information – move. And as criticalinfrastructure, they can play a central role in shapingsafe, resilient and regenerative places. Data centres are the infrastructuralnodes being constructed at a pacethat is struggling to keep up withrapidly growing demand; thinkingof them merely as ‘assets’ narrows Being a goodneighbourrequires arethink of ‘performance’ metrics; areframing of ‘efficiency’. How candata centres improve their localplace and their local ecosystem? Data Centre Futures – looking beyond the asset Being a goodancestormeans to beconscious that the infrastructure oftoday becomes the relics of tomorrow.Keeping the long term in mind, anddesigning for adaptability, is keyto creating a positive impact. Whathappens when technological and socio-cultural evolutions make data centres,in their current form, redundant? With this and subsequent issues, weexplore the Future of Data Centres,building upon our already broad rangeof insights on Arup.com. We aim not to defend a position, butrather elevate the conversation arounddata centres, encouraging more of us toask better questions about dangerousassumptions and possible futures in thisfast-evolving landscape. Hit pause, look up and look around. Data Centre Futures series In collaboration with technical experts across Arup’s global offices,the Foresight team presents the Data Centre Futures series. 01Water Each issue explores a key theme, exploring emerging issues, trends shapingfuture context, critical reflections and informed speculation on longer-termpossibility. What is a data centre’s long-term value and viability whencompute technologies evolve faster than the structures built to contain them?Could data centres contribute more than they consume? How might they playa role in cultivating safe, resilient and regenerative places? Current state of playWhy take a longer view?The evolving Water context for Data Centres2040: Speculative FuturesNext: possible futures for water and data centresArup Expert PieceExpert external perspectiveNew: early signs of the future in the presentRecommendations040608091011141618 The first issue of this series focuses on Water.What are the trade-offs involved in using water in data centres? When should water be used in a data centre? What might a water-scarce world mean fordata centre design and delivery? How do data centres affect water-scarceareas? Might water offer new possibilities for the location and operation ofdigital infrastructure? What happens to ‘water-rich’ spaces at the end of adata centre’s life? Current state of play – A system in flux Despite already underpinning every aspect of our modern digital lifestyles,data centres are set for a period of even faster growth, rapidly scaling to meetgrowing compute and data demand driven by AI and digitalisation. Some sources suggest that the volumes of data createdare set to triple by 2028, having already experienced a60-fold increase from 2010 – 2023.1AI and computepower demands are set to grow. AI requires a lot of compute power concentrated in one place. Concentrationof compute requires denser server racks which in-turn increases energy andcooling demand. With higher density computing the effectiveness of air-cooling the servers and racks diminishes pushing developers to utilise otherforms of cooling such as liquid cooling.2 Currently, most data centres use air cooling, with a 22% of data centres usingliquid cooling.3Liquid cooling and air cooling are the methods used to takethe heat away from the hardware, servers and racks and this happens withinthe data halls and between the halls and the external cooling equipment.These are typically closed loop systems utilising air or a specialist fluid totransfer the heat energy. Current state of play – A system in flux Given the high likelihood of ongoing digital demands and thesubsequent increasing water stress, data centre operators are alreadymaking water efficiency a priority. Solutions are emerging and beingdeployed that minimise or remove the use of